Purpose

Why did I take on this project?

I originally began this project in September of 2020. As a Jewish teenager and a senior at St. John's Prep In Danvers, Massachusetts, I felt the main thing I had missed out on was an academic pursuit related to Judaics. I took the Capstone Research course and decided to do a study of Jewish Identity and how it had evolved since the 1960s, or during the years the world has had to reflect on the Holocaust. I didn't have the means to conduct a national study, so I decided to start locally. My grandparents lived near Brookline and I had grown up very aware of the strong Jewish community there, as well as the extreme variety within sects of Judaism present. As I did secondary research about the Greater Boston area, my choice for Brookline as a microcosm of American Jewish identity was only further reaffirmed. Brookline is the home to a significant portion of the Jews that make up the Greater Boston Jewish community and a hub of Jewish life. My affiliation with Temple Sinai was born through a working relationship with their Director of Education, Heidi Smith Hyde, who has been a great help throughout this project. She worked tirelessly to help me develop my idea, provide me with information about Temple Sinai, and connect me with a range of congregants who would be willing to share their story.