Isaac Popper……………………………………….. 24

Isaac Popper

he/him

“I've never really disliked any aspect of my upbringing and Jewish experiences growing up. Really, the only things that I haven’t liked are one time events, like when I went to the Kotel and they asked if your mother was Jewish, and some of my friends didn’t get to go to the Wall or some friends had to lie. That was really frustrating, because I think if either parent or even a grandparent is Jewish, or even if you convert, to me, you're Jewish.

I acknowledge Judaism as a religion, but it also feels like an ethnicity.

Jews can be of any race and any nationality. Some Jews may wrap Tefillin every day and some may not know what Tefillin is. Jews have shared cultural values and norms that distinguish them from others. Some Jews look like my Orthodox best camp friend who prays twice a day, and many are like my housemate who happily attends Passover Seder but likely won't make time for any other Jewish holidays. There is no Torah knowledge or Yiddish vocabulary requirements in our beautiful culture,

Judaism requires of us the commitment to show up for our community, because that is a huge part of being Jewish.”