By Jim Jacob For three months after college, I backpacked alone around Western Europe, staying now and then at Christian youth hostels. I was on a meager budget, and hostels were economical-about $2 or $3 a night. During my stays, I realized that many of the people working at these hostels seemed to exude love […]
By Michael Stepakoff Getting a Jewish education was a top priority in my house. I grew up in Atlanta, where my family belonged to a 5,000-member Conservative synagogue. I attended Hebrew school in the evenings and on Sundays, and was active in B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO). Every summer, I attended Jewish overnight camp in […]
By Jamie Cowen I grew up in the Washington, D.C. area, where politics was front and center. My father was deeply involved in the political process, working in campaigns and in other forms of political activism. I helped him on campaigns when I was as young as twelve. Although ours was a traditional Jewish home […]
I had always wanted an intimate connection with God, but never could quite achieve it. Music has always played a very important role in my life. Through participation in All-State chorus in high school, and in the Glee Club and Choir at Amherst, I sang a great deal of Christian music, but I always felt […]
By Justin Kron I think that sometimes people expect a certain plot line for stories like this. How some crisis precipitated a low point that led to a sudden, transforming decision. But the story of my decision to believe that Jesus is the Messiah came in stages; in different ways at different times in my […]
Daniel Solomon’s early years were shaped by the forces of history. After Daniel’s birth in 1938 in Africa to a secular Jewish family, his family moved to Provence in the south of France before the Second World War. Trapped in Europe by the awful events of the war, the Solomons were later able to return […]
Ken and Yolanda are a couple whose married life has taken a number of surprising twists and turns. Married nineteen years with two children, Yolanda was raised in an active Conservative Jewish community, while Ken was raised in a Protestant denomination. At the time of their wedding, Yolanda was a believer in the Messiah for […]
When I was a little girl, about 70 years ago, I learned to love the Jewish traditions of my family – singing, praying, and celebrating the holidays. With Communism in power in Russia, however, Jewish traditions were forbidden. I spent most of my life without them, and, as I got older, I found myself missing […]
By Jose Abadi I was born into a traditional, Sephardic Jewish family in South America with roots in Egypt. As a child, I would go to synagogue on the High Holy Days, but I did not pursue Jewish studies.
By Olivier Melnick “If God exists, He doesn’t need me for anything, and I sure don’t need HIM.” These were my comments when asked about God as I grew up in Paris, France. As many European, secular Jews born after World War II and raised in the aftermath of the Holocaust, I was not interested […]