Conversion Celebration at Calgary’s Temple B’nai Tikvah

by Maxine Fischbein

(AJNews) – At a time when Jewish feel-good news stories seem few and far between, it was a treat to hear the joy in the voice of Temple B’nai Tikvah (TBT) Rabbi Mark Glickman as he welcomed nine adults and three children, the largest group he has converted to Judaism all at the same time.

Following the slaughter of some 1,200 Israeli Jews on October 7 by Hamas terrorists; the brutal kidnappings of 250 women, men and children, many of whom remain captive in the tunnels of Gaza; a war on multiple fronts; and a rise in antisemitic acts worldwide, Glickman figured it was time to celebrate people who are not attacking Jews but, instead, joining them.

Some 90 congregants and guests attending TBT Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday, September 27, witnessed a moving celebration honouring individuals and families Rabbi Glickman described as mutually supportive and inspirational.

Adults who convert to Judaism at TBT enter a process that takes a year or longer and entails study, reflection and exploration, Glickman told the congregation.

Among other requirements is the completion of the Rabbi’s Introduction to Judaism class and an individual project in which each individual does a deep dive into an aspect of Judaism of particular interest to them.

Glickman blessed the converts saying, in part:

“Oh God, grant your favour to these 12 people as in this sacred place we welcome them into Jewish life. Knowing well the history of our people’s past, they have chosen to join themselves to our people’s faith.  We open our hearts to them.”

The nine adults affirmed they had chosen to enter the covenant between God and the Jewish people of their own free will and that they will practice Judaism, not other faiths and practices. They pledged loyalty to Judaism and the Jewish people; promised to keep a Jewish home and participate in Synagogue and Jewish communal life; committed themselves to the Torah and Jewish knowledge; and promised that if blessed with children, they will raise them as Jews.

All in attendance were reminded by Glickman of the Moabite Ruth’s declarations to her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi, which have become the mantra of converts to Judaism through the ages:

Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.

“[Ruth] became so important to our people that there was a book in the Bible named after her and it is said that she will be the ancestor of the Messiah,” said Glickman, adding:

“You stand now, my friends, before the ark holding the Torah…our people’s most cherished treasure. As you know, and as we’ve studied, it has guided us along the way ever since we received it at Sinai. We’ve carried it at times of great rejoicing and also when we’ve fled from burning Synagogues and villages.”

TBT’s newest members of the tribe were invited to recite Judaism’s central prayer, the Shema prior to Glickman sharing their Hebrew names.

“May these names bring respect to you and honour to the Jewish people,” he said.

With that, each was invited for an individual blessing before the ark as the congregation was led in the soulful singing of Lech Lecha followed by a resounding Shehechiyanu.

Throughout the evening, solemn ritual was frequently punctuated by Rabbi Glickman’s gently self-deprecating Jewish humour.

“What a joyous evening this is, and for our friends who just converted, a representative of the membership committee will be in the back,” Glickman quipped.

Having fulfilled the requirements for conversion, once each student feels ready—and if the Rabbi agrees they are—they appear before a Beit Din or court. This traditionally consists of three Rabbis, said Glickman, though typically at B’nai Tikvah, the Beit Din consists of Glickman and lay leaders.

The purpose is to make sure that [converts] know what they are getting themselves into, “whether it is a good and healthy thing for them and for the Jewish people,” Glickman explained.

Rituals include circumcision for males or, for those already circumcised, drawing a drop of blood, a ritual that is optional at TBT, though most choose it.

All converts are given the option of ritually immersing themselves in the mikvah (ritual bath). Most do, Glickman said.

Rabbi Glickman first met his most recent group of converts when last year’s Introduction to Judaism class began in September 2023.

“About a month after that, the Jewish world literally blew up,” he recalled, referring to the terror unleashed on Israel on October 7 and its regional and global aftermath.

“Every one of these people was undeterred, if not deepened in the fierceness of their desire to convert to Judaism because of those events. Each and every one of these people chose to convert to Judaism knowing and having seen full well the risks that that decision and that that pledge can involve. Each of the people who converted to Judaism chose to convert to Judaism knowing full well that we are a flawed people, imperfect in so many ways, but choosing nonetheless to join us in our journey towards holiness that we have been taking for the past few thousand years.”

Along the way, Glickman checked in with his students to probe whether their individual decisions were right for them and to assure them that if they did experience a change of heart, “we could still be friends.”

None wavered.

Some, says Rabbi Glickman, were already part of a persecuted minority. Some felt that they must have always, in some way, been Jewish, a feeling affirmed by the Rabbinic Midrash that all Jews stood at Sinai, Glickman explained, adding that others said, “I want to be a part of this community because it affirms who I am. It affirms my values…. I feel a sense of belonging here.”

“Having become part of the Jewish people, having become part of the Jewish story, they will enrich the soul of the entire Jewish people…what a blessing it is,” Glickman added.

Regretting the fact that he could not elaborate upon the journeys of all his students, Rabbi Glickman shared the journey of Jodie Kaplan, who celebrated with the group though her studies had taken place years earlier.

Kaplan and her husband Dan first discussed with Rabbi Glickman her potential conversion about five years ago.  At the time, she was pregnant with their first child. They took the Introduction to Judaism class, and Rabbi Glickman later officiated at their wedding.

Life got busy, and Jodie hadn’t fully decided on conversion or completed all the requirements.

Then, a few months ago, she called the Rabbi to let him know Dan had been diagnosed with late stage cancer and did not have much time. Jodie wanted to complete her conversion.

“I want to do it as a gift for him and I want to do it as a gift for my kids, and I want to do it as a gift for me,” Glickman quoted Jodie as having said.

