Judaism does not seek converts, does not consider itself necessary for salvation, and has spent most of its history under regimes where accepting one carried a death penalty for both parties. The process is study — usually a year or more — then a beit din of three, then circumcision for men or, if already circumcised, a symbolic drop of blood, then immersion in a mikveh, which is the moment of change. No profession of faith is required. The customary triple discouragement comes from the story of Ruth and is taken seriously in Orthodox practice and much less so elsewhere. Once complete, the law is unambiguous: a convert is a full Jew, called son or daughter of Abraham and Sarah, and reminding them of their origin is a named prohibition — ona'at devarim — with the Talmud specifically forbidding saying to a convert, remember what your ancestors did. The reality falls short of that constantly, and converts say so. The institutional problem is recognition: Orthodox authorities do not accept Conservative or Reform conversions, Israel's Chief Rabbinate does not accept many Orthodox conversions performed abroad, and it has retroactively annulled conversions, which the Israeli Supreme Court has repeatedly had to constrain.