USSR Aliyah is Over, Japanese is About to begin. A primer by the Weizmann Institute Scientist

"Yona can’t hide the fact that he’s a ger – even if he wants to. Well, there’s his last name and there’s the fact that he’s Japanese and walks around with a black velvet kippah on his jet- black hair − a bit of an anomaly. While most gerim have the convenience of being able to blend into society and only reveal their roots if they choose to, someone Japanese can’t.

The soft-spoken and refined 38-year-old experimental particle physicist converted two years ago in Canada. Having completed his Bachelor’s degree at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, he went to the United States where he did his Master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering at the University of California at Berkley and his PhD in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Michigan, Anne Arbor. After a two-year research stint in Canada, eight months ago he made aliyah with his ginger cat Sean who, according to Yona, is “just about bar mitzvah age.” Today he lives in Rehovot and works for the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Raised secular in Japan, Yona knew nothing at all about Jews or Judaism. While at Berkley, he started working once a week for a disabled religious Jew as an aide. “He took me to his synagogue and I started praying,” says Yona. “Then I started exploring and I started reading. At this time I wasn’t too interested in converting. I was more interested in the ethnicity of the Jewish people than theology, because religious Jews are a small percentage of the Jewish people.”

The decision to convert came 10 years later when he was meeting other Jews. “I never thought I’d convert. After I became a professional, I got more serious about life and started observing the laws, Shabbat and the holidays. And then slowly it started making sense and became logical to officially incorporate them into my daily life, consciously or unconsciously. Overall, there was a driving force moving me toward that direction.” Two years after his application to the Beit Din, he took the name of the man who first introduced him to Judaism.

Yona has no problems with his family accepting his decision because they don’t really understand it. Not philosophically, they just don’t have a deep understanding of Judaism. “I explained to them what it is but we haven’t discussed these issues in a serious manner. They don’t understand. We aren’t a religious family anyway, so there’s no family conflict. When I’m in Japan, I spend some time with my family, and on Shabbat with Jewish friends. There is a Sephardic synagogue in the port city of Kobe near Osaka, congregated mainly by Israelis living in the area.

“Judaism is more approachable for somebody who came from the East. It’s much easier to absorb and digest than say, Christianity, the ideas of which feel quite foreign and distant to me. Although Japan is a country that values discipline, the discipline dictated by Halachah is difficult. Gerim are like orphans. You have to live with this loneliness because once you become Jewish, you don’t really have any theological commonality with your parents. They’re still your parents but there aren’t a lot of things you can do with your own family members. This is really the toughest part. Of course you will find an adoptive family or host family who will take you in but still, you feel like an orphan.”

Although Yona feels accepted by his congregation and community, he doesn’t feel accepted by Israeli society. “It’s hard to blend in. The culture is so strong that if you’re from the outside you feel like an outsider.” This is especially so if you look like an outsider and act like an insider. Yona has long-range plans to remain in Israel but it is an experiment, of course, which he hopes will succeed.

“I hope I will have a happy life and get married and have children and stay healthy. I made such an effort to make aliyah. I hope to meet some Israeli woman, but I feel I shouldn’t be too limiting. I should be open to suggestions. But it’s a really limiting area. Here again, it’s not easy to marry − especially someone religious who would be willing and open to marrying a ger.

“Secular or even traditional people get nervous about the fact that I became a Jew. They cannot feel comfortable because it’s illogical, not something that should have happened. They give me the impression that I did something really chutzpadik. It makes them feel awkward about their own identity, and it makes them nervous when someone without hidden motives becomes Jewish.”

What Yona enjoys most about the religion he’s embraced is the continuing education. “You can never learn enough Torah, and you have to keep motivating yourself. Every time you learn, you discover something new. It really is like science, it’s a lifelong activity.” Spoken like a true professor.

For Yona, everything’s new – his religion, his country. He visited Israel four times before making aliyah but it’s a new experience, one he seems to enjoy, despite the hardships. “If you’re really serious about Judaism,” he says, “please come to Israel to live.”

Source: Rosally Saltsman. Journeys To Judaism: Gerei Tzedek. The Jewish Press (25 April 2007) [FullText]