Mike Dulak grew up Catholic in Southern California, but by his teen years, he began skipping Mass and driving straight to the shore to play guitar, watch the waves and enjoy the beauty of the morning. “And it felt more spiritual than any time I set foot in a church,” he recalled.
Nothing has changed that view in the ensuing decades.
“Most religions are there to control people and get money from them,” said Dulak, now 76, of Rocheport, Missouri. He also cited sex abuse scandals in Catholic and Southern Baptist churches. “I can’t buy into that,” he said.
As a Jewish convert (no need for quotation marks, we call it converting), correct. It’s tough for a few reasons: antisemitism, and the fact that you’re not just converting to a religion, you’re joining an ethnic group. I had to take a semester-long class, meet with rabbis, get a sponsoring rabbi, who had to make sure I was serious and legitimately wanting to be Jewish (occasionally, christians with bad intentions try to convert), meet with that rabbi many times, start and keep observing Jewish law. At the very end of the process, I basically interviewed with a group of 3 rabbis who were responsible for actually OKing my conversion, signed some forms, and dunked myself in a specially-prepared pool of water under the supervision of a rabbi or the mikveh (the special pool of water) attendant. Conversion can take anywhere from 6 months to multiple years, however the variables shake out for the individual.