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1Wo Edged Swords
Continued from preceding page
"But this is more real than
anything else I know."
Whitehead hopes to go to
Israel next year. Like most
Jews, he desires that his
daughter will marry a Jew,
whether white or black.
Sherman ' Schooler, a
member of Cong. B'nai
Moshe, characterizes
Whitehead as a "strong" per-
son who wants to be a good
Jew. "He has demonstrated
this with his actions,"
Schooler says. "He's a dues
paying member, attends
almost every Shabbat and
holidays with his daughter,
acts as usher and is a member
of the board of directors of the
men's club. Whitehead's
daughter is enrolled at Hillel
Day School this fall.
"He's proven that he means
what he says," Schooler says.
"He is loyal to the B'nai
Moshe family and the con-
gregation has accepted him
as they would anyone else.
There's no such thing as race.
If you strip everyone's skin
away, you'll find all our
organs in the same place."
Jerry Rogers, president of
the men's club, says he has
known Whitehead a little
more than a year. "I believe
he became an usher even
before he finalized his conver-
sion. We asked him to help
usher because we were shor-
thanded. We've had no objec-
tion from anyone here. Once
you convert, you're the same.
A few people have asked me
how come he was ushering on
a Shabbat. But these were
strangers to our shul who
were there for a bar or bat
mitzvah, and they asking out
of curiosity. We offered him an
office in order to get him in-
volved, and there was no ob-
jection from anyone."
lnora Austell Finkel-
stein notes that she is
a minority within a
minority within a minority.
"I'm a black, a woman and a
Jew. But my conversion is a
decision I continue to be com-
fortable with and happy
about?'
For Finkelstein, the deci-
sion to become a Jew was a
long time coming. At age 18
she decided to go to Brandeis
University as much for
religious curiosity as for an
education. She came from a
small town — Peekskill, N.Y.
— and there were only three
or four Jews in her high
school graduating class of
250. There was a local
synagogue, but she said no
one really knew much about
Jews or what they believed.
"We just had some general
knowledge that Christians
pick up in passing," she says,
"Some true, some false. We
knew they didn't eat pork or
believe in Christ. I have
always been curious about
things people don't know
much about. I dated a few
Jews in high school. I played
piano in concert band and the
Jews I met there were very
bright kids. We had many in-
tellectual discussions and I
enjoyed these kids. There was
a difference about them. But
no one could really explain it
to me. No one really knew
what these people were all
about, so I went to Brandeis
to find out."
Finkelstein was raised a
Baptist. She was baptized, at-
tended services on Sunday,
belonged to the choir and
youth groups. But when she
left home for college she never
- - went back to the Baptist
church but went "full steam
ahead in the other direction."
"Unlike being a Baptist,
with Judaism you could ques-
tion things. There were in-
tellectual discussions, not
`turn to your Bible and the
answer is there,' " she says.
"At Brandeis there was a
large Jewish community,
some religious, some not. I
was curious. I went to ser-
vices. Once people determin-
ed I was interested in
demystifiying Judaism they
were interested in talking to
me. Not like Jehovah's
Witnesses, trying to convert
me, either.
"With Judaism, debate was
something that was en-
couraged. "I felt that
something had been missing
for me at an intellectual level
(in the Baptist religion). And
if something was missing on
that plane, it also seemed to
me that something was miss-
ing on the spiritual plane."
Finkelstein left Brandeis
after two years and went to
Boston University. "I found
what I was looking for at
Brandeis and it just snowball-
ed after I left. Among the
friends I left in Boston there
are many Jews, running the
gamut from Orthodox
families to those who feel 'eh'
about their Jewishness.
"In Boston I could go to ser-
vices and not seem out of
place. I understood the ser-
vices and felt a spiritual bond.
I don't feel as comfortable
here attending services. In
Boston it was no big deal. It
was a university town at-
mosphere. There were all
kinds of people doing all
kinds of things."
Finkelstein discussed con-
version often with herself and
her friends. "I had Jewish
friends, I was extremely close
to them, but I felt if I was go-
ing to make such a change I
needed support from more
than just friends," she ex-
Continued on Page 28