Why don't Jews welcome non-Jews to embrace Judaism?

Answer 1

We do. Anyone who wishes to is more than welcome to convert to Judaism. It's a formal process and takes a year or more.

We don't, as a religion, ever try to persuade others to join Judaism. This is because we believe that ALL humans are EQUALLY G-d's children. All righteous souls can reach heaven. So nobody 'needs' to be Jewish.

But anyone who sincerely wants to can join the Jewish people. We take it very seriously because the person is joining not only the Jewish religion, but the worldwide Jewish family.

Answer 2

The question can be read two ways, so there are two types of answers:

1) Why do Jews initially reject or further question those who wish to convert to Judaism? -- The view in Judaism is that all righteous people, those who follow the Noahide Laws, have a place in the World-to-Come. As a result, conversion to Judaism is not required to go to the "good place". Further, Jews have many more additional laws and requirements to have a place in the World-to-Come, so it would actually be harder for a Jew to get there. As a result, Jews are hesitant to bring another person into the fold because that person, who may have been good enough to have a place in the World-to-Come as a Righteous Gentile will not be good enough to earn a place in the World-to-Come as a Righteous Jew. This is why Jews make entry so difficult, so as to avoid condemning those who simply have an impulsive change of heart or who are converting for reasons of convenience as opposed to serious self-introspection.

2) Why do Jews have difficulty embracing those who have converted to Judaism? -- This is not actually the case. Jews are usually quite happy to befriend recent converts and treat them without distinction from native-born Jews. Since Judaism is a tribal religion, many Non-Jews incorrectly assume that Jews have a preference for native-born Jews over converts and/or employ discrimination against them. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing in Jewish tradition, with the exception of Cohen marriage restrictions that delineates between native-born Jews and converted Jews, from Torah reading privileges, to holiday observances, to communal relationships.