Leigh Pennington
Identity is a decision that is concluded ahead of a person’s time on earth and can be unmade in that same lifetime. Those who come before us have a certain degree of control over the identities we choose for ourselves as individuals and/or a people. Judaism possesses a phrase for the inherited identity that is being a ‘Jew’. It is known and taught as l’dor va dor, from generation to generation. Yet how is this process accomplished? How is it deemed successful or unsuccessful? Glimpse into how one Jewish family approaches and lives through these questions of identity and culture after generations of diasporic assimilation in the American South.
Thicker-Than-Blood-Final-Final-Draft.docxHailing from Richmond Virginia, Leigh Pennington is an Op-Ed Editor for the Times of Israel and a freelance arts and culture journalist. She earned her BA in Anthropology, Art History, and Religion from Concordia University in Montreal and her Masters degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jewish Studies. Her writing has been published in major news and opinion media including Tablet Magazine, the Times of Israel, and Up Magazine.