Judaism: Family Traditions, Rituals and History

I have been around religion all my life, but only recently has it become important to me. I find this ironic, because I recently transferred to a 'public' DODDS school from a small, private Catholic school. Only after I was removed from the Catholic school environment did I begin to see what religion really is. I came to the Catholic school system in Leavenworth, Kansas in the fifth grade. Before that time, I was naïve; I barely knew any swear words and all I knew about sex was that I was interested in cute boys. Ironically, it was this time, all through and every year after fifth grade that I was subjected to and learned vulgarity. By the time I was a sophomore, I was so familiar with all of the four-letter words that I swore casually with my friends when we would discuss sex or gossip about other students.…