We were the first Black family to join Temple Emanu-El, a synagogue in Providence, Rhode Island. My bat mitzvah was probably the first time I experienced that being Black and Jewish in America was a rarity. As I got older and left the nest of my family and synagogue in Rhode Island, I moved to New York. As a Black woman, when I would tell people that I’m Jewish, the reactions I would get were, “Seriously? She explained that the Jewish faith meant so much to her and that it would be ridiculous to stop participating in it just because someone else was uncomfortable.

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