“I’m from Lake St. Louis and I had no idea there were so many other Jews living in St. Charles County. One of my favorite childhood memories of celebrating Judaism was in elementary school. I was the only Jewish kid there, so my parents made a dreidel costume for me and I remember I got up on stage at school and spun around. Fast forward to when I was 13 and didn’t expect to have a bar mitzvah. My dad was not practicing Judaism before I was born. And when I told my mom I wanted to have one, she was shocked. We got it together in about one year. It was great because my dad took me to bar mitzvah lessons and, in the process, he grew closer to his faith. Now he’s continuing to learn more about Judaism too.

After I graduated, I took a class about Israel at the Jewish Community Center and the rabbi who taught it offered me an opportunity to go for four weeks for $1,000. That was hard to pass up. You can’t let life go by and miss opportunities. Going to Israel was that kind of opportunity. Being around so many Jews from other parts of the country changed me. That trip was so impactful that afterward when I started as a freshman at Mizzou, I became president of the Chabad student chapter.”

📷| Lindy Drew