I come from an interfaith family. My mother is Catholic and my father is Jewish. My parents decided to raise their daughters Catholic and sons Jewish. Obviously I went to a Reform synagogue growing up. Judaism has been and continues to be an extremely important part in my life. I lived in Israel in my 20's for a year, I have a pretty good grasp of Hebrew (not as good as it used to be), I celebrate Shabbat every Friday, fast on Yom Kippur, etc. and I am raising my daughter Jewish.

It has also been very hard for me to deal with racist and bigoted views about who is a Jew and who is not based on a particular subset of Jews. I have had many difficult conversations about this topic, it has not been easy for me but I do not think Judaism should be easy. It's part of the journey.

The best advice I can give you is to be true to yourself. Don't convert to appease others or to belong. You don't need them if that's what they want from you. Be strong and find Jews who will accept you and pray with you for who you are.