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Measure
of
the Jew
Every rabbi who has ever con
verted a non-Jew to Judaism must
surely have sighed during the con
version ceremony and remarked (to
himself, of course): If all born
Jews were such learned and good
Jews . . .
Consider the story of the hand
some 21-year-old artist from Rot
terdam, who not only embraced
Judaism recently in Jersey City but
insisted on a Bar Mitzvah ceremony
because he wanted, in his own
words, “to assume all the respon
sibilities of a Jew.”
Jews-by-birth have mixed feel
ings about the Gentile who wants
to join the fold. The convert can
be both a rebuke and a source of
vicarious Jewish pride to the born
Jew.
He can be a source of embrass-
rassment, too. He must study and
pass a rigorous examination in
Jewish lore which perhaps a ma
jority of adulf Jews-by-birth would
flunk. Young Casper Odencamp
told the congregation of Emanu-
E1 at his conversion Bar Mitzvah
not only that he wanted to be a
Jew for many years but also exact
ly why he wanted to be one.
It was a decision all the more
striking because the artist had
lived through the years of the Nazi
occupation of his homeland and
even though he was only a child
he was vividly aware of what the
consequences of being a Jew mehnt
to one caught in the Nazi pestil
ence.
As his story was described re
cently in the Jersey City Standard,
before he could become a Jew, he
had to study, and study he did. The
study, under the direction of Rabbi
Benjamin Plotkin of Congregation
Emanu-El, including many hours of
immersion in the Talmud—a closed
book to the overwhelming major
ity of American Jews.
As he recited the Maftir and the
Haftarah in Sephardic Hebrew
during the Saturday morning serv
ice, he was the object of fascinated
attention by the congregants and
many others who had come to at
tend a unique ceremony. Then, in
a Bar Mitzvah speech rare for
Jewish ears, he explained “What
Led Me to Become a Jew.”
The story began in his child
hood. He was brought up in the
home of a confirmed atheist. He re
called his rebellion and the “sharp
differences” he had with his fa
ther about this. •
Referring to the Nazi oppression
in Holland, he told the congrega
tion that ‘though I was very young,
I have sharp recollections of the
brutalities the Nazis inflicted upon
my countrymen.”
Time passed, Holland was lib
erated by the Allies, the boy be
came a youth and he dreamed of
a vision of “a faith of freedom,
a faith that would inspire men to
emulate the Creator of All, to act
for justice and beauty.” By chance,
he told the synagogue audience, he
happened to read the Jewish Scrip
tures and there "I met the giants
of the Hebrew faith in the times
of its greatest moments.” Again by
accident, he happened to read
Maimonides "Guide for the Per
plexed." (Did Rabbi Plotkin per
haps wonder how many American
Jews-by-birth have read it?)
“Here I found Judaism elaborate
ly and carefully explained in terms
of logic,” the artist continued. Bv
that time he had come to live in
the United States. On the advice
of a friend, he had a conversa
tion with a rabbi in Manhattan
about his wish to become a Jew.
The rabbi of course discouraged
him, for is it not written that all
righteous men shall have a share
in the world to come? And the
rabbi also told him “of the hard
ships that would be involved.” But
the youth persisted and the rabbi
promised "to help me gain a bet
ter understanding of Judaism
through the history, ceremonies and
different outlooks of Judaism."
“I studied diligently and the
more I studied the more my en
thusiasm increased.”
He found a job as associate di
rector of art exhibits at Emanu-El
and became a regular attendant at
Sabbath services. And he begn to
study for conversion with Rabbi
Plotkin.
“Though I have gone through
all the formal ceremonies of con
version,” he told his Bar Mitzvah
audience, “it is today that I public
ly acknowedge the Torah to be the
Word of God and the Law for Is
rael. Now, after my conversion, I
am happy that I was able to find
my direction to the Jewish faith.
I have entered the faith of supreme
creativity where man worships
through inner sincerity in upright
actions.
Thus did Akiba Odencamp be
come a Jew—by choice.
14
The Southern Israelite