October 9, 2025
I grew up in Buffalo, New York, in a place where being Jewish wasn’t the norm. Most of my classmates celebrated Christmas, and during Passover or Rosh Hashanah, I was often the only one missing school. My parents had enrolled me in Hebrew school to instill those Jewish values I was missing, and I spent summers at a Jewish camp...
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October 9, 2025
I’m from Texas. I officially joined the Tribe when I was twenty-three. But my journey to conversion began years earlier, at a Jewish day camp in Austin where I worked as a camp counselor. I felt like myself there. Being among Jewish people who shared the same values, and getting to impart those values to the campers, felt like home....
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September 3, 2025
I grew up going to Hebrew school three times a week, celebrating the High Holidays, and having Seder with my family. Being Jewish was an important part of my identity, but it was directed and led by my parents. It wasn’t like they were asking me, “Do you want to be Jewish? Do you want to go to Hebrew school?”...
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September 2, 2025
I’m a junior at Cornell University studying mechanical engineering and business. I’m from Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Judaism has always been a strong part of my life. I grew up going to Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, where I learned the prayers and experienced Jewish community. We’d have services every morning and Kabbalat Shabbat all together in a big amphitheater...
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August 27, 2025
I’m a junior at Ohio State from New Jersey. I’m studying finance with a minor in music. Maybe one day I’ll find a way to bring the two together. At school I’m on the Chabad board, and I’m also part of Tamid, a student organization that works with Israeli startups. Through Tamid, I learned about the fellowship that took me...
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August 27, 2025
I am a senior at Harvard studying Applied Math and Computer Science. I was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts. My mom is Ashkenazi Jewish. Her entire family, for centuries, are Ashkenazi Jews from Budapest, Hungary. It was and had always been their home. Of course, this changed with the Holocaust—most of my mother’s family were robbed of their homes,...
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August 26, 2025
I grew up in Los Angeles, third generation, in a Reform Jewish household. We always celebrated the holidays, and Hanukkah was my favorite. I loved playing dreidel, lighting the candles, and gathering with close friends and family. My parents hosted a Hanukkah party every year, and we were lucky to have friends who made the best latkes in town. Passover...
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August 22, 2025
I’m from Manchester but have lived in London for 7 years. I am passionate about writing, particularly writing about being gay and Jewish. My short film Sinnerman—about two gay Jewish men—was selected for the BAFTA-accredited UK Jewish Film Festival, as well as 6 other film festivals. I am currently writing a feature film about a similar topic. My connection to...
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August 22, 2025
I grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, and I’m now a senior at Skidmore College. I study education and psychology with a minor in dance. For as long as I can remember I thought I would become a teacher, but recently I’ve considered going into school social work or child psychology instead. My earliest memories of Judaism are from the preschool...
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August 22, 2025
People say, “Birthright changed my life,” and you wonder, what does that actually mean? Well, 23 and a half years after my Birthright Israel trip, I’m the President and CEO of Federation CJA in Montreal. And when I look back — on my personal life, my marriage to a Jewish woman, my professional path in the Jewish community, and everything...
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