By Miranda Jones

I am an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia majoring in Middle East Studies and am entering my last year. I intend making aliyah thereafter. Once integrated in Israel I will likely continue on to post graduate studies in Middle East Studies at Ben Gurion University. I am currently an intern at JCPA.

My mother was born in Brooklyn and was brought up a practicing Jew. She was thoroughly Americanized because she was third generation. She received her BA in Humanities from the University of Chicago. When she was 30 years old she joined the Air Force which was quite unusual for a woman, let alone a Jewish woman. She worked in various locations throughout D.C. During her career she was appointed as Air Attache to Israel.

After a long career she retired having achieved the rank of Colonel.

My father is from Chicago and is the son of a mixed marriage. His mother is African American and his father is a mix of Black Native American and some Irish. His black grandmother believed herself descendant of Hebrews, however. My father has always told me that his grandmother had Jewish qualities/attributes about her, and spoke of his Hebrew roots. To fully understand these roots, I recommend you read The Lost Tribes of Israel in Africa.

My father is very educated in the sciences. He served in the Air Force for over 20 years. When he retired from the Air Force, he went on to work as a rocket scientist and engineer.

He always felt a deep connection to the Jewish people and was looking to marry a Jewish woman. My mother was looking for a spiritual man. They found each other in the Air Force. You might say, it was bishert.

I grew up in the D.C. metropolitan area, always attending good public schools. I never had an official Jewish education. I went to synagogue, celebrated Hanukkah and the High Holidays and always identified myself as Jewish.

I have one sister, Ariele, (16 months older than myself) who just made aliyah a month ago after graduating university.