When I was little, my Christian school’s Boy Scout troop painted the fence at a local synagogue. I thought well that’s nice. Everyone getting together and helping each other. And then I tried to remember when the synagogue members did anything for our church, or school, or scout troop, and came up empty. Huh. I said, well, I’ll just pay attention and it’ll happen at some point. It never did.

Then, I noticed (still a little kid here) that when we had to sell raffle tickets or candy to raise funds for our Christian school, my Jewish neighbors would never buy anything. They’d always politely and slightly awkwardly decline. These were people I’d see every day, that knew me from birth, that were the sweetest, nicest people in the whole world, so that “no, don’t want to give $1 to anything Christian” really stuck out like a sore thumb. I stopped ringing their doorbells in subsequent years.

So the idea that Jews don’t want to help with Christian issues was really cemented into my brain as a literal child. My Jewish neighbors treated me like gold, (brought gifts for me whenever they went on vacation, gave me birthday cards, constantly asked about my studies, rejoiced with my family when I won a prize, brought food when someone in the family was sick. They were GREAT) but didn’t care for my religion. I never once heard anything negative about Jews from Christians. After all, our leader is a Jewish carpenter.

When I was little, my Christian school’s Boy Scout troop painted the fence at a local synagogue. I thought well that’s nice. Everyone getting together and helping each other. And then I tried to remember when the synagogue members did anything for our church, or school, or scout troop, and came up empty. Huh. I said, well, I’ll just pay attention and it’ll happen at some point. It never did.

Then, I noticed (still a little kid here) that when we had to sell raffle tickets or candy to raise funds for our Christian school, my Jewish neighbors would never buy anything. They’d always politely and slightly awkwardly declined. These were people I’d see every day, that knew me from birth, that were the sweetest, nicest people in the whole world, so that “no, don’t want to give $1 to anything Christian” really stuck out like a sore thumb. I stopped ringing their doorbells in subsequent years.

So the idea that Jews don’t want to help with Christian issues was really cemented into my brain as a literal child. My Jewish neighbors treated me like gold, (brought gifts for me whenever they went on vacation, gave me birthday cards, constantly asked about my studies, rejoiced with my family when I won a prize, brought food when someone in the family was sick. They were GREAT) but didn’t care for my religion. I never once heard anything negative about Jews from Christians. After all, our leader is a Jewish carpenter.

When I was little, my Christian school’s Boy Scout troop painted the fence at a local synagogue. I thought well that’s nice. Everyone getting together and helping each other. And then I tried to remember when the synagogue members did anything for our church, or school, or scout troop, and came up empty. Huh. I said, well, I’ll just pay attention and it’ll happen at some point. It never did.

Then, I noticed (still a little kid here) that when we had to sell raffle tickets or candy to raise funds for our Christian school, my Jewish neighbors would never buy anything. They’d always politely and slightly awkwardly decline. These were people I’d see every day, that knew me from birth, that were the sweetest, nicest people in the whole world, so that “no, don’t want to give $1 to anything Christian” really stuck out like a sore thumb. I stopped ringing their doorbells in subsequent years.

So the idea that Jews don’t want to help with Christian issues was really cemented into my brain as a literal child. My Jewish neighbors treated me like gold, (brought gifts for me whenever they went on vacation, gave me birthday cards, constantly asked about my studies, rejoiced with my family when I won a prize, brought food when someone in the family was sick. They were GREAT) but didn’t care for my religion. I never once heard anything negative about Jews from Christians. After all, our leader is a Jewish carpenter.

When I was little, my Christian school’s Boy Scout troop painted the fence at a local synagogue. I thought well that’s nice. Everyone getting together and helping each other. And then I tried to remember when the synagogue members did anything for our church, or school, or scout troop, and came up empty. Huh. I said, well, I’ll just pay attention and it’ll happen at some point. It never did.

Then, I noticed (still a little kid here) that when we had to sell raffle tickets or candy to raise funds for our Christian school, my Jewish neighbors would never buy anything. They’d always politely and slightly awkwardly decline. These were people I’d see every day, that knew me from birth, that were the sweetest, nicest people in the whole world, so that “no, don’t want to give $1 to anything Christian” really stuck out like a sore thumb. I stopped ringing their doorbell in subsequent years.

So the idea that Jews don’t want to help with Christian issues was really cemented into my brain as a literal child. My Jewish neighbors treated me like gold, (brought gifts for me whenever they went on vacation, gave me birthday cards, constantly asked about my studies, rejoiced with my family when I won a prize, brought food when someone in the family was sick. They were GREAT) but didn’t care for my religion. I never once heard anything negative about Jews from Christians. After all, our leader is a Jewish carpenter.