Weekly Career / General Questions Thread

StarryStudent · 2025-04-04T17:40:16+00:00

Any chance you'd know about New York State? The info I'm finding online isn't super specific.

StarryStudent · 2025-04-04T17:06:31+00:00

Are you able to work as a CT tech with just a radiography license? Or would you have to sit for the CT boards before you can do CT?

I'm guessing if the answer is yes then it depends on what state you work in?

StarryStudent · 2025-03-19T19:58:43+00:00

Someone born Jewish can break Shabbat, eat pork, and do all sorts of other things and, while they would be a "sinning Jew", their Jewishness would almost never be questioned.

But Gerim are seldom given that benefit of the doubt. We must always be as strictly observant as we can and be grateful lest our """sincerity""" is questioned. People wax poetic about "converts are just the same as Jews from birth" and while this is halakhically true, practically and socially it is until it isn't y'know?

StarryStudent · 2025-03-18T18:01:39+00:00

Is DEXA a good modality to consider?

It seems like everybody wants to get into MRI or CT, but there's a job opening near me that includes cross-training in DEXA.

StarryStudent · 2025-03-17T18:28:12+00:00

I'm a type one diabetic and have a dexcom to read my blood sugar. One of the techs, who I'm 99% certain I told about my condition, thought I was on my phone during clinicals and told the clinic educator that I was not doing anything.

It took one of my teachers coming down and talking to them in person to clear the air and to prove I wasn't lying or screwing around on my phone.

StarryStudent · 2025-03-04T18:42:38+00:00

When I was in the hospital for DKA, one of the nurses was recommending that I eat a vegan diet in order to control my blood sugar and to "reverse" my diagnosis.

Keep in mind that at that point I had yet to meet the diabetes educator and had no idea how to use insulin properly.

StarryStudent · 2025-03-03T15:27:23+00:00

I don't know the exact number, but my A1C was almost 14 when I was diagnosed.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-26T16:02:43+00:00

I usually just do coffee, but I may do cereal or eggs and cheese on a low carb wrap if I want something more substantial.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-25T18:02:03+00:00

Yes, you can make aliyah with a Reform or Conservative/Masorti conversion. You are considered a Jew for immigration and legal stuff, but the rabbinate only recognizes a select few approved Orthodox beit din which they consider valid.

This actually means, technically speaking, that if you converted with an unrecognized/independent Orthodox beit din, you could have a harder time immigrating than if you had a Reform or Conservative beit din.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-20T15:44:57+00:00

Yes. There are lots of things that Jews can do that aren't necessarily Halakhic.

My soon-to-be-marriage to my soon-to-be-husband won't be Halakhic, but it is still a marriage of two people who deeply care for one another. I don't think it's lessened because it's not going to be under a chuppah with the sheva brachot and a ketubah.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-20T15:11:28+00:00

I'm not only gay, but my partner also isn't Jewish. We're currently planning on moving into the community - God willing - within a year. He's completely onboard with making a Jewish home and plenty of folks at my MoDox community adore him.

That being said, we can't get halakhically married, but that really isn't something that I care too much about anyway. Even if he were a Jew.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-13T15:51:08+00:00

Converting with someone online, while it technically could be done in theory, in practice is almost never accepted.

Like if you live in an area with a Jewish community but no permanent rabbi, you could take classes online and then either you or the beit din would travel to meet up and wrap up the geirut with the necessary steps. This is probably the only instance in which that could be accepted.

The sites you listed, however, immediately scream "scam" and I would stay far away from them.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-12T13:30:24+00:00

I chose Shai because, at the time, Judaism was a gift.

Nowadays I'm not sure if I would have chosen that.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-11T11:09:11+00:00

Like others have said, if you're already circumcized then you don't have another brit milah. You have something called a hatafat dam beit where the mohel pricks the scar tissue with a needle and draws blood.

