In keeping with Jewish tradition that makes no differentiation between those who are born Jews and those who become them, I rarely talk about being a convert. But in light of the antisemitic attacks in America over the last two weeks, and as we celebrated Shavuot, a holiday honoring a convert, I wanted to break that silence.

My beit din — the rabbinic court that signed off on my conversion — was exactly 16 years minus a month ago. I completed my conversion after four years of study — because I’m nothing if not both thoughtful and stubborn. Back in 2005 when I started the process, and in 2009 when I formally converted, the level of antisemitism we’re currently seeing was unimaginable in the modern world. We were at the end of what we now know was a golden age for Jews, and we thought that after the Holocaust, society knew better.

We were, of course, wrong.

But my conversion advisor was wise. He understood that as Jews, our primary law is pikuach nefesh — the protection of life. And when we accept a convert, we put their life and the lives of any of their decedents at risk. To do so is a serious thing, and can only be done if the convert has........

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