Conversion Complications – why is it so hard to convert to Judaism?

When Jenny Magril’s family made Aliyah from Belarus, she did not feel any different from the rest of the kids in her class. She celebrated the same holidays, spoke the same language and felt just as Jewish as the rest of them. Only according to the Jewish Law she was considered a non-Jew, because while her father was Jewish, her mother was not.

“I never truly felt different as a child. I never even asked myself whether I was Jewish or not. Only at the age of 12, when the girls in my class celebrated their Bat-Mitzvah, I asked my mother and she explained to me that because her family is not Jewish, in Israel I am not considered Jewish. That was when I realized I was stuck in between two worlds, two identities”

At that point, she tells “Israelife,” her unfinished conversion process began. “My parents asked me if I wanted to officially convert, but when I found out it involves going to a religious school and adopting an Orthodox way of life, I decided, together with my parents, to wait until I was older.”

According to the Israeli government