Not Yet Jewish
Question
Shalom, understanding my question depends on a bit of background information. I was born to a gentile woman in Bogota, Colombia, and adopted at three months. Though I did have a medical circumcision, there was no true brit mila, no mikva, and no Hebrew name given. However, over the past three years or so, I have been on the path of a ba'al teshuva, of sorts, that is. I shall be attending university in West Hartford in the fall, in a neighborhood with 9 synagogues within walking distance of the campus. My question is this: as a pre-ger who will be actively seeking a sponsoring rav within the next few months, what am I allowed to do? I've been practicing tefilin with an old, nonkosher set, but am I allowed to purchase a kosher set and use them? Am I permitted to wear my talit? May I wear my kipa? May I continue to improve in honoring the Shabbat? A while ago, I let my hair grow long, it's about shoulder length now. Since learning about the mitzva of peyot, I should like to cut off the rest of my hair, taming my unruly locks so as to attain the hair of a ben Torah. Do you suppose that any Orthodox rav would give gerut to a man with pre-exisiting peyot, or is such a notion offensive? I need to know what things (short of receiving aliyot and counting in the minyan) I am allowed to do, so as not to hurt my chances of finding a rav who is willing to work with me. Toda raba, Shmuel