I found a good article at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism site that I want to share with you. Some of you may be aware of the issues facing converts to Judaism from denominations other than Orthodoxy (for more information on the details of that please see my earlier posts "Sticky conversion issues parts I and II). This article from USCJ touches on those issues without making it the focus of the article. It's a nice overview of the idea of adopting as a Jewish family, looks at different angles of the subject, and is worth a read no matter what your affiliation.

Here is short excerpt: "The other issue is that of the Jewish community's acceptance of non-Caucasian children. The rabbi [Hammerman] points out that "the first time a child who looks different from his or her parents comes to services, some people will stare," but he notes that, "by the third time that child comes to services, no-one notices." He feels that the way to involve the community with any child is to involve the child with the community." The full text of the article can be found at this link from the USCJ website.

We really did find that to be completely true in Anna's case - and we are in an Orthodox synagogue where (in this country) you tend to find less racial diversity (Israel is, of course, a whole other ballgame). For sure, people stared at Anna and at us the first few times we went to synagogue with her. And we got blunt questions. But we also had an announcement made welcoming her into the family, so we were trying to get everything out in the open at the begining. Now, I'd say she's the most recognized kid in our synagogue - but she's really just one of the kids.