stop looking for the dark clouds underneath every silver lining.

American Jews never cease to amaze me. They consider themselves yet they are afraid of every sign of change even when it's change in a positive direction.

The post about Mare Winningham's conversion was equally full of little snide remarks. Why can't we accept that there are many people out there who would like to become Jews?

One reasone could be that being so skeptical about our faith we don't believe that anyone else could be passionate about it. Another reason could be that we afraid of change.

Do the Cairo Illinois folks have a Jewish consciousness yet? Of course not. All converts bring their background to the new faith. Give them time and they will adjust. They will also have to learn to deal with anti-Jewish feelings out there. Something tells me though that as Black folk they are already a lot about bigotry.

Bless them and let's give them a positive welcome and stop kvetching, Tamar. 

btw: Cairon Illinois was also the place were Huckleberry Finn and Jim tried to cross into freedom and failed. I am glad that Jim's descendants are free at last. Free to make their own spiritual destiny.