After the Conversion

Conversion Certificates
Your brit (or hatafat dam brit, whichever is necessary) and tevilah forms will have been signed by the dayanim and sent to the local religious court, which accepted your conversion. The bet din will issue a document verifying the completion of your conversion process. This document will be sent to the Rabbinical court administration in Jerusalem, and they will issue a conversion certificate and a certificate of change of religion which will enable you to register as a Jew in the Population Registry. If you need a temporary certificate, until the official one is issued, inform the bet din officer of this immediately after your immersion, and take the signed tevilah form to be copied nearby. If you are married civilly, you will, generally, receive your certificate of conversion, only after you are married in a Jewish ceremony, and you present your ketubah to bet din.

Marriage to a Jewish Partner
If you are married to a Jew, or if you converted together with your spouse, you will have a religious ceremony subsequent to your conversion, in order to enable you to establish a Jewish home. The dayanim, which oversaw your tevilah, will sometimes arrange the ceremony, and even officiate at it. You will need to register your marriage after your tevilah and before receipt of the certificate of conversion, via one of the Rabbis, who is involved in this process. Occasionally, marriage will be postponed slightly, because of the restrictions on intimate relations in the three months following conversion, restrictions intended to enable us to differentiate between pregnancies, which began before conversion, to ones, which began afterwards. When you and your partner are not married, the rabbis responsible for registering marriages, will generally be satisfied with a negative blood - pregnancy test or a confirmation of pregnancy along with a declaration of paternity.

The Marriage of a Cohen and a Convert
According to Jewish law, a female convert and a Cohen may not get married in a Jewish ceremony. If they were married in a civil ceremony, their marriage is recognized, after the fact. There is no restriction regarding a male convert and a daughter of a Cohen. Though there are certain family names, which are common for families of kohanim, such as Cohen, Kahn, Kahana, Azulai, Katz, and Kaplan, not everyone whose last name is Cohen is necessarily a Cohen, and conversely, not every Cohen has an identifiable last name. When a Cohen wishes to marry a convert, it is sometimes possible to cast doubt on its reliability in the groom's family, through investigation of the family genealogy. This process can only be done by a rabbinic court, and one may not 'renounce one's Cohen-ness' on one's own. For assistance in this area, contact the ITIM staff at 011-972-2-648-2205, or in Israel, 1-700-500-507.

Relationship with Your Parents After Conversion
Since Judaism views conversion as a rebirth into the Jewish people, your connection with your biological parents becomes quite complex. On one hand, a connection with your parents is preserved, and a convert may feel a strong sense of reponsibility toward his non-Jewish parents. On the other hand, it is important, even in your parents' home, to remain faithful to the Jewish lifestyle, which you have accepted upon yourself, and to make necessary arrangements regarding Shabbat and kashrut. If your parents pass away, though you are not halachically obligated to observe Jewish mourning customs for them, such as sitting shiva and reciting Kaddish, you are nevertheless permitted to adopt some mourning customs.

Maintaining Your Connection with Your Adoptive Family
You should ideally maintain your connection with your adoptive family even after conversion, so that they may continue serving as role models, friends, and family to you. They will also be happy to help you with the preparations for your wedding and with other family celebrations.

Renouncing One's Conversion
As a general principle, conversion is an absolute and irrevocable process that cannot be reversed either by the convert or by the bet din. Nevertheless, there is an extremely rare process, whereby the bet din nullifies conversion. This process can only be based on a claim that at the time of the conversion (and not after the conversion!) the convert had no intent to lead a Jewish life. The option for reversal of one's conversion is a source of controversy in the institution of the Israeli rabbinate, and for all practical purposes, conversions performed in recognized rabbinic courts are not reversed, except in the most exceptional of circumstances.

Sons and Daughters of Avraham and Sarah
From the moment of your conversion, you are called sons and daughters of our patriarch Avraham and of our matriarch Sarah, who were the first to recognize God, and to convert others to belief in Him. From this point on, whenever your names are used in a traditional ceremony, such as an aliya to the Torah in Synagogue, or written on a Jewish document such as a ketuba for marriage or a get for a divorce, you will be called (Your name) the son/daughter of Avraham our patriarch. Such is the nature of your conversion. It not only transforms you into members of the Jewish people, henceforth, but also bonds you to the history and past of the Jewish people.

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