Randy and Deborah Jergensen have a sign in the front window of their home that says: “We Stand With Israel.”
The Camano Island couple belong to Temple Beth Or, a Reform Jewish community in Everett. They are converts, former members of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Stanwood.
“I was a Sunday school teacher there, but my heart wasn’t really in it,” said Deborah Jergensen, 49, who converted about four years ago.
Her husband was confirmed as a Lutheran as a child. A spiritual journey stretching back to his teens led him to Judaism. Deborah Jergensen said her husband believes his great-great grandfather might have been Jewish.
“For almost 30 years, I studied it on my own,” Randy Jergensen said. “In 2001, I decided I either needed to take it to the next step or let it go.”
He met Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman, of Temple Beth Or, and five years ago, he and their son, Sam, now 15, adopted the Jewish faith.
Randy Jergensen, 47, has taught adult theology classes and youth religion classes at the temple and has earned a master’s degree in Jewish education at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago. He works in finance for the Boeing Co., and is pursing a doctoral degree, with an aim of attending rabbinical school.
On Friday, he and his wife were open enough and patient enough to talk with me about being Jewish in unsettling times. They made a point that their views are their own, they aren’t speaking for Temple Beth Or.
Israel is at war, trading bombs and rocket fire with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon. On July 28, a gunman’s rampage at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle killed Pamela Waechter and wounded five others, including Christina Rexroad of Everett. Also on July 28, actor-director Mel Gibson was reported to have said “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” as he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Malibu, Calif.
“He’s one individual entitled to his opinion,” Randy Jergensen said of Gibson. “I personally don’t agree, and I personally won’t watch any of his movies.”
His wife said she hasn’t encountered much antagonism related to her faith. Anti-Semitic slurs credited to Gibson, she said, “were enough to get my hackles up a little bit.”
“Most people are more curious than disdainful. They don’t know a lot about the customs or dietary laws,” she said. Her husband agreed he’s encountered little negative reaction to his faith. “Primarily, I’m asked questions,” he said.
The decision to leave the Lutheran church was difficult to explain to those they left behind. “Some people from there don’t know us anymore, not all of them, not the good people,” Deborah Jergensen said.
Randy Jergensen said the Seattle shooting was “very shocking.”
“I know a lot of the