Meet Korey Bronson - a young IDF soldier who was born a Jew, raised as a Christian, converted to Islam, and returned to Judaism.
Bronson now lives in Israel, but he was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father.
He was raised as a Christian and the family continued to lead a Christian lifestyle even after his father died when Bronson was six years old.
Bronson did not know that he was Jewish until a year after his father’s death, when his uncle came for a visit.
It was a Friday afternoon, and young Korey told his uncle, who was dressed in a black suit, that “church is on Sunday.”
“He looked at me and said: ‘You have a lot to learn, buddy. It’s Erev Shabbat today,” recalled Bronson.
“And I didn’t know what Shabbat was. I didn’t know I was Jewish. He saw that I was lost and began to explain to me what Shabbat is all about.”
When his uncle saw that his nephew was not grasping what he was explaining, he took him and his brother to experience what their first and last real Shabbat for a long time.
Bronson continued to lead a Christian life and ignored the fact that he was Jewish, but the story does not end there. Later on in his life, along came Islam.
“When I was 11 or 12 my mother met a friend from her childhood who was Muslim, fell in love and got married,” he said.
“Upon their request everyone converted to Islam. We became Muslim, we began learning how to read, how to write, the prayers five times a day, the food, and we did this full out.”
Yet Bronson felt something was missing. He learned about many cultures but not Judaism. He finally remembered that he is Jewish when he was taught in the Muslim school that Muslims are allowed to eat kosher food.
“I called my uncle and I told him that I want to learn what it is to be a Jew,” recalled Bronson. “He spoke to his wife and they agreed that I could come for a month and learn, and take what I can.”
Three months later, Bronson moved to his uncle’s house where he began to learn Hebrew and study about what it means to be a Jew. The local rabbi was impressed with his progress and took him under his wing.
Bronson studied at a Zionist school, where he was inspired by his teachers, who were shlichim from Israel and passed on to him their love for the country.
“We saw these families coming from Israel to teach us because they saw the importance.
Even more importantly we saw them going back,” he said. “It wasn’t just ideas that we were being told. We also saw people who were making that move to go there.”
After grade 12, Bronson came to Israel for a year to study in yeshiva. He learned Hebrew and ultimately fell in love with both the people and the land. This persuaded him to stay in Israel and enlist in the IDF.
Bronson says that today he respects both his former religions but admits that seeing and reading about the religion-based hatred “eats at my heart. When I hear about bombings or I see shootings or simply slander it eats at my heart because I see that the situation doesn’t have to be this way. It can be worked out. There are things that can be done.”
He believes that he can contribute to Israel through leading by example. “I take the things that I learn and see and I do the best I can to be an exemplary figure to the people around me.
I help them develop understanding. There’s no greater reward than giving and helping, and I feel that and I truly believe that, so I practice that.”
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