Walking With a Convert: How Faith Reshaped the Gersen Family

This is the rare story of a family who became more Jewish not through tradition, but through reinvention.

In this conversation, Jacob Gersen opens up about his family history, upbringing, marriage, his childrens journeys and what it meant to support Jeannie Suk Gersen through an Orthodox conversion. He speaks honestly about feeling like an outsider, the vulnerability of joining an Orthodox community later in life, the shift toward public Jewish identity after October 7 and how Jeannie’s boldness reshaped his own relationship to Judaism. A rich, thoughtful and moving portrait of modern American Jewish life.

Key Takeaways

1. Identity and belonging are rarely linear.
2. Conversion can transform more than one person.
3. In a post–October 7 world, choosing to be visibly Jewish carries new meaning.

Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Learning to live publicly as a Jew

[00:05:00] Deep cultural Judaism and inherited ambivalence

[00:09:00] Turning to Eastern religions at Brown instead of Judaism

[00:11:00] Early interfaith marriage and unexpected rejection

[00:14:00] Raising children with two religious identities

[00:17:00] Feeling inadequate next to a non-Jew who practiced more Judaism

[00:19:00] Finding Rabbi Minz and beginning Jeannie’s Orthodox conversion

[00:23:00] Outsider feelings in Orthodox spaces

[00:33:00] Building belonging: the need for support systems in shul

[00:45:00] Rejecting the instinct to “keep your head down” after October 7

Links

• ⁠Jacob Gersen - Harvard Law School⁠
• ⁠Project Ruth Website⁠
• ⁠Rabbi Adam Mintz⁠
• ⁠Meredith Berkman’s LinkedIn⁠