Chapter 2: Meet the Fam

Every interfaith family has at least two sides to its story. Mine features a poor white boy who was the odd duck in his devout Baptist family, and a Detroit Yankee who was raised in a tight-knit Jewish community until she rebelled and ran away to Kentucky.


This episode also introduces the second of three families featured in 72 Miles, one that’s make-believe. Conjured from the imagination of I.J. Schwartz in an epic Yiddish poem titled New Earth, that follows the life of Josh, a Jewish blacksmith, newly immigrated from Lithuania, who settles in rural Kentucky with his wife and young son. 

72 Miles features the stories of three separate interfaith Jewish families–two real, one not, and one mine. Together, they trace 150 years of Kentucky history, with experiences that resonate today—about being Jewish in America, about being Jewish and southern at the same time. About being Jewish, being interfaith, and the blending of the two.

So strap in, and take a ride with me, up and down I65, or back and forth on the L&N Railroad. In the end the when and the who don’t make as much difference and you might think. But the where sure does. My name is Nathan Jordan Vaughan. It’s 72 Miles til Kentucky. Let’s get moving.

72 Miles Til Kentucky was written and produced by Nathan J. Vaughan. Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lofi Girl. Curricular components for each episodes are available on the show's website.

You can learn more about me and any of my work on my website, www.nathanjvaughan.com.

Subscribe to my regular Torah podcast, Modern Torah anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.