By the time I was 5, I was already an outcast. It was the early 1960s, and I was part of the only Jewish family in a decidedly Christian suburb of Waltham, Mass.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was one of two Jewish kids in my school. We were probably one of two Jewish families in our town.
When I was little, I went to a Jewish community day school for most of elementary school.
I grew up Jewish, became an atheist and a Marxist, and 28 years ago, at age 26, became a Christian.
I was nearly a teen-ager before I stopped assuming that everyone I met was Jewish.
I have very distinct memories about growing up as part of what was then a very small Jewish community in Buffalo Grove, IL.
I was brought up in the modern world of all the luxury and the highlight of show business. I was born into a Christian home.
My mum was raised Jewish, my dad is very scientifically minded, and my school was vaguely Christian. We sang hymns in school. I liked the hymns bit, but apart from that, I can take it or leave it. So I had lots of different influences when I was younger.
I grew up in Queens and New Jersey. I started doing children's theater when I was seven to get out of school because I didn't fit in.
I grew up on the north side of Chicago, in West Rogers Park, an overwhelmingly Jewish neighborhood. When I was 13, my parents moved to Winnetka, Illinois, an upper class, WASPy suburb where Jews - as well as Blacks and Catholics - were unwelcome on many blocks. I suffered the spiritual equivalent of whiplash.
The town I grew up in was at least fifty percent Jewish, so every weekend in the 7th grade, we went to Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.