a rabbi & a jewish lady

setting: late afternoon, hard rain, school's yard
character: a rabbi, grilling burgers and hot dogs for the chabad, then a 25ish Jewish lady

tm: what does chabad mean?
rabbi: it means wisdom, knowledge, and understanding
tm: i heard it's difficult to become Jewish?
rabbi: you don't necessarily need to be Jewish to follow Jewish faith. Anyone can follow Jewish faith.
tm: but let say if i wanna marry a Jewish guy, and i don't wanna convert, then i won't be able to marry him. In that case, becoming Jewish is necessary, and not being Jewish becomes a barrier to my relationship.
rabbi: well, you can't really marry a person of a different soul. The core of being Jewish is the soul. A man and a woman are supposed to be from one unique entity. But the entity has been divided so that one can experience different aspects of life. And when they got married, they trust God that they have found their other half. And so they are supposed to be from the same soul.
tm: so what's your definition of being a Jew?
rabbi: God created the whole world, and Jews are the fundamental part of it. It doesn't mean Jews are better than others, it's a privilege to be the chosen people.

....
tm: so according to your rabbi, anyone can believe in Jewish faith, but it is difficult to actually become a Jew because being a Jew is characterized by the soul, and you can't really change a soul.
G: well, you can still convert but not necessarily be accepted by everyone. It's a long process to become a Jew and accepted by all.
tm: i personally haven't seen Jews who are Asian or African. Have you?
G: I have a friend who's half Japanese and she's Jewish. I have also seen African Jews. But yeah, there's not a lot of them.
tm: on a genetic standpoint, since Jewish community is quite a close community, do you feel worried about genetic defects?
G: there was a time in Eastern Europe where the community became really small, and when they expanded from that small group, there was lots of birth defects. But i don't think it's gonna be a problem now since the Jewish community has become quite large.