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Originally Posted By Ana

My DH and I are planning to adopt an older child, up to 9 years old. Has anyone had such an experience? Most likely the child was raised non'Jewish, and since at that age they already practiced religion, how do I make the change?

All the best,

Ana.

[Archive]

Originally Posted By Sharon

A lot depends on where you are adopting from. In some foreign orphanages, there isn't a great deal of religious instruction. As an example, I doubt that most of the older kids in Chinese orphanages have had religious teaching.

So many things will be new and different to such a child that religion will be just one of them. The child will soon come to understand the way you run your household (e.g., celebrating Shabbat, keeping Kosher, or whatever) and view it as part of having a family.

You will need to make some decisions, of course, about conversion. While some liberal Jews do say that conversion isn't necessary since you are the child's parents and committed to raising him/her Jewish, most Jewish people view it as necessary. For a girl, this will simply involve a trip to a mikvah and then, perhaps, a naming ceremony. For a boy, of course, there is circumcision, not just mikvah, and that's a little more difficult to explain to a newly adopted child.

[Yocheved]

Anna,
We adopted our son when he was 7, he is now 13 and just became a Bar Mitzva in an Orthodox Shul. He didn't even know what the word Jewish was when he came home with us. Now he wants to become a Rabbi when he grows up. Might I add he is also Black! He attends an Orthodox Jewish Day School and is quite a remarkable kid. You should read his Bar Mitzvah speech, it brought the whole congregation to tears. I'm sure with faith and patience your child to will learn to love Torah. Keep in touch, let me know how it goes.