Chapter 6: Choosing Judaism

My mother passed away on September 14, 2021 after a years-long battle with cancer that cost her control of the left side of her face. We had been recording for just over a year, but there was still so much more she wanted to say. After she died, I went through her journals, to learn the perspectives that she was hesitant to share with me even at the end of her life. My father contributed by archiving the family VHS tapes my mother had saved all these years, including a copy of my Bar Mitzvah and my mother's adult Bat Mitzvah. Together, with the stories she shared while still alive, they tell a complicated and often lonely journey of a woman struggling to find her place in life, and a community that she could call her own, which thankfully, and at long last, she finally did...in Judaism.

Special gratitude to my good friend, Caitlin, who took on the monumental challenge of reading my mother's journal entries for this episode.

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.