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SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 29, 2015 OCTOBER 2015 || The The Jewish Jewish Home Home
Giving Jews a Good Name Allison Josephs of Jew in the City Talks about Finding Hashem and Helping Others Feel Connected and Proud of Their Yiddishkeit BY TAMMY MARK
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the trees that first inspired her t isn’t the name of the latest 25 years prior. streaming cable show or “We called it my ‘25 th made-for TV movie. Even so, Jew in the City has been G-d-iversary,’” says Allison. making headlines in the Jew“I didn’t really grow up with ish world. any concept of G-d; I knew it Established in 2007 by viwas a Jewish thing but nobody sionary Executive Director Alever gave me any compelling lison Josephs, Jew in the City reason to believe in a G-d and is an organization dedicated nobody in my family ever talkto promoting positive images ed about it. of religious Jews and creating “I even looked back to repositive experiences for all ally incredible hashgacha Jews. For over a decade, JITC pratis stories – like where my has been working to create great grandparents survived authentic Jewish content and a pogrom or survived World make engaging and meaningWar II, and G-d was never ful Orthodox Judaism known mentioned – it was always like and accessible to all. ‘luckily…they were saved,’ not Allison began her work at any sense that there is a G-d On the frontlines JITC by producing entertainthat is watching over us or has ing explanatory videos focused a plan.” on Jewish holidays, rituals, and practices. Though the mission was serious and Allison’s questioning began at the innocent age of eight, when a tragedy the work important from the outset, JITC started with a lighter touch as Allison struck her community, a devastating triple murder within a family from her and her team creatively hammed it up for the camera, and many videos went vischool. ral. The more people JITC reached, the more work she saw needed to be done. “This launched me into this seven-year existential crisis where I realized Allison sees there is an even more imperative level of outreach needed that my life has no meaning and nothing adds up to anything,” she says. “When today. I would think about eternity and infinity, I would just go into a panic attack.” JITC currently has three branches devoted to making a positive impact in Allison soon began exploring Torah Judaism and eventually became open various ways: Keter, Makom and Tikkun. Each of the three branches is integral to the idea of a higher power above. At 15, she took her first trip to Hawaii with to JITC’s mission, and they build on each other. her parents, where she encountered the seminal tree, a magnificent, multiKeter, as in “keter shem tov,” (literally, the crown of a good name) was the colored rainbow eucalyptus that filled her with an immense sense of awe and first branch intended to influence the media narrative regarding our commuoverwhelming feeling of faith. nity, change negative perceptions about Jews, and restore the good name of “When I got to that tree I thought it was a painting…and then the color just Orthodox Jews and Judaism. With the recent waves of both anti-Semitism kept continuing,” she recalls. “So I realized there is a Painter, the bigger One. and media misrepresentation, it’s as if Allison had the cure before the latest Being in this forest and seeing this tree for the first time in my life, I felt like bout of disease. there was a plan and that there’s a loving G-d and He’s with me and I don’t have to be afraid. “That was really like a watershed moment in my life.” llison herself experienced many years of struggle and searching to find In addition to the absence of G-d in her early years, Allison was also raised G-d and the beauty of her religion. This summer, in the middle of a with a distorted perception of Orthodoxy Jewry. renewed period of urgency for her work, Allison took a family trip to “My father had a very negative perception as a doctor who would disparage Hawaii and returned with a reenergized enthusiasm, as she had reunited with
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