A Jewish Journey of Identity and Courage

shaping. What I want is to hang out with my friends. Only my best friend, Olivia, knows about my Torah reading. I haven’t told anyone else that I’m learning to read Hebrew from the Bible. I can just imagine their reactions; they’d laugh at me like they always do whenever they get a chance to poke fun at my religion. What’s so funny about being Jewish? Once, when they were at my house, they spotted the menorah for Hanukkah and bombarded me with ridiculous questions. Kiley asked if it was true that Jews run all the banks, which she claimed to have heard somewhere. Bethany joked that Jews only dominate Hollywood, and they both laughed. I managed to change the subject by suggesting we make milkshakes, which thankfully diverted their attention. So now, I have to conceal the real reason I can’t hang out with them, and it’s only pushing me further away. I know my mom will eventually post embarrassing photos of me on Facebook, and the girls in my class will see them. But at least that will happen after this awkward event, not before. I want to delay that as long as possible. “I forgot to ask how your Torah reading prep is going,” Mom said. Beep. A new message popped up on my phone. I pulled it out of my bag. “Fine. I almost have it memorized,” I replied, checking my messages. “Olivia says it sucks I can’t join them because she wanted us to buy matching outfits. I feel like I’m missing out on everything because of these lessons.” “I see,” Mom said, falling silent. She always goes quiet when she’s thinking—especially when I’ve questioned why I’m having a Bat Mitzvah if we’re not religious. After a long pause, she said it’s important to maintain our Jewish traditions, especially since

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