Adoption Story – Jessica

Welcome Jessica to the SHJ family! Jessica has recently adopted Judaism and has chosen the Hebrew name Chava! Read below to learn more about Jessica’s journey to Humanistic Judaism.

It’s been a long time since I had a great interest and resonated very deeply with the Jewish people and culture, starting from childhood.

In different ways, in different phases of my life I sought to learn about the customs, culture and practices. When my dad was at the time going to school to be a minister, I used to use some of his books to learn Hebrew, it always fascinated me.

Time went by and I never could fully understand why I felt this so deeply, this connection. Until I not only found out I had Jewish heritage but that this was coming from both my father and mother and that this took places years ago in Portugal and Spain when Jews were forced to flee and convert to Catholicism. I’m still in the process of uncovering more but I did learn I have both Sephardic and Ashkenazi heritage.

Two years ago I was making an intentional and sincere effort to learn more about my Jewish heritage, however, I had a negative experience with a more traditional form of Judaism and this made me drop all my efforts as it made me feel like I wasn’t “qualified” or had the right to pursue my studies. The willingness was always there and never went away.

I am really glad I found SHJ, their approach to Judaism really speaks to me and aligns with how I view life. They are open, welcoming, academic and accepting, we need this more and more in today’s world. Striving for a world where everyone is free, have equal rights and are not ruled by fear and oppression.

I am very honored to have been welcomed into the Jewish Peoplehood. I look forward to explore and grow in my Jewish identity and in this, I am able to also honor my Jewish heritage. By reclaiming my Jewish identity, that injustice done to my Jewish ancestors years ago, ends with me