When is it too late for an infant conversion?

I did both my boys around age 1, I think you need to check with the center near you about the age issue, butI do recall it needing to be done when they were young. Good luck

Could you explain the process for conversion to a Christian-Buddhist? I'm just asking because I would love to know and I think it's great.

There are no age limits on conversion. With an adult, however, a period of study is required so that the person understands all that becoming a Jew entails and is prepared to take on the responsibility of living a Jewish life. The adult convert makes his/her own choice as to whether to become Jewish. And since Judaism discourages proselytising, some rabbis believe that they should use the period of study to try to discourage the prospective Jew, by telling him/her about religious prejudice and showing him/her how difficult being Jewish really is. The young child convert -- like a newly adopted child -- is, essentially, not given a choice. His/her parents make that decision for him/her. Rabbis have always been a little uncomfortable about that, because so often in Jewish history, Jews were forced to convert to other religions. As a result, a tradition has arisen that, at the time of Bar or Bat Mitzvah -- religious coming of age -- he/she has the right to refuse to be Jewish. This is usually expressed in the opposite way; the converted child often refers to the conversion in his/her Bar/Bat Mitzvah speech, and affirms his/her wish to be Jewish. Do remember that not all adopted kids need to have a conversion. Orthodox and Conservative Jews believe that, if your biological mother was Jewish, you are Jewish unless you make a decision to convert to another religion. So if the bio Mom was Jewish, then the child does not need to be converted. Some Reform Jews say that you are Jewish if either your biological mother or your biological father was Jewish. And some very liberal Jews say that you don't require conversion at all if you are going to be raised in a Jewish home. For a girl or woman to be converted, all that is required is "tavilah" -- immersion in a mikvah (ritual bath). Mikvaot are found in many communities, although some may be restricted to people who practice Orthodox Judaism. I converted my daughter in a Conservative mikvah in Washington, DC. Your rabbi should be able to find you a mikvah and arrange for the ceremony. If there is no mikvah in your community, you can wait until summer and arrange the mikvah ceremony at a body of "living waters" such as a river or the ocean. Basically, the ceremony is simple, and the necessary preparations will be explained by the mikvah attendant. The child is naked and freshly washed. With a baby or toddler, a parent (wearing a bathing suit) takes her into the pool, immerses her completely (letting go for just a second so that water can touch all parts of her), brings her up quickly, and recites the conversion blessings. Rabbis listen to the blessings, usually from behind a partially open door (which derives from the fact that, among the Orthodox, women would not wear a bathing suit or similarly skimpy clothing in the presence of men other than their husbands.) They then sign a certificate, indicating that the conversion was done properly. Many Jewish people do a separate naming ceremony and celebration for girls at their synagogue or home after the conversion, since most mikvaot are not set up to accommodate more than the family and the child; there's just the mikvah, changing rooms, and a waiting room. As an example, I held my daughter's naming on the first Friday night following her conversion. It was held in our synagogue, and I sponsored the Oneg Shabbat (literally "Sabbath Joy") -- a little after-service food event with tea, coffee, punch, cookies, pastries, and so on. I had said "no gifts", since a lot of people had given showers or brought welcome home gifts previously, but most people seemed to ignore it, and we wound up borrowing trash bags to haul our gifts home. In the case of boys and men, things get just a bit more complicated. Befor "tavilah", boys must undergo "brit milah", or the covenant of circumcision. With newborns, brit milahs, or "brisses", as they are sometimes called, can be done at home by a "mohel", or ritual circumcision expert. However, after the newborn period, circumcisions must be done in a hospital, under anesthesia. Nowadays, observant Jewish doctors are increasingly being trained as mohelim (occasionally mohelot -- female mohels -- in Reform and Conservative Judaism), so that they can do the ritual, as well as the surgery, right in the operating room. If you cannot find a doctor who is a mohel, you can have any pediatric urologist with hospital privileges do the medical part of the circumcision. Then, a couple of weeks later, you can have a mohel do a ceremony called "hatafat dam brit", where a drop of blood is drawn to symbolize the circumcision, and the circumcision blessings are said. Hatafat dam brit is also used in cases where a child was circumcised non-ritually at an earlier date -- for example, by his biological family, prior to adoption by a Jewish family. Since most adult American men, even non-Jewish men, are circumcised, this is the approach used by most adult male converts. While the newborn's brit was usually followed immediately by a celebration in the home, it is not possible to do much celebrating in an operating room, when an older child has been circumcised. As a result, the hatafat dam brit ceremony may be done at home and followed by a party. Or the party can go on separately, at some time after the brit milah. Brit milah should be done prior to conversion, and far enough in advance that the incision site has healed. You should not take a child with an unhealed circumcision site into the mikvah, to prevent infection. I hope that helps. Sharon

Saya, I did a conservative Tevilah in the Mikveh with my son when he was five months old. It was a very quick and easy process and done in an hour. With your daughter, it should be the same, I don't think that there would be a difference because she is till so young. But you have to get it done now before she gets older otherwise the rabbis might complicate the process.

I just wanted to add that as I mentioned in the "Help me choose a Hebrew name" thread we have FINALLY gotten our act together to do the conversion! We are talking to a Rabbi and will be taking our daughter to the Mikveh in the next month or so, probably with a naming ceremony to follow at services a few weeks or so later. I have to say, it's so funny but our daughter really seems like the super Jew of the family so far. I grew up Reform and come from a TOTALLY secular family. My husband had more of a Jewish education then I did, but remains ambivilent about it. But it has always been important to us that our daughter was converted because, well she's OUR daughter, and she's a part of the family and no one should be able to question that she's Jewish. It should be a part of her life to accept or reject as she sees fit. Then we started taking her to Shabbat sing-along at a local shul - mostly, honestly, to have something to do on cold and rainy Saturday mornings, and now she's TOTALLY into it. She's starting singing her own versions of Shabbat songs around the house, like "Shabbat -- hey!" (leaving out the "shalom" in the middle). And after the sing-along's over she LOVES to go downstairs and sit in on this egalitarian conservadox minyan that meets in the Rabbi's office. Last Saturday she was walking toward the minyan and said "I need hat and book" -- meaning a kippah and a siddur. And while we celebrate both X-mas and Hanukkah (with different parts of the family) she was totally into Hanukkah and could kind of take or leave X-mas. Maybe she's just one of those Jewish souls. :)