Conservative Conversion
Question
asktherabbi
I have a personal question. My mother underwent a conversion when she was 20 years old, with the intent of becoming a Jew because she believes in Judaism and she also wanted a future with my father, a Jew. She studied for a year, did the mikveh, beis din before 3 torah-observing and shabbas-observing rabbis from JTS and everything. I understand that orthodox judaism does not recognize any of this. My question is I have been raised a Jew, had a kosher bris, bar mitzvahed, have studied briefly in a yeshiva, basically have expressed more interest than most jews i know and actually lived more than a year and a half as an observant Jew keeping shabbas and kashrus... Must i undergo a full conversion, from beginning to end (like a stranger on the street), as if all this i have done means nothing, or is there a quicker, symbolic conversion available for me, people like me... the name of which escapes me, but i know it has been given to people when it is unsure of the person's jewish status and in place of the standard full conversion. (like for the Falashas of Ethiopia). I think I would feel much better about all this if all i must do is a symbolic brit milah and immersion in mikveh... i feel less excited if it means i have to go through a year-long process as a matter of course. What, if any, are my options?