Health and Conversion
Question
Hi! My name is [REMOVED]. I am Jewish on my fathers side. I was told by my Rabbi to convert because it goes by your mother. I love Judaism. But along the way like I started hearing things and seeing things. My doctor says its schizophrenia. It prevented me from learning Torah. I'm confused.
Answer
Shalom!
Thank you for your question.
The first thing I must make clear, is that right now, you must take care of your health. That must be your priority and that is what God wants from you right now.
You must continue to visit your doctor and take all the required medicines regularly. You should also consider seeing therapist of some sort to help you even more.
As you note, Jewish lineage follows the mother, not the father. However, just because your mother is not Jewish it does not mean that you need to convert, or that you should convert, at all. I will further add that Judaism does not encourage people to convert to Judaism.
Judaism believes that God loves all mankind. One does not need to become Jewish to go to heaven. All that God wants from the Non-Jewish world is that they observe 7 precepts, or commandments. They are known as the “Noahide Laws” because the requirement to observe these seven laws was given Noah, a righteous non-Jew (yes, the fellow from the story with the flood).
The 7 laws are:
1. Don’t murder.
2. Don’t steal.
3. Don’t worship false gods.
4. Don’t be sexually immoral.
5. Don’t eat a limb from an animal that is still alive.
6. Don’t curse God.
7. Establish a system of justice.
Any human being who observes these laws goes to heaven. There is no need to follow any other religion.
Take a look at the website https://www.netivonline.org/ which specializes in helping non-Jews with religious beliefs. There is a wealth of information there that you will find useful and inspiring.
Good luck on your journey!