Sophia Trakhtman always knew what it meant to be Jewish. But despite her heritage, Sophia didn’t fully connect with Jewish culture and community until high school. Now, years later, she is a proud member of The Associated’s Young Adult Division’s Volunteer Committee and making a positive change in Jewish Baltimore.
Growing Up a First-Generation Jew
Though her family celebrated the major Jewish holidays like Hannukah and Yom Kippur, Sophia was never strictly observant. However, she did learn about her family heritage through her parents’ accounts of what they experienced before immigrating to the United States in 1990. In the Soviet Union, they couldn’t freely practice their Judaism due to fear of persecution. She knew that she was incredibly lucky to live in a place where she could talk about her heritage with pride.
“I’m fortunate to be able to wear my Jewish star and talk about being Jewish. And to have so much pride in it and celebrate it means a lot.”
As she began exploring her culture and religion more with her peers at school, she learned about some ways to get more involved with other Jewish teens. Through her friends, she discovered NCSY and ended up going to Israel for a month-long trip her senior year.
