Growing up, I was raised
as a non-denominational Christian. This
provided me a strong moral compass to live my life and many family traditions
to pass down. My parents elected not to
baptize me as they wanted their children to choose their own religious paths. For that, I am grateful. I spent my childhood and young adulthood dabbling
in different sects of Christianity to find the religious connection I
seeked. Nothing quite fit.
Then, I met my Jewish
husband twelve years ago and my Jewish journey began. Although Josh wasn’t raised Jewish, he
connected to it culturally and biologically.
While we dated and during our first couple years of marriage, I decided
to start self-educating myself on Judaism.
It was the first religion that I felt a true connection. I love the traditions, the culture, the
history, the foreign language, the food and the people. In fact, in 2009, I was so excited to surprise
Josh by cooking and orchestrating our first Passover Seder that I may have
invited Jesus to our table instead of Elijah.
Apparently, you shouldn’t go to a Jews for Jesus website to find your
Passover Haggadah. Josh laughed. His Jewish grandparents found me
endearing. And I learned a little bit
more about Judaism. My love of Judaism
had been sparked.
After that, I continued to
yearn for Jewish knowledge. In
2012, Josh and I attended a Humanistic Judaism course taught by Rabbi Adam
Chalom in Scottsdale. It was after that
course, that we decided that we want to incorporate more of the Jewish holidays
into our lives. We started celebrating
Shabbat on a more frequent basis and even started hosting the holidays for our
friends.
In 2013, I took Intro
to Judaism with Rabbi Schneider and we joined Temple Chai as members. It was a valuable learning year for me. It allowed me to take time to discover more
about the religion I was choosing for me and my family. It also allowed us to experience the Jewish
holidays at Temple Chai while I learned about them in the classroom. Through both of these avenues, I gained some
amazing mentors in Rabbi Schneider and Rabbi Chernow, who challenged me to
think beyond my comfort zone and explore more of the “whys” of Judaism.
But my learning didn’t
stop there, in 2016, Josh and I participated in the second Phoenix cohort of
the Honeymoon Israel Trip. It was one of the
most amazing trips that Josh and I have ever experienced together. No
words could even describe how incredible of a trip it was for us. The
trip strengthened both my marriage with Josh as well as our connection to the
Jewish faith. It allowed both of us to come to a better understanding of
what Judaism is to each other and how we can raise our kids in a Jewish home by
supporting each other’s wishes and desires. It also created a Jewish family for us back in
Phoenix. Many of the friends we made on
that trip continue to welcome us into their homes for Jewish holidays and
simchas. I also gained another spiritual
advisor during this trip, Rabbi Mills.
She allowed me to use the trip to question my religious history and
struggle with when you know which religious path is truly your own.
The clarity we gained from this trip enabled us
continue on the Jewish path we were living and sharing with our kids. I wanted to become more involved and create a
stronger Jewish community for me and my kids, so we joined Temple Kol Ami with
some of our other HMI friends, enrolled our kids in Religious School and I
became a Council Property Manager for Gesher (which I still serve on today). Nothing like just jumping in with two feet.
However, I still yearned to learn more about
Judaism and decided to take some courses through the Jewish Women’s Learning
Center. This ultimately resulted in me
being nominated and accepting a position in the 2017 cohort of the Women’s
Jewish Leadership Institute. This course
allowed me to explore several different leadership traits like life-long learning,
learning from failure, effective communication, clarifying vision, and change
through a Jewish lens. It was very insightful to examine leadership skills
that I have learned previously through Jewish text and stories. This experience allowed me to build a community
of valuable spiritual mentors like Rabbi Kanter and the other women in the
program. These women have assisted me in
supporting my Jewish beliefs by giving me the peace of mind to know that
everyone’s Jewish journey is different and by always embracing me in the Jewish
community.
In twelve days, I will be returning to Israel through a
program called Momentum (formerly JWRP).
I am excited to return once again to Israel sans husband and kids. I am really hoping this will allow me to
further connect with my Jewish beliefs and learn more about Judaism through a
“Mom’s” lens. While interviewing for
this program, the realization that I was not a fully converted Jew was
uncovered. After the community leader
researched with Momentum if an applicant needed to be a convert in order to
qualify for the trip, Momentum positively confirmed that I did not.
Once again, I was accepted into the Jewish community as an
equal because I was choosing to be Jewish.
This was the solidifying factor on why I want to convert to
Judaism. I want to be apart of the
community who has for more than ten years allowed me to learn and grow on my
own terms and at my own pace. It has
allowed me to experience and test my faith within so many facets of my life. It has allowed me to realize that I am not
abandoning my past, but building upon it and incorporating many of the values
and morals that make me who I am. It has
provided me a community and family who has also accepted me for me. I want to be able to officially go “home” and
view Israel through a different filter. I want to fully embrace the life that I
am currently living without the asterisk behind my name. And I want to continue sharing and creating
Jewish memories with my husband and my kids because it is what we are choosing
to do.
Mikvah Day
10/25/2019
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