I ran into a friend. He’s converting to Orthodox Judaism. It is taking much longer than he expected.
“You should expect a couple of years,” I told him.
“Is the rabbi testing me?” he asked. “The rabbi says I’m ready but he keeps me waiting. I’ve stopped going to shacharit in the morning. I only go on Shabbos.”
“I don’t know if he’s testing you,” I said, “but conversion ain’t easy. You can’t follow your feelings and get ticked. You have to keep showing up every day. You have to get a good job. The observant Jewish life is an expensive one. And after you convert, you need to get married. There’s a lot of pressure in Jewish life. There’s never a time when you can just coast on your laurels.”
