For You Are With Me
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” –Psalm 23 Names have been changed. Nestled in the Conservative Jewish part of northeastern Pennsylvania, Camp R in the Poconos is a place many of us who have passed through its wooden bunks call home. […]
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Questioning Israel’s Policies Does Not Make Me Anti-Semitic
My dad is Israeli and lived in Israel for more than 25 years. My mom moved to Israel from the Soviet Union in 1990 when she was only 18. She had also lived in a small town in Serbia, a country where anti-Semitism was rampant. Synagogues were razedto the ground, Jewish families were jailed, and […]
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If Allah Loves Everyone, Doesn’t He Love Gay People?
Names have been changed. My mother is a devout Muslim from Ethiopia, and when I was 5, she briefly sent my older brother and me to after school Quran classes. I remember feeling that I did not belong, and learning about Quran history and writing in Arabic did not interest me. After we quit Quran […]
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It’s More Than a Game
It was ideal New York weather to play basketball: a sunny, spring day. About a dozen of my friends and I had just finished school. When we got to the courts, we divided up and started playing, subbing in and out until we got tired. After we finished, I went over to the benches to […]
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