Footsteps of faith: Black Jewish Hoosiers

Willaine St. Pierre remembers being just twelve years and going up against a Christian youth pastor to defend her faith at a convention. The pastor was teaching the youth group about the rapture when he mentioned something about Jews. “My mom was Jewish in the strictest of the orthodox faith. They believe if your mom is Jewish, you’re Jewish. I was born in Haiti, and she was a third generation Haitian Jew. My father was a Christian pastor,” said Pierre, who is on the board of the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council. RELATED: Black Jewish leader works to boost community, inclusiveness “So, they did not want his church to know that my mom was letting us practice Judaism. We moved to New York where my father’s church was. I got in trouble quite a few times because I would obviously have different opinions.” Pierre remembers the youth pastor telling her she was pretty vocal about defending the Jewish faith. She was steadfast in telling others what she did and did not believe. “When I got home, my dad said he got a phone call from this pastor that said I needed to be forced to convert because I’m going to...