Religion: Convert

Certainly the most famous and perhaps the most beautiful baby born last week was a Jewish girl named Elisheba Rachel Taylor. For according to Jewish legal theory, every convert is "a newborn child." And last week 27-year-old Film Star Elizabeth Taylor became a Jew and acquired a ceremonial Jewish name: Elisheba, the Hebrew version of Elizabeth, and her own favorite Biblical heroine, Rachel, the "beautiful and well-favored" wife of Jacob (Genesis 29:17).

This was no sudden shift for Actress Taylor, who had been raised as a Christian Scientist. She first thought of adopting the Jewish faith when she married her third husband,...