Hey, I’m a lady who was raised as a Christian and is in the process of converting to Judaism. One thing I’ve noticed is that most people who this path are either people with very sincere beliefs or are marrying a Jew. It’s made a little more complicated by Judaism being both a religion and a people. Once you convert, you are considered Jewish both religiously and culturally. If you decide the religion part isn’t for you down the road, you’re still considered Jewish. (It should go without saying, but considering the entire history of pograms and the Holocaust, it’s an extra-serious decision you shouldn’t flippantly make unless you honestly intend to practice Judaism for the rest of your life.)

There are people who seem to be doing this for less genuine reasons though. I’ve come across people who seem to be into it because they want to belong to a religious community without actually believing in anything or changing their lives. (If someone is born into a Jewish family and grows up to be an atheist a lot of liberal congregations will still accept them. The line is fuzzier there because the history of persecution leaves people not wanting to turn away Jews by birth. Obviously, this is a very different scenario than people “converting” to have community with neither faith nor action.)

And then there are people who seem to be doing it because they think being Jewish is another tag they can add onto their bio and claim that they’re oppressed because of it. (Don’t even get me started about how utterly ridiculous it is for people who aren’t Jewish by birth to pretend we experience anti-Semitism outside of worrying about violence when we attend synagogue.) There’s no sincere interest or belief. It just the narcissistic label game with those people.

If I had to guess, she probably falls into the latter category and may or may not have actually converted. Or, maybe she just makes it all up as she goes. Anyways, sorry for the essay.