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When a prospective convert approaches a rabbi about conversion, the rabbi is required to challenge the convert: “Why do you want to convert? Don’t you know the Jews have always suffered and been persecuted by enemies who want to destroy them? The Holocaust was relatively recent, and there were countless pogroms before it. Even now there are enemies who threaten to wipe us out. All of this, because we are Jews. If you wish to draw closer to God and be a righteous person, you should know that a non-Jew can be a righteous gentile and can even be divinely inspired.” When candidates remain adamant that they wish to convert despite all of this, we begin to teach them the basics of faith and Torah.
In the past, when most Jews lived in close-knit communities, prospective converts who were willing to accept Torah and mitzva observance would be taught a few mitzvot and then would convert and join the local community. After the conversion, they would continue to study and become used to keeping the mitzvot. They were not taught all the mitzvot before conversion, because even those with the purest of motives might be intimidated and withdraw if they were told about all of the mitzvot at once.
Nowadays though, most communities are not as cohesive, and (as we said in the previous section) a convert’s primary motivation is often family connection. Under these circumstances, we are afraid if we do not teach converts extensively before conversion, they will not continue studying following the conversion, and will not advance in Torah and mitzvot. Therefore, the conversion process today commonly extends for about a year. Prospective converts study and become used to observing the mitzvot before converting. This way, when they tell the conversion court they are prepared to keep the mitzvot, there is good reason to believe them.