“Sadly, we didn’t have time to make the conversion happen before Dan’s death several weeks ago,” Glickman told the hushed crowd.

Jodie went to the mikvah some two weeks prior to the September 27 celebration.

While officiating at an unveiling earlier that day, Rabbi Glickman noticed Dan’s resting place.

“I laid a stone on the grave in honour of Dan and in celebration of the wonderful gift that he and the Jewish people have received through Jodie’s conversion tonight,” Glickman said.

Last month, AJNews spoke with three other new members of the Jewish people whose journeys continue at TBT.

When asked why she chose Judaism, Branwyn Cookhouse said she has felt drawn to it through most of her life.

“It felt comfortable…. It felt like home,” said Cookhouse who added that she “yearned and mourned” for years due to her mistaken impression that one had to be born Jewish or marry a Jew in order to join the community.

A Jewish friend clued her in and encouraged her to take Rabbi Glickman’s Introduction to Judaism Class.

Though raised in a secular home, Cookhouse was educated in Catholic schools where she learned about other religions. By the time she hit her mid-teens Judaism “…made the most sense to me, and fit best with my personal values.”

September 27 “…felt like coming home in a way that I’ve never felt in my life,” Cookhouse told AJNews.

Already active at TBT, Cookhouse especially enjoys attending Friday evening services. She joined other congregants in this year’s Pride Parade and volunteers with Art and Scroll Studio, a monthly online zoom series devoted to Judaic art. From Purim deliveries to helping make brown bag lunches for the Drop-In Centre, Cookhouse has jumped into congregational life with two feet and a full heart.

As a consultation specialist for a utility company, Cookhouse spends her days speaking with “impacted landowners,” a career she describes as “conflict heavy.” She says her Jewish studies have helped her develop a much better understanding of “what an argument is versus a fight.”

While engaging in Shabbat study classes, Cookhouse saw that participants sometimes arrived at dramatically different interpretations of biblical passages; yet the discourse remained “respectful and kind.”

“It’s really changed how I look at conflicts in a lot of ways,” said Cookhouse, adding, “Being a Jew is paying all sorts of dividends I never expected into my life.”

Cookhouse regularly shared with her husband Jeremy the exciting things she was learning. Her enthusiasm has proven contagious. Jeremy has joined the Introduction to Judaism class of 2024—2025.

“Hopefully I’ll get to watch him up there with a bunch of people next year,” Cookhouse said.

Immersion in the Mikvah was “transformative,” recalled Cookhouse. “It truly felt like being born, just in terms of being totally surrounded by that water… just me and the water, that moment, and the blessing in my mouth.”

Though married, Cookhouse’s classmates Randi and Joel Palyga walked different paths into Judaism.

Joel—who earned his undergraduate degree with a minor in philosophy—was exposed to a number of Jewish philosophers.

“It just started this curiosity in me and it drove me to explore and explore and explore,” Joel said.

While he came from a Christian background, Joel says he lost touch with his religious identity as a young adult and was not in the market for one.

“As I researched more into Jewish philosophy and then Jewish culture and religion and history…. It filled a part of my life that…I didn’t really know had been unfilled.”

Years earlier, In 2017, Randi was hired to teach Grade 1 and 2 students at the Halpern Akiva Academy, an Orthodox-affiliated Jewish Day School, where she remained for four years.

Exposed to the culture and values of Judaism, Randi was eager to learn, though the experience coalesced for her after she left Akiva and realized that she missed the holiday celebrations and learning Hebrew words.

One day, as they were driving in the car, she made “a random comment” to Joel about wanting to convert to Judaism.

“Wait…what? Me too,” came Joel’s reply.

Raised as a Roman Catholic, Randi says she stopped attending church some 11 years ago, but described her family as “pretty Catholic,” a fact that had discouraged Joel from suggesting that they convert to Judaism, an idea that had already been growing in him.

“I thought it might complicate things if she didn’t want to,” said Joel, “so I just thought I’d explore this on my own. And then we had that really offhand conversation that sparked our combined journey into Judaism.”

Randi loves the lived experiences within her home and community, like the observation of holidays, while Joel most appreciates study and exploration of “what it means to be a good person in this world…and how to live a good life.”

“It’s been really nice to find some synthesis and find this path that we can walk our family down,” Joel says, adding that he and Randi are excited to raise their children Levyn (2) and Gabriella (8 months) “in a Jewish life while we still explore that for ourselves.”

While Randi enjoyed the atmosphere at Halpern Akiva Academy, she balked at the strictness of orthodoxy. Joel shared with her what he knew about the Reform movement.

“I was still on the fence about it when he found Rabbi Mark Glickman,” recalled Randi who described the “instant feeling” she had upon meeting him that they had come to the right place for them.

Joel is a former Police Officer who did general patrol including a stint in the mountain bike unit and later worked in emergency management through the COVID pandemic. He is currently studying law at the University of Calgary.

“We decided to turn life on to the hard setting for a while and see how that goes,” Joel jests.

Despite their hectic pace, the Palygas make time to engage in congregational life. Randi teaches once a week at the TBT Shabbat School. Joel enjoys attending adult education classes and looks forward to eventually becoming involved in committee work.

Those who have most recently joined the Jewish people involve themselves in Temple and community life in a variety of ways and levels of intensity, Rabbi Glickman told AJNews, adding:

“The fact that we had this moment in which so many people stood up together and said ‘I want to be a part of this thing called Judaism and this wonderful community…is a ray of sunshine amidst the darkness of these times.”

Click here for a related article on recent conversion interest noted by other Jewish congregations in Calgary.Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter