ReformJudaism.org caught up with Sarah Hurwitz, a former White House speechwriter, first for President Barack Obama and then for First Lady Michelle Obama.

Although you might think that Lisa, my Jewish-by-birth partner, asked me to take a URJ the Introduction to Judaism course with her, quite the contrary is true: I asked her.

For many years, I felt inhibited to knock on the door of a synagogue. Simultaneously, my heart and gut knew where I belonged. There is in fact Jewish ancestry on my father’s side – contested by some relatives; strong enough to reinforce my feelings of visceral kinship.

Walking into that first Introduction to Judaism class, I was nervous. For the last five years, I’d become increasingly immersed in Jewish culture, attending High Holiday services with my girlfriend's family, exchanging Hanukkah gifts, reading books on Judaism, and consulting “Rabbi Google.” Still, I felt like an outsider – self-conscious and keenly aware of my “other-ness.”

I was raised in a small farming town in Tennessee where nearly everyone was a Southern Baptist.

I was born into a Catholic family and given a Catholic education, but for as long as I can remember, Judaism has always fascinated me.

More than just a conversion requirement, Len Gesinksi found Introduction to Judaism to be inspirational, and believes it was instrumental in shaping his and his wife's journeys toward Judaism.