JERRY ZOLYNSKY

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FEBRUARY 20 • 2020 | 19

Long Road Home

James Allen Jones, 94, has had
a six-decade journey to Judaism.

ALLISON JACOBS DIGITAL EDITOR
T

emple Beth El member
Dr. James Allen Jones
is 94 years old, but he
could easily pass for 70. He
stands tall, dressed in a casual
suit with a purple vest and tie.
He doesn’
t need any help get-
ting around, and he has plenty
to say — especially about his
conversion from Christianity
to Judaism at age 92.
Jones’
gravitation toward
Judaism started during his
early childhood.
“When I was just 3 or 4
years old, I used to stand in
our back window and look out
at the garden, and somehow
something just grabbed me
that there was the presence of
God,” Jones said.
He was born in Detroit’
s
Conant Gardens neighbor-
hood, known as the most pros-
perous, predominantly mid-
dle-class African American
neighborhood in the city at
the time. His father was a
Baptist minister who never
pushed him to attend church,
and his mother would tell him
the story of Creation at night
before bed.
At age 6, Jones was hungry
to learn about religion and
wanted to enroll in catechism
classes. Jones looks back on
that moment, recalling his
father’
s words of wisdom:
“If you want to be a good
Catholic, you’
re going to have
to be a good Jew first — and
it’
s going to take you all your
life.”
During his teenage years,

Jones was involved in a diverse
church. He was the young-
est member of the choir and
became baptized at 15.
“I was about to tell them I
don’
t really believe this, but
then I thought, if I don’
t, they
won’
t baptize me,” Jones said.
His interest in Judaism
became more pronounced
after his next-door neighbor,
Lena Ringgold, gave him a
Victrola turntable with hun-
dreds of records of operas and
Jewish songs.
“That’
s when I heard ‘
Kol
Nidre’
and all of these Jewish
chants — and so I listened
every morning and every
night,” Jones said.
Another major turning
point for Jones was in 1957,
when he became a Fulbright
Scholar in Leeds, England,
studying education. While
teaching at an elementary
school, he was introduced to a
Jewish man who invited Jones
to star in an upcoming perfor-
mance of Othello.
As a lover of Shakespeare
and performance, Jones
accepted the role. One of the
first shows was in front of a
Hadassah group, and while
Jones was backstage, a young
Hadassah member encouraged
him to spend his next term
teaching at the Talbot Road
Jewish School in England.
Jones accepted the position
and was assigned to a class
of 27 boys, where he taught
Introduction to Torah and the
Prophets.

“
After introducing myself
to that, something in me
said, ‘
This is where you
belong,’
” Jones said. “It was in
December — I’
ll never for-
get — when I decided I was
going to do it.” He was going
to convert.

FURTHER EXPLORATION
Jones mentally made his deci-
sion at 32, but he wouldn’
t
formally begin the conversion
process for several decades.
In the meantime, he returned
to Detroit, where he exposed
himself to different facets of
Judaism.
“I explored ultra-Ortho-
dox, Orthodox, Humanistic
— about six, seven different
ones,” Jones said. “I used to
come out to different syna-
gogues and temples for Torah

study and classes.”
In 1974, Jones was invit-
ed by the Temple Beth El
music director at the time,
Jason Tickton, to take an
Introduction to Judaism
course with a focus on music,
which he says pushed him
further toward Judaism.
He later joined the Grosse
Pointe Jewish Council, where
he stayed for 15 years and
became the 26th president.
It wasn’
t until Jones found
the synagogue that spoke to
him that he was ready to con-
vert.
“It was about finding a place
that gave me the spiritual sat-
isfaction,” Jones said. “With
Temple Beth El, it was a warm,
different kind of a welcome.
When people find out who
you are, they will come to you

James Allen Jones is at
home in the chapel at
Temple Beth El.