Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

June 6, 2025

In the Wake of War, a Wave of Conversions to Judaism in the IDF

“I wanted to die a Jew.”

The IDF has a sizeable number of non-Jewish Israelis in its ranks, including Druze, Circassians, and increasingly Muslim and Christian Arabs. Conversions to Judaism within the IDF have also increased by 50 percent since October 7—with most converts not members of these minority groups but individuals of partial Jewish descent. Shilo Freid recounts some of their stories:

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