PERSONAL STATEMENTS | FRANK GIARDINA

Susan James' Conversion Ceremony Address

Cherished friends, first of all, I can’t thank all of you enough for taking time out of your busy schedule to assemble here and share this most special of days with me. First and foremost, it is YOU, members of the Temple community, extraordinary individuals that you are, that persuaded me that I should not only convert to Judaism but should find a place of service specifically at Emanu-El. This is one of the happiest days of my life!

Now, for how I came to embrace Judaism: Ironically enough, as some of you already know, I first encountered Jewish culture in depth in an academic context, as a student of German. As a graduate student in German Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, I took a seminar on German Jewish writers, taught by the University’s Yiddish professor. The affinity with the thinking of the writers I encountered was immediate. When my professor saw this, he volunteered to mentor me in Jewish studies and introduced me to other Jewish faculty members and grad students. Thus began my interest in Judaism more than 25 years ago. As a result of my studies specifically in Holocaust Literature I was the first non-Jew appointed as a teaching assistant for the course at UT-Austin.

I later moved to Indiana to teach German at Purdue where I attended a university sponsored Holocaust conference. There I made many Jewish friends including Eva Kor, who, with her late sister Miriam, had been one of Mengele’s twins. After two years in the Midwest I returned to Texas, living first in Fort Worth, then settling in Dallas. While in Fort Worth I became acquainted with Brigitte Altman, one of the survivors of the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania. The strange thing was, it was as if we’d known each other before, somewhere lost in time. From then on I would joke that, if reincarnation exists, I must have spent at least one lifetime in a shtetl somewhere in Eastern Europe!

My interest in Judaism continued to grow after I moved to Dallas: I enrolled in Beyt Midrash classes at the JCC and became a regular at the 3 Stars Cinema series and the Judaica lecture series at SMU, joined Hadassah and just generally read whatever I could get my hands on that had to do with Jewish culture.

Then, about three years ago, I became friends with Mary Howe whom many of you also know. After I’d read her book, A Baptist among the Jews, I contacted her, telling her I had been brought up with a similar background. After we became better acquainted, she asked me if I’d ever considered exploring the religious side of Judaism. In my ignorance I told her I’d never considered it because I thought that the only non-Jews who were encouraged to convert were those taking Jewish spouses.

She explained that the Reform community welcomed any sincere conversion candidates. She invited me to attend Saturday services at Lefkowitz and I was hooked. I just felt instantly at home, especially during the Sisterhood potluck that followed. It was like I was among old friends. I’ve been attending ever since, adding on other activities over time (Chever Torah, the philosophy group, Hebrew classes, Jewish Text Study, Meals on Wheels, Havdalah at Town North and Dolls for Darfur). Never in my life have I been more completely in my element. I tell people “Who cares whether there’s a hereafter? There’s Emanu-El now!” By the spring of last year, a year after I began coming to Temple, I knew I was ready to convert.

What I came to understand, as I delved more deeply into Judaism, is that it united all the major interests of my life. For me it is comparable to a mighty river into which many tributaries flow.

My earliest memories were of growing up in a home where legal issues were debated. (My late dad was a judge.) What I had no inkling of at the time was that many aspects of the American legal system, especially the case law generated by the U.S. Supreme Court, were materially influenced by the Talmudic tradition.

Judaism also allows me to draw on my training in literature. I’ve found this extremely useful for unpacking parsha verses at Chever Torah. The Reform tendency to read and interpret texts at many levels has been right up my alley.

Then there was my 40-year spiritual odyssey as a seeker. I couldn’t wait to get to college to study philosophy, psychology and comparative religion along with literature. Through medieval German studies I became acquainted with the writing of the great Christian mystics of the time. This study was well timed because it resonated with personal mystical experiences I had begun having. However, I moved on to Jewish mysticism because it seemed a much better fit and had a far richer tradition. I found Kabbalah provided a comprehensive approach explaining how life came to be, what its continued existence rests on and what we are here to do. Then last year I began studies in Mussar (which we will be discussing here over a weekend next month with guest lecturer Alan Morinis). Mussar functions like a practical how-to guide for daily living, reminding us in a systematic way of what we need to do in order to live full and effective Jewish lives.

So, to sum up, the three main themes & interests of my life—law, literature and mysticism—appear to me as tributaries flowing into the mighty river that is Judaism. In retrospect, it seems I was destined to become a Jew. At this point in time I cannot imagine living out my life missing the experience of being part of the Emanu-El community.

It has been said that we are the faces of God in the world, and let me tell you, you guys make Him look FANtastic!! Thank you all again so much for sharing this special day with me. Am Israel chai!!

ADDENDUM (AN UPDATE): In the year since my conversion I have discovered through genealogy that I have a great grandfather from Russian Jewish parentage who assimilated when he moved out to Oklahoma from Boston around 1900. This explains why I have such a natural affinity with the joy of the Hasidim and with Kabbalah. Nowadays I tell people, you can take the girl out of Judaism but you can’t take the Judaism out of the girl!