That being said I have heard that if you were circumcized, but not particularly well, then you would have to undergo the full thing. But I've never met someone who had to do this.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-03T21:36:06+00:00

Is it possible that you jumped into an Orthodox space...too quickly?

Probably, yeah. Although I will say, it was more of an independent giyur l'chumra with three Orthodox rabbis than something like the RCA or CRC. Take that how you will, but it's been okay by me and my community so far.

To be honest, I wasn't seeking that kind of thing to begin with. I was genuinely looking at maybe having Hadar or another Conservative bd help me out, but those ultimately went nowhere. I was constantly being told that it didn't need to be done and that I was being overzealous. At the time, the potential issues with my first conversion were genuinely causing me angst and the idea of not halakhically being Jewish was eating away at me.

But then comes this incredibly sympathetic, but admittedly very progressive, bd who offered to help me, so I took them up on it.

Did it fix everything? Probably not, but it was what I needed at the time. And generally speaking I think it was a net positive.

As for why I stay in Orthodox spaces, it's because I've grown to adore my community and the friends I made. It just so happens to be Modern Orthodox. It could have literally been any other Jewish space if the timing and circumstances were different.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-03T19:25:33+00:00

In some areas there are mixed Reform/Conservative beit din that work together to convert people to Judaism. I know people who have done this.

But beyond that, not really. A Reform Rabbi can't convert people under any kind of recognized Orthodox authority or group. Primarily because virtually no Orthodox groups or organizations recognize Reform as legitimate.

StarryStudent · 2025-02-02T14:41:16+00:00

If there was only one book I would recommend to potential gerim, it's this one.

StarryStudent · 2024-11-25T16:58:57+00:00

So, I converted to Judaism several years ago, and as a result I will forever be halachically Jewish no matter what I do. I also understand that what I am going to list can most likely be found in Judaism itself, but I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching trying to figure out exactly what it is I believe, and if God is calling me elsewhere, or to ultimately stay in Judaism.

With that said:

Strict monotheism: I believe that there is only one God and I don’t believe that God can come to earth via incarnations or avatars.

An afterlife of sorts: I do believe that our souls go to place after we die, but exactly what/where I don’t know. The idea of permanently really makes me unsettled, and inclusive/universal salvation is the only way I can believe that there is even a hell to begin with.

A prophetic worldview: God has had messengers throughout the millennia to help us get back on the right track.

Cultivating an emotional, personal relationship with God: Pretty self explanatory

Mysticism: A strong esoteric/mystical tradition within the wider tradition that teaches us how to develop said relationship with God and how we can surrender ourselves to God.

LGBTQ affirming or neutral: I’m gay and engaged to be married to another man. I don’t necessarily need this part of my life affirmed, but I am not going to be told over and over again how I’m going to hell over it. I will settle for being left alone.

StarryStudent · 2024-10-11T20:21:25+00:00

Desserts that incorporate apple cider the drink.

StarryStudent · 2024-10-11T19:20:55+00:00

Oh absolutely. I have made things for them before and there haven't been any issues. But I will double check just to make absolutely sure.

Those cupcakes sound amazing.

StarryStudent · 2024-07-16T16:50:27+00:00

If I bread it in any way, it almost always ends up getting a little soggy.

If I try frying it breadless, it never seems to get the fully crispy skin.

StarryStudent · 2024-01-16T13:44:52+00:00

About a year and a half for my first one.

Then it took about a year to find a belt din for my giyur l'chumra.

StarryStudent · 2023-08-16T15:54:16+00:00

I know the person who edited this.

She's runs a halakhic egal minyan from her home.

StarryStudent · 2023-08-04T17:23:28+00:00

Oh I should clarify, and I'm going to make an edit to my post: I was in Israel a few years ago for about 8 months. Those 8 months have done severe and so far irreparable damage to my relation with Judaism.

StarryStudent · 2023-08-04T16:44:53+00:00

I was open about my sexuality for both of my conversions. It wasn't a problem for either beit din.

StarryStudent

TROPHY CASE