Today I helped bring four people into the covenant and holy congregation of Israel.

Two were a couple, Bill and Barb, Bill in his 70s, Barb in her 60s, who are very active members in the synagogue, and very keen on learning and increasing their knowledge and observance, and who will be marrying in a halachic wedding on their 18th secular wedding anniversary in December.

One, Bob, an octogenarian career crop duster who has been trying to convert for just about 20 years. He doesn’t see or hear well, he is in failing health, and was terrified that he would die before he was allowed to convert. He cried when we told him we’d unanimously agreed that he should proceed to the mikveh.

The last, James, is a young man in his early thirties who began his learning on Aish.com and then called my friend Rabbi Jacobson and asked if she would please deprogram him. He is the son of a Japanese father and a half(?) Native-American mother, and is extremely eager and enthusiastic about his journey into Jewish observance. I felt compelled to caution him against being judgmental of other Jews who are less than perfect or still searching in their observance. I explained that Jewish observance is like a ladder, and we are all at different places on that ladder at different points in our lives for different reasons. Since no one is at the top, the goal is to always be ascending in holiness. I warned him to have some humility on that account, and he affirmed that he would work on that.

I’ve been joking for the past week that while in Oklahoma I was going to be “Making Jews.” I say such things because I think that it is important to have a sense of humor about things, especially religion. It is good grounding sometimes (maybe even often) to take some healthy pot-shots at oneself and the things one holds dear. But now I’m going to be serious:

I did not make any Jews today. My friends, Dina and Abby (both rabbis) who served with me on the beit din today did not make any Jews today. The mohel who performed the hatafat dam brit, and the shomrim who witnessed the immersions in the mikveh did not make any Jews today. Rabbi Jacobson who spent the past year or so teaching and meeting with these four people regularly, did not make any Jews today. Today, four Jews were brought into the covenant and holy congregation of Israel by The Kadosh Baruch Hu, HaShem the Holy One Blessed is God, and I was extremely blessed to have been a part of this holy process. I went into that space with no idea what I was going to ask these people when they sat before us, and as I listened to them speak, the words came to me out of nowhere. I knew what I needed these people to articulate to make sure we were all certain we knew what we were doing and where we were going and that this was the right thing. I prayed with all of my might today that I should have the willingness to do God’s will, and not to be seduced by my own willfulness, and that I should have the humility to push my ego aside and listen to the voice and will of my God, and do what God asked of me. I prayed this afternoon that the four Jews whose births I witnessed today should be guided by God in their paths to increased holiness and observance, that they should be a credit to the Jewish people, to our God, and that they should always strive to do God’s commandments and to be a source of light unto our people, the nations, and the world.

Today I felt like a holy vessel. Today I felt very very small. Today I felt immeasurably blessed.

Baruch Hashem, amen, v’amen.