A Timeline of Jewish History Beginning with My Father
A timeline of Jewish history originates with my parents. After high school, my father was given permission by his parents to join the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1939. He performed work in CCC camps in California and New Jersey. In December 1941, the United States entered the World War II war with Germany, Italy and Japan.
My father had worked in three different Defense Industries before getting a job with a construction company building Camp Kilmer, a point of debarking for American troops going overseas. Soon after that the United States Army drafted him. He received a 4F rejection. When he was seven years old his brother had accidentally run over his right leg with a milk card. So, one of his legs was shorter than the other and he walked with a limp.
In 1942, he volunteered in the United States Army and was accepted. He explained that volunteers were taking the responsibility for any injuries sustained during military service and not the United States government. So, if he volunteered, he could serve in the armed forces during World War II. He was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey. Then he was transferred to Fort Meade, Maryland for basic training.
In January 1943, after two weeks at Camp Kilmer he boarded a troop ship in New York City that traveled to Oran, North Africa after sailing for fourteen days. My father drove trucks as a cadre for a replacement depot in Constantine, Algeria. Later his outfit was transferred to Naples, Italy. After seven months of service in Italy, my father was reclassified to IC. He was discharged from the Army at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
A Timeline of Jewish History – How my father met my
mother
After leaving the Army, my father took upholstery courses at the Middlesex County Vocational School. He found upholstery work, but left that industry to find employment as an Accounting Clerk in two different chemical companies.
Meanwhile my mother worked as a bookkeeper for the New Jersey Typewriter Service. She worked there with my father’s sister, Aunt Esther. Aunt Esther invited my mother to her wedding. It was at this wedding that my father met my mother. My mother was living in Highland Park with her two brothers and mother at this time.
My mother told me that my father was very persistent and wouldn’t take no for an answer when he asked her out. If he asked her and she said she couldn’t go out on Wednesday, he would ask again.
“What about Thursday night?”
“No.”
“What about Friday night?”
“No.”
“What about Saturday night?”
“No.”
This went on for a while. Finally, my parents decided to get married. In the July 11, 1951 edition of the New Brunswick, The Daily Home News, my grandmother of 102 South Adelaide Avenue in Highland Park, announced the engagement of her daughter, Miss Ruth Miller, to Harry Beja, son of Mrs. Isaac Beja, 64 Dennis Street and the late Mr. Beja. My father’s father had passed away from pneumonia while my father was serving overseas during World War II.
Continuing the story of a timeline of Jewish history on December 8, 1951, my parents were married in the study of Rabbi Philip Ritholtz of the Highland Park Conservative Temple. My mother’s brother, Irving Miller, presented the bride to my father. She wore a candle-light faille street dress timed with brocaded satin, a chartreuse hat and a corsage of orchids. After a reception for members of the family at the home of the bride’s mother, Mr. and Mrs. Beja went to New York state for a wedding trip.
A Timeline of Jewish History –
New Beginnings
Over three years later I was brought into the world in a Jewish home. I was born in Middlesex Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey on March 18, 1955. My birth continued the timeline of Jewish history begun with my grandparents and parents.
I was blessed with two loving parents who took care of me and protected me. My parents taught me to have a love for G-d from a very early age adding continuity to the timeline of Jewish history. From my earliest memories of my childhood, I remember always feeling close to G-d as soon as I became aware of my surroundings as a toddler. I knew He was always there to watch over me.
Since my father wasn’t making that much money, my parents decided that they would only have one child, so that child could have more.
For a while my father started his own upholstery business. He had studied upholstery at the Middlesex County Vocational School after leaving the Army. He wasn’t successful with his business, so he went to work for the Bond Bread company as a retail route bread and cake salesman to earn more money to support his family.
He decided to take the United States Civil Service exam in 1958, three years after I was born. He received high scores in the tests he took and he was able to start work as a storekeeping clerk (GS-2 step 1) at the United Army Ordnance Corporation at Raritan Arsenal in Metuchen, New Jersey.
I remember that my parents disagreed about which synagogue to attend when I was a young child. My mother didn’t like my father’s boyhood synagogue, Etz Ahaim. I think my father took me there once or twice when I was a little girl. He had hoped I would fit in there with the other kids for religious school. However, I was scared of the new and unknown surroundings and cried a lot when he took me there. So, it was decided by my parents that I wouldn’t attend religious school at my father’s Sephardic Orthodox synagogue.
At one time my parents thought about sending me to a Jewish yeshiva instead of to public schools. However, after touring the school and seeing how much it would cost, they kept me in the public schools instead.
As a young child I remember learning about the Jewish holidays in a synagogue Sunday school. I remember learning about the High Holy Day feasts of Rosh Hashanah, the lulav and esrog for Sukkot, and the Passover and Purim stories. I also acquired some basic knowledge of Hebrew and could identify some of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
A Timeline of Jewish History – Confirmation in the Faith of Israel
When I was in junior high school, my parents finally decided on a synagogue to join and we became members of the Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, New Jersey. I was sent to the religious school there. This continued the timeline of Jewish history journey.
In the eighth grade I studied Reform Judaism, Jews and Arabs and the Prophets. I received grades for all of these subjects – B+ in Reform Judaism, A- in Jews and Arabs and A in the Prophets for all three terms. My teacher for the Prophets class wrote “Sheila has shown a fine background in Jewish History.” My teachers wrote that I was very quiet in these classes and that they wished I would contribute more to the class discussions. It was during the Prophets class that we studied the prophet Isaiah and I began to question Jewish unbelief in Jesus as the promised Messiah of the Jewish people after having discussions with my Gentile Christian friends about it.
During my Prophets class, our teacher told us about the prophet Isaiah. He said something about this prophet that reminded me of the Christian belief in Jesus as the promised Messiah of the Jewish people. My teacher, however, taught us that Jesus was not the promised Messiah that the prophet Isaiah wrote about. I remembered the conversations I had with my Gentile Christian friend in school. I also wondered if my teacher had misunderstood who was the promised Messiah of the Jewish people that the prophet Isaiah wrote about. This made me wonder more about exactly who Jesus was and I continued my search for answers into adulthood.
In 9th grade I studied History of Religions – with grades of A and A- and Hebrew with a grade of C for all three terms – Hanukah, Purim and Shavuot. In 10th grade we studied with the Rabbi of our synagogue in preparation for confirmation. In Reform Judaism, confirmation is modeled after the confirmation ceremonies in Christian churches. I was confirmed in the Faith of Israel on May 30, 1971. As part of the Jewish confirmation ceremony I recited the Sh’ma, a standard prayer in the traditional synagogue service. With the permission of my parents, I stopped attending religious school after I was confirmed. I still attended Friday night synagogue services with them until I left home to attend college in Washington, DC after I turned 18.
My mother taught me that it was how our family felt about G-d in our hearts that was important. I was taught to have concern for other and to reach out and help wherever I could. I grew up in a loving, caring Jewish home. I was always proud of my Jewish heritage and what I learned about having a relationship with G-d through both of my parents. I remember attending Friday night services at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple with my parents. There was an Oneg Shabbat every Friday evening after the service.
Jewish children are taught that Jesus is not the promised Messiah of Israel. Jewish tradition is still waiting for the Messiah to come. From the time of the Pharisees until now, Jewish people have missed out on who their promised Messiah is. I'm glad and proud of my Jewish background and heritage. However, I'm also glad that I challenged traditional Jewish rabbinical teaching about who the promised Messiah of the Jewish people is.
A Timeline of Jewish History – Christian Seeds Planted
My Jewish identity was always a part of a timeline of Jewish history. I could accept Jesus Christ as my savior on the condition that I would remain Jewish throughout the rest of my life. Later on as an adult, I became a Jewish believer. The seeds along the road to this path were planted in me in my teenage years through my friendship with two Gentile Christians in school.
During lunch and at other times we would have conversations in school. What attracted my attention and interest was that the Christian beliefs they shared with me were similar in many ways to my own Jewish beliefs and what I had been learning through my religious school classes.
The only difference was their belief in Jesus as the promised Messiah. They explained that Jesus would come back one day. They also explained that once Jesus came back, they would no longer receive communion. Through these conversations the seeds of Christianity were planted in me.
I wanted to become a Foreign Service Officer. My girlfriend, Lydia, thought she would become a missionary one day. We often had conversations about this in school. As salutatorian she presented a Christian message in her speech at our graduation. She went on to attend the Lancaster School of the Bible. I attended American University and studied International Studies as a School of International Service student.
The second friend, Judy, invited me to a St. Patrick’s Day party at her home. I thought the conversations there about Christianity were interesting. I was given a pamphlet titled, “Is it Enough to Believe,” that asked the question, “Are you really a Christian?”
However, my mother wasn’t too happy to hear that I was learning about Christianity. She was an active lifetime member of Hadassah, a Jewish women’s Zionist organization founded by Henrietta Szold. My mother was also President of her group. I remember her having Hadassah meetings in our home when I was in high school.
In response, Judy wrote this in my yearbook in my senior year in high school. “Sheila, I have enjoyed getting to know you this year. It was great to have you come to that party and believe me we weren’t trying to push you into anything but only telling and showing you how much we care about your life. I do care and will be praying for you. Love, Judy.”
Although these seeds were planted in high school, I still remained Jewish. I hadn’t accepted Jesus into my life yet since it wasn’t part of a timeline of Jewish history that had begun with my family’s Jewish background. I read fiction books that would have some elements of Christianity in them. For example, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
Historical websites accessible with a mobile phone
National Museum of American History
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC
Mount Vernon in Alexandria, Virginia
National Women's History Alliance
History Today
History News Network
Colonial Williamsburg
