Ian Fishman……………………………………….. 16

Ian Fishman

he/him

“Growing up, Judaism was kind of something that I was just passively

involved in through my family on my dad's side, because my mom was raised Catholic.

So, when I got to middle school, I started going to Wednesday night school and studying for my bar mitzvah and all that fun stuff. And, I continued it all the way through the end of high school. This was my choice. My brother, for example, did his bar mitzvah and then he stopped going to hebrew school, and my parents were like, ‘Cool, that's fine. You don't have to do it.’ So, in that sense, I know that I wasn't forced to do it. So, I feel like I have the liberty to view how other people relate to their Judaism and kind of pick and choose things that I think are cool, and then apply it to my own religious experience.

And, in terms of my relationship with my Jewish identity, that comes through my community. Something that one of my teachers said in

hebrew school, like a long time ago, was that God is a little bit in everyone, and not so much as one being, per se. And, I think that kind of reflects how I embrace my Judaism.”