The services I attended at Philadelphia’s Congregation Temple Bethel were loud and joyous, but I felt totally out of place. That was a familiar feeling, of course. My two Jewish parents raised me without any religious education. (My father, a butcher, takes an almost perverse delight in flouting his non-belief with gestures like giving me lard as a Christmas present.) But I was more at ease this morning, because it was not expected that I understand the rituals because I look like a Jew. I was one of the only white people in shul that morning, and it was nice to look as out of place as I usually feel.
J. Lester Feder
J. Lester Feder is a Washington-based freelance writer covering politics, health policy, the environment, faith, and popular culture. His work has appeared in publications including Newsweek, The New Republic, The Nation, Slate, and The Oxford American. Before becoming a journalist, Feder earned a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a dissertation on country music and the conservative movement.
