Kelly was one of those non-Jewish girls I’d always envied — the ones who seemed to know where every cool party was and dressed with an urban flair. So it took me by surprise when, one day last year, she excitedly told me that she was converting to Judaism.
I knew she loved “Jewy” things. She even had a blog, “Bunny Shapiro,” where she posted pictures of old Jews eating at delis, mezuzas she found pretty and, because she worked in the fashion business, photos of Jewish fashionistas. But I figured the whole Jewish thing was just part of her eccentric persona, not something a non-Jewish, 30-year-old downtown New Yorker would seriously consider taking on. And she told me she wasn’t doing it for a Jewish guy; she was taking the big step on her own.
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