“My dad grew up Jewish and my mom was a Midwest girl who was brought up Methodist and converted after they married. No doubt, we grew up Jewish. My mom was the catalyst for that. My dad came along for the ride. So whatever my mom wanted, he’d say, ‘You got it!’ Even Friday night dinners. They didn’t care if we went out at night as teenagers. But we were going to sit down as a family and have Shabbat dinner.

Some of my parent’s best friends were the rabbi and his wife, among other members of the congregation. If your mom’s a convert, you’re gonna get the full deal. So along with Friday night Shabbat dinners, we went to synagogue. And it was important to her because she chose this. I still have people ask me, ‘Are you a Jew by choice?’ and I tell them, ‘Every day.’ You have to choose to be a Jew because we’re such a minority in the world. That wasn’t the case for my dad so much because I think he felt like a Jew in name only.

At Ladue, I grew up in a bubble. There were a lot of Jewish kids, and my family didn’t grow up with money by any stretch. I didn’t go to camp. I didn’t get a car. I shared a room with my sister. By Ladue standards, it was pretty rough. But my parents loved theater, books, and travel. We’d play 20 Questions at dinner and they worked hard at developing a family. And developing a Jewish identity for us was a big deal.”

📷| Lindy Drew