Why We’ll Never Forget What This Irish Catholic Woman Said to Us About Being Jewish

Jennifer Weiss and Lauren Franklin for Kveller
We met 30 years ago at the University of Michigan as freshman—two young women from different parts of the country, but with similar enough families, worlds, and lifestyles that it was as if we had grown up on the same block. We had a friend in common, but soon gravitated to each other when we mutually came up with the idea of finding a Friday night service to attend.

We knew that when you come to a “foreign” place (in our case, college), it’s important to find your grounding—and a synagogue seemed to fit that bill. The fact that we knew there would be wine and cute boys only influenced our decision slightly.

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Defining the Modern Orthodox Approach to Interfaith Dialogue

Revisiting Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s seminal 1964 essay “Confrontation,” which sets out parameters for interfaith dialogue—forbidding some kinds and encouraging others—Meir Soloveichik investigates its underlying theological argument that Jews are destined to constant tension between their identity as “a people apart” and their obligation to engage with the surrounding world. He then discusses the essay’s impact and its implications in light of American notions of religious freedom. (Interview by Eric Cohen; audio, about 1 hour.)

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Being Jewish (and Buddhist and Christian and Chinese)

This article has been reprinted with permission from InterfaithFamily

By Amourence Lee

A good story is supposed to have a beginning, middle and end, right? Well, this story about being Jewish only has a beginning. Yep, I’m Jewish. Exactly 50% Ashkenazi according to my genome. And Jewish law says I’m 100 percent because my mother is Jewish—which also makes my kids Jewish.

I spent the first half of my life knowing this about myself, but that was literally all I knew about being Jewish. I never went to synagogue, didn’t become a bat mitzvah, we didn’t light candles or celebrate Jewish holidays or eat Jewish food. Since I don’t “look” Jewish, the only Jewish things about me are that I lived in New York and have a passion for lox and bagels.

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How Did This Nice Northern Catholic Boy Become Part of The Southern Jewish World?

By Bethany Berger for MyJewishLearning.com

My roommate Peter is neither Southern nor Jewish… and yet he somehow found himself an active part of Mississippi’s Southern and Jewish community.

Peter grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and went to college at the George Washington University in Washington DC. I went to school on the other side of DC at American University, but we did not meet until we both moved to Jackson — me, for the ISJL Education Fellowship, and Peter to work for Teach for America. Over the past two years, Peter has become one of my closest friends, and he recently told me about a professor he had in college who basically predicted our friendship. This gave me an idea for a blog… so enjoy my interview with Peter about how a Nice Northern Catholic Boy found himself in the Southern Jewish community!

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