Orthodox Jew, on a journey back to his faith

By Christopher Quinn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10.25.08

Here I am, a five-foot-two bespectacled Jewish kid, in a mosh pit of faith in a sea of fifteen thousand roused African-Americans at the New Birth megachurch in Lithonia, Georgia... . I am just trying to blend in, hoping I won’t stand out too much.

-- Benyamin Cohen

And there began an Orthodox Jew’s counterintuitive and funny yearlong sojourn in Georgia churches. Cohen is a Jack Kerouac searching for a way back to his own faith on the Bible Belt’s gospel road in his book “My Jesus Year” (HarperOne, $24.95).

Fueled by curiosity and guilt, dread and religious passion, Cohen spent 12 months of Sundays immersed in everything Christian, from the quiet uniformity of Episcopal services to the free-form shouts of tiny Pentecostal churches. He visited Christian rock concerts and a Jesus-themed professional wrestling show. In doing so, he opened his own eyes, as he will open his readers’.

Cohen’s experiences will be recognized by any person who has ever felt embarrassingly out of place, or who has offered up a defiant question to God, or who has been the prodigal who returned home.

I spoke to him about his growing up the son of an Orthodox rabbi in Atlanta and what he discovered on his strange (to him) trip into the world of church. This is an edited version of that conversation.

Q: Why did you decide to go to churches?

A: One of my motivating factors for this entire journey was: Why are Christians so excited about Christianity, and Jews are not excited about Judaism?

Because most synagogues, especially the nonorthodox, you go a couple of times a year, not on a weekly basis. But church parking lots are always full. That was the little spark, that was like, what are they doing in there that is getting people back on a weekly basis when you could easily be sleeping in on Sunday? What are they doing that is so much fun? That was kind of the initial question I had, and obviously, I expanded it to: “What can I learn to make myself enjoy my own Judaism more and come to terms with who I am?”

Q: What is the answer to that last question?

A: Growing up a rabbi’s son, it’s all second nature to me... . A lot of my friends became religious, but I was never able to do that on my own. This allowed me in some way to go outside my religion and look at it from a different angle and be able to re-engage with it in a fresh way. I learned to appreciate my Judaism more because I was able to look at it from the outside.

Q: Is there something that happened that makes you think, “I’m glad I am Jewish because ...”?

A: Well, Jewish prayer services can be boring sometimes. And I naively thought if we had a 100-person gospel choir and lots of dancing and tambourines, it would be more exciting. I learned that it is exciting, but it is not my cup of tea. I realized I can no longer be jealous of that because I have experienced it and know on some level that I enjoy our simpler services.

Q: Do religious people need to experience something outside their faith to understand their belief?

A: People who are brought up religious need to do something to understand their faith. I chose to do this interesting experiment. I think we need to do it on our own level, whether that’s going on a spiritual journey or asking yourself why you are doing this?

Q: How is life for you now in Atlanta?

A: I love living in the Bible Belt, where there are more churches than Starbucks... . My Jewish friends in New York tell me, “Oh, it must be really hard to be a Jew in this town [Atlanta] because there are so many religious Christians.” And I am like, no, it’s just the opposite. They are so much on the same wavelength. They get it and are much more accepting. I’m like, you’re religious? I’m religious too, give or take a Jesus.

Link to the original article: http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/10/25/jesus.html