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Before I decided to jump onto the Jew boat I was a big fan of mysticism.
I read a lot about meditation, chakras, and other forms of spiritual mysticism.
I also read about the occult, magic, and other religions outside of the Abrahamic religions with all those crazy gods and the sort and I bought into it.
I learned the basic concepts but I never did any of it.
If someone cracked a joke about Aleister Crowley or some crazy Hermetic Order I'd get the joke real quick.

Now that I've aligned myself with Judaism and the Jewish people I avoid what I used to be so interested in.
Don't mingle with soothsayers and magicians and all that jazz.
Don't walk into a house of idolatry.

I find this a bit hard because, though I worship Hashem alone and follow His laws I can't get rid of that nagging Old Me saying, "Hey, after you're done praying how about some good 'ol meditation?"

When I meditated back in the day I didn't call on any 'gods' or start foaming at the mouth and speaking in tongues... I just kind of channeled my energy through my body which helped calm me down and helped me think better.
I didn't ask G-d to help me out there or didn't use any D&D magick I just used me... if you get what I'm saying.

I guess you could compare it to Buddhism or Hinduism.
I didn't incorporate the whole shabang into my beliefs, just the self-help meditation.
I'm not into a bunch of cosmic blue skinned guys with three eyes or getting rid of all belongings because it'll help me reach 'enlightenment'.

See, I'm Japanese and I feel a powerful pull towards Buddhism along with the Irish folkore and all that 'nature magic'.
Several years ago I had several experiences that made me feel that there was more out there than just... I don't really know how to explain it.
I just don't believe it's just us on earth with the animals.
I believe there's something more...
From what I understand Judaism believes in spirits and all that jazz, we just can't go mucking around in their business.
I'm fine with that...

But when I go looking for some Eastern religion or I'm reading about the supernatural I feel really guilty because I feel like, "I can't do this anymore because I'm not sure Judaism will let me."

Can someone give me some advice or tell it to me straight?

Have you taken your time to read through the daily prayers? Look at them sometime, in whatever language is most comfortable for you, especially the P'sukei D'zimra and the Tehillim. Those are a wonderful basis for meditation. Actually, I find pretty much all the prayers to be that way. If I'm low on time, I can of course run through just saying the words pretty quickly to fulfill my obligation, but when I do have lots of time, I find it both fascinating and very moving to read through them and visualize what they say as a story or movie unfolding around me.

That's actually what one is supposed to do, in fact. Meditation has always been a part of Jewish prayer. Visualization, feeling as if every prayer applies to oneself, as if one were present at each historical moment for which a prayer was first composed, internalizing the prayers. I know some very spiritual people who can meditate for half an hour just on one word of prayer, one phrase from Torah or the prayer book.

Spirituality fills Judaism. You wouldn't have to go anywhere else for spirituality, mysticism, holy sexuality, logic, history, humor, science, or anything else you craved. It's all there, if you seek it out.

I urge you to get a copy of a siddur (prayer book) with interlinear or facing translations. I like "The Orot: Sephardic Weekday Siddur" and "The Orot: Sephardic Shabbat Siddur," and as you're Japanese, that might be most appropriate for you as well. The Artscroll series of siddurim are also very good, in the Ashkenazi tradition, as are the Birenbaum line of siddurim, and also Siddur Sim Shalom (Conservative, not Orthodox).

It's not the language that will seem familiar or feel most appropriate. Sephardim are "traditionally" Jews that come from the Iberian peninsula only -- Spain, Portugal, some parts of France, and a handful of South American and Mesoamerican congregations which were started by immigrants from the Sephardi countries.

But in common parlance, the word has come to mean basically any Jew that isn't Ashkenazi, including Mizrachim, the Jews of Africa and Asia.

I should have spoken more precisely and suggested you head for a Mizrachi rabbi, congregation, and/or prayer book, but not knowing the Jewish makeup of your local area, I couldn't be sure there was such a place. In the US and Canada, the overwhelming majority of Jews are Ashkenazi. It's something of a miracle to find even one non-Ashkenazi congregation, and when you do, it's usually a (traditional usage here) Sephardi one, rather than Mizrachi.

Anyway, long story short, as a convert you can choose your community and your "flavor," but I do suspect you'd be most comfortable in a place where your looks would simply be de rigeur.



I'm sorry to say that it's all considered avodah zarah ('foreign worship'), since so many of those symbols are in fact used for worship by some communities. A Jew or potential convert is to stay away from not only worshipping other than in a Jewish way, but also from looking like one is worshipping in a Jewish way. One must not only do right, but be seen to do right.

If you do choose to pursue conversion, the rabbi will almost certainly suggest that the items "present difficulties" or "are not appropriate" or "might cause comment." What he's doing is hinting, without wanting to actually order you to stop. He's going to offer you a little knowledge, and then see if you follow up on it. I would suggest either giving the items to someone who will use them without having religious obstacles to that use, or selling them on eBay or a secondhand store.

However, I also suggest wearing one of those rings to your first meeting, and when/if the rabbi mentions it, stop wearing it and then sell the items. You'll be giving him the opportunity to see it, comment, and then see how quickly you follow his mild suggestion. It will speak well for your seriousness.



Sadly, it's true. I've met many Buddhists who were born Jewish, and other Jews who practice other religions, looking for something they didn't find in Judaism. However, not one of them gave Judaism a fair chance. They learned up until the age of bar or bat mitzvah, then stopped, thinking Judaism didn't have what they were looking for.

I find that sad because... well, if they gave up dance at the age of twelve or thirteen because dance didn't have enough movement or creativity for them, they'd be laughed at: you learn what others teach as a child, but only when you grow older do you really get the opportunity to perform your own style, put your individual stamp on choreography. If you gave up math at the age of twelve or thirteen because it was so simple and elementary, you'd never go much past algebra, never get to trigonometry or calculus or discrete mathematics (no, that's not a typo) or symbolic logic or astrophysics. If you gave up studying biology because "Hey, I was born with a body, I know how it works, what else do I need?" you'd never know the amazing amount that there was to learn, never make it to medical school.

Yet when we take a four thousand year old tradition and teach it to a child, and the child gives up after getting only the stuff that children get, without even giving themselves the opportunity to learn in a more adult way, and then assumes that "Judaism doesn't offer what I'm looking for," people don't even seem to flinch. "Well, he gave it a try, so I'm satisfied."

That's like saying you've had lutefisk (fish prepared by burying it in the ground to rot for a year or so), so you don't need to try sushi or baked salmon because all fish tastes icky. It's ridiculous, but it's also sad, because not only has that individual lost their connection to something they were looking for everywhere but where they could actually find it, but also any future generations they have will be lost to Judaism as well.

One of my favorite songs in high school choir was based on a poem that I think sums this up nicely. If I recall correctly, it went something like this:

Seek not far for beauty. Lo! It glows
in dew-wet grasses all about thy feet;
In birds, in sunshine, childish faces sweet;
In stars, and mountain summits topped with snows.

Go not abroad for happiness. For, see,
It is a flower that blossoms at thy door!
Bring love and justice home, and then no more
Thou'lt wonder in what dwelling joy may be.

Dream not of noble service elsewhere wrought;
The simple duty that awaits thy hand
Is God's voice uttering a divine command;
Life's common duties build all that saint have thought.

In wonder-workings or some bush aflame,
Men look for God, and fancy Him concealed;
But in earth's common things he stands revealed,
While grass and stars and flowers spell out his name.

-- Minot J. Savage

What you want is already there in your hand.

You said you're of Japanese blood. Do you think that you need a ring to tell that to people? Look at your own face in the mirror. The way to wear your heritage proudly is the same way anyone else wears theirs: by standing tall, by behaving with dignity, by showing respect for yourself and others. Anyone who looks at you will know that that behavior is because of all that you are, which is what you came from plus what you added for yourself.

You'd need to consult a Torah-observant rabbi for further details, but I suspect he'll say something similar: don't negate who you are, focus on who you are. Hashem already made the most beautiful adornment for your soul, the body in which it resides.

If you truly can't get past that, then maybe Judaism isn't for you. A sincere convert is one who accepts all of the 613 mitzvot. Denying even one of them is not permitted to a convert. But -- and I'll say it again -- there is absolutely nothing wrong with not being a Jew. Hashem made Jews, and Hashem made non-Jews, because both are equal in the world and serve holy purposes within the world that is, and also in the world to come. As you say, you are not doing anything wrong by being yourself. Your Self, however, may not be a Jewish self. If that's the case, then honor who you really are, instead of trying to be something else.

Did he bring up the issue of carved/graven images?

What was his affiliation -- Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Sephardi?

I know what my rabbi would say about it, and I've told you, but of course you have to choose your own rav. Choose carefully, because unless something major happens to change your entire mindset and views, or to put a serious wedge between you, your rav is your rav for pretty much the rest of your life.

When you meditated, you came in contact with your soul. With your Atman. Any Hindu will tell you that the goal is to realize that the Atman and Brahman are the same. All religions really say the same thing, they point to the same basic idea- A concious singularity of creation. This relates to Kabbalistic Monism- All is one, all things come from God, and are therefore made of a primal stuff.

If you contact your essential self, your Soul, or Atman, as it is called in Hindu, then you come closer to the Brahman, or ultimate reality. It doesn't matter what name you call God, in what language. THe point is that you're conciously aware of yourself as eternal, and of God as eternal.

If you use magic, you are using the forces of Nature which sprang directly from God. If you see a part of God in an animal, you are seeing it because, again, all things are essentially one. Point being, it doesn't matter how you call God, or where you see God. If you think God has four hundred million faces and shows up as four hundred million different entities, you're right. If you think God is one infinite singularity, you are right.

It was like the Jainist view of Karma, then?

But that's exactly it- The multiple Gods are all faces of the One. It doesn't matter if you distill out his ten emanations or look to every single atom, or only consider one singularity, you're still acknowledging the Divine. God is the beginning, and all we see on earth is the corrupt part far away from the source- It's Malkhut and Samsara. I'm not sure if Malkhut is intended to be a swear, but I say it like one- It's the corrupt realm of filth and mortality. Point being, even though it doesn't look like God, all physical things came from God, so calling them aspects of God is at least part right.


Your soul is made up of the same stuff as God- the eternal soulstuff. If you are doing something to confirm your soul, you are coming closer to God- If you meditate and find your essential self, you're getting closer to God in that way.

As a side note, I have heard that plates or other utensils with a non-kosher animal depicted of them should not be used.

I would think that the Dragon would be an interesting discussion, I myself am half Chinese, have converted to Orthodox Judiasim , along with my parents and brother, (We are now Chabad Lubavitch but also study many other teachings, like Rebbe Nachman of the Breslov) and have one necklace with a Lung Dragon on it. It is currently lost among my stuff. I have heard nothing about worshiping the Lung Dragon but have heard that it is meant to represent long life or wisdom(Age and wisdom are closely tied in Chinese culture which is one of the reasons that elders are highly respected.) Since it is not worshiped I do not believe it would be considered an Idol but since it is used to represent an attribute it would definitely bring up discussion. I myself am rather undecided.