Coming Home: A Woman's Story of Conversion to Judaism

I've been thinking about converting for two years. I read Kukoff's book and Embracing the Convenant for the same reasons but was looking for a single person's journey in depth rather than a bunch of quotes or a series of stories by others. Shires doesn't speak just for herself, though, but for many who are wondering about taking such a huge step. Judaism is a different world view. Even making a meal involves questions and decisions. She talks about moments like that. This is not a how-to book but it treats the steps that someone takes who has to go slow towards life change. Courses, rituals at home, going to synagogue, coming to terms with family and the past. The parts on Torah didn't bother me. I read them as another aspect of Jewish life that a convert deals with. There is a section early in the book where she stands up for Judaism before she knows she will convert that I found convincing as part of the process of deciding. Plus she's not afraid of being wrong or appearing stupid. Shires even laughs at herself now and then which is good in a book like this. Two of the interesting women she met on the journey were the artist Helene Aylon and the author Blu Greenberg. I believe the chapter on women and Judaism brought together well a lot of ideas that I've read about here and there but hadn't put together before. I found the book helpful and will go back to it.

Some books make you think and this is one of them. She engages with the traditions in different ways than most. It challenged me to think about Jewish life and Torah freshly. I found the beginning and the last section about going to Germany most moving.