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?

My son in law is allergic to nuts. How do I make the Haroset for the sedar. Someone suggested pine nuts. Is that kosher for passover. If not any suggestions

I'd like to know how to find out the date a part of the Babylonian Talmud was written. I'm not exactly sure how to properly reference it. I think it's Tract Sanhedrin - Haggada - Chapter 11 which is "THE HAGGADIC PART ABOUT RESURRECTION; SHARES IN THE WORLD TO COME; AND ABOUT THE MESSIAH, ETC.". The source I'm looking at can be found at http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t08/t0814.htm. And on that page, it's down at the end of "page" 302 and the beginning of "page" 303. How can I get a general (or even better, exact) idea of when that particular part was written? Thank you so much for any help you can provide. Mark

According to Halacha, can a Non Jew get honors such as opening the ark... Can I have some Talmudic sources to support the answer? Thank you.

Shalom, I do have a question pertaining to 1 Chronicles 24:1-19, > particularly verses 7-18. > > The courses or divisions of the sons of Eleazar and Ithamar are > divided into 24 units. 16 for Eleazar and 8 for Ithamar. > > So my questions is this, is the course of Jehoiarib the lineage of > Eleazar, and then very next course of Jedaiah, from Ithamar? > > Would that make the eighth course of Abijah in verses 10 also be from > the lineage of Ithamar? > > I'm asking these questions because when I read this chapter it appears > that in all the 24 divisions of the Eleazar and Ithamar lineages, the > first is taken from Eleazar, then the second from Ithamar, and so on > back and forth, is this correct? > > I look forward to your response, thank you. > > Sincerely, > RJ Toviah