Sydra Minkoff

She/her

"I like to say I grew up in a Shetl. I went to a Jewish preschool and then to a Jewish elementary school with a cookie-cutter way of being Jewish that left no room for interpretation. That was not a good experience for me. I felt like what I was doing wasn't Jewish enough or right in my community. I felt like if I strayed from the path, I was being a bad Jew. Connecting to something I didn't understand or agree with was difficult. So in fifth grade, I switched over to the public school. That was a culture shock in the best way: I made friends with many people I'd never interacted with before - people of every different background imaginable.

At the same time, I kind of grew resentful of Judaism and had a crisis of faith. And it wasn't until a few years later, when the rabbi I'd grown up with retired and a new rabbi came in, that I could address this crisis. Working with the new rabbi probably saved my Judaism.

I met with her around the time of my bat mitzvah, when I reached a place where I didn't believe in God and didn't want to go to synagogue because I disagreed with the interpretation of texts. So I told the new rabbi this, and she, quite literally, permitted me to not believe in God and told me that I could be Jewish and not agree with any of this. And that was life-changing.

Camp is the other thing that saved my Judaism. Camp taught me how to connect to Judaism through values and relate them in a way relevant to our modern lives. So, for example, finding socialist values in Jewish texts and relating that to social justice.

Another influential aspect of Jewish education was taking a course that opened my eyes to Ashkenormativity in America. As someone who doesn't 'look Jewish,' I'm still white and benefit in the Jewish community from my whiteness. I think it's incredibly harmful and hurtful to say Judaism has a particular look. Stereotypes about Jews are also harmful because they portray Jews as either Conservative or Orthodox, but that's unrepresentative of Judaism. Judaism is a spectrum, and growing up, I felt both ends of the spectrum, where I didn't feel Jewish enough, or I felt too Jewish. So I don't fit the mold regarding appearance or beliefs. That's confusing and something that needs to change."