At Chochmat, all are welcome in our community, whether you are born into a Jewish lineage or come from other lineages. 

There are many ways to become a Jew.

Some people are born to one or more Jewish parents or grandparents.

Some people are “Jewish by choice”, and go through  journeys of learning, self-reflection, participating in Jewish community, and transformational rituals.  

Some people who are born into a family with Jewish ancestry, but without direct Jewish matrilineal lineage, choose to undergo an affirmation process.

No matter which path you choose, at Chochmat, you are welcome.

And we know that for many, the idea of taking on Jewish identity is not simply a matter of a piece of paper, or a dunk in the mikveh (ritual bath). It’s a deep process of personal growth and identity development. It’s a way of taking your insides and matching them with your outsides, through acknowledging what may have been true for quite some time, on a spiritual, ancestral or psychological level. 

Darchei HaLev (Journeys of the Heart) is not just a conversion program: It’s a community-centered, supportive, spiritually nourishing journey that will empower you to create a Judaism that is meaningful, rich, alive, and relevant to your own personal life. 

You may already be raising Jewish families. You may have Jewish ancestry. You may have been looking for a conversion program for many years, but none of them were just quite right. Perhaps you’ve wanted to learn spiritual teachings as well as traditional texts. Maybe you’ve wanted to study deeply and practice widely without a cookie-cutter approach. Or maybe it hadn’t yet been the right time for you to reflect and invest in this way.

On the Conversion Derech (pathway) at Darchei HaLev, you’ll be learning about Jewish rituals, rhythms, stories, and traditions, while exploring how this might fit into your own life. There’ll be monthly integration sessions to explore how this is landing in your heart as well as your head, alongside others from your cohort. There’ll be monthly hands-on immersive workshops to explore how the rituals might look in real life. 

And through it all, the goal is not for you to know enough, to be good enough, to pass a test to become a Jew. 

You are already you. 

You are already enough. 

Your conversion or affirmation process is for you to explore, grow, and determine how you want to live your best Jewish life. Our goal is for you to emerge with a sense of deep confidence in your Jewish identity and empowered agency in your Jewish life. 

We will endeavor to guide you through a conversion ritual that is meaningful, personal, and in alignment with the Conservative and Jewish Renewal movements. 

You can study alongside a spouse or partner working towards their own Adult B’Mitzvah (rite-of-passage) as they claim their own relationship to Judaism, or they can join you in our first-year Jewish Foundations Derech (pathway) so you can build your Jewish life together. 

Each one of you has a unique personal story that got you here. Now, in Darchei HaLev, we’re here to support you in writing the next chapter of your journey and where it will take you next.