Her journey to Jewish conversion

By Kira Thomas

ALPINE, California — I was raised Christian. I grew up in a very charismatic church, the Church of God. Our beliefs were very passionate about our love for God and Jesus. Although I didn’t view Jesus as God I had a very strong love for him because I thought he was our savior.  I believed he had to make the ultimate sacrifice to atone for our sins so we could be saved.  Later in my journey I learned that is not what atonement means. I understand that we are responsible for our own actions and sins. We can atone to God for forgiveness and turn away from our sins.

I started thinking more about Judaism as I knew it was the foundation of Christianity. The Old Testament in the Christian Bible is the English translation of the Tanakh. I was also interested because my Dada, my dear grandfather whom I was very close to, was Jewish. I remember wondering about his Jewish beliefs and what made things so different between the two religions. I started questioning the teachings of Paul. I just didn’t understand some scriptures in the New Testament. It just didn’t make sense and didn’t coincide with the Old Testament. I realized I wanted to learn and understand more about Judaism and the history. I continued to attend Christian non-denominational churches intermittently after leaving The Church of God.  I  started having more questions and conflicts about the beliefs in Christianity, yet I still wanted to be a part of a community and close to God and learn the truth.

My husband Mark started researching more about Judaism after our moms passed away in 2004. We started attending a Reform Jewish synagogue, Beth Israel, in Houston, Texas, with my grandfather. He was so thrilled to have us join him. I truly enjoyed the service so much. The songs were beautiful. The prayers to God were in Hebrew and translated into English.  I was so impressed how easy it was to follow the meaning of the prayers in English.  I could read along in the transliteration as well. Everyone including the rabbi were very friendly and welcoming. They had a cantor who sang and played guitar beautifully. It was an amazing experience when the Torah was brought out during the service. Being there with my grandfather was a truly wonderful blessing. Mark and I continued to attend Beth Israel for awhile with my dada. Mark started taking the basic Judaism class there. I was still a Christian at this time and it was still tough completely letting go of the idea of Jesus.  But I was very interested in learning more about Judaism and completely felt welcomed and felt I got a lot from the prayers and service. I felt close to God. My Dada passed away in 2006. We attended his service at Beth Israel. They were so wonderful to us and my brother.  We kept going until we moved to California for my job as a CT technologist at Kaiser Permanente.

When we moved to San Diego we looked for Reform synagogues to attend. I kept praying for the right place to be and Mark was intermittently studying about Judaism.  We both kept praying to God to find the answers and the truth. It’s been a process and a journey to find the path we were supposed to be on and to agree to do it together.  Sometimes it is helpful to take a step away from religion to see everything for what it is without being biased towards anything but always believing and loving God. We didn’t realize we were praying for each other to find that path we were both supposed to be on together.

A few years ago Mark discovered outreach Judaism on YouTube. Rabbi Tovia Singer had a program to reach mainly Jewish people who didn’t quite know the Torah and were led to Christianity or to a messianic Jewish synagogue or to Jews for Jesus. In his show, he answered questions pertaining to the Torah and the Christian bible. He is a very kind and very diplomatic in his explanation of the scripture but very passionate in his explanation as well. He wrote a book, Let’s Get Biblical: Why Doesn’t Judaism Accept the Christian Messiah?  He uses accurate verses, chapters, and scripture  to explain why and how Jesus cannot be the messiah or God. He is not  pushy but just answers many questions and concerns such as the ones I’ve had and Mark throughout our time as Christians.

So I started listening and reading and researching and came to the conclusion this is what I believe. We started researching synagogues to attend  in San Diego. We went to a Reform congregation and an Orthodox one. They were very nice but still not quite the fit for us. Mark met a gentleman who attended a Conservative synagogue. We found an amazing synagogue, Tifereth Israel, that I really believe God led us too. Everyone has been so welcoming and hospitable. They taught us and guided us through through Shabbat services. Everyone wanted us to participate and be involved where we could in service.

We’ve become great friends and more like family with the members of the congregation. Truly amazing!! Rabbi Josh Dorsch and his family have been so nice getting  to know us. We’ve been attending and contributing as much as we can to the synagogue for for about 2 1/2 years now. We considered ourselves Noahides until we converted on Oct. 13, 2019. It was an amazing, beautiful experience. We had a mikvah at Mission Beach with a few other people who were converting. Rabbi Dorsch and Rabbi Devorah Marcus of Temple Emanu-El were there as well, with Rabbi Marcus conducting the mikvah ceremony and the submersion. We had prayer cards to recite the prayers to God as we submerged into the water three times. Even though the water was freezing it was an amazing experience. We ended with the Shema prayer. I felt so much at peace with God and myself. I’ve never felt that peaceful in my life.

We met with the beit din later in the afternoon. Rabbi Dorsch said it is part of the process to not shower or rinse off after the mikvah as to keep the memory of the mikvah throughout the day. This was so true. I felt at peace all day. Mark and I went to meet the rabbis later that afternoon. Rabbi Dorsch and Rabbis Devorah Marcus and Martin Lawson of Temple Emanu-El  were there. I was very nervous at first but Mark and I were able to go in together to talk with them. That made it easier. But they were wonderful! They made it so laid back and comfortable. We just talked with them and they asked specific questions about our journey and we answered honestly and from our heart. It was just an amazing experience! I cried when we actually were converted. It was so touching and such a blessing.

The rest of the day was just so beautiful and so meaningful for us both. My dada would have been so proud. The next weekend we had a celebration and kiddush lunch provided by the members of Tifereth Israel in our honor. We were so touched and honored to be a part of this beautiful celebration. It is truly amazing to be able to wear the tallit and say the blessings before and after the Torah reading in Hebrew. We did this on the day of our celebration and have a few times since then. Such a blessing! We are so happy and blessed to be a part of the Jewish family and synagogue. Especially being a part of the family at Tifereth Israel. We truly have become involved and a part of the holidays and the traditions of this beautiful religion, Judaism. It is so special and so dear to me to be home. We are now learning Hebrew and really becoming part of our Jewish family.

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Kira Thomas is a CT technician at Kaiser Permanente Hospital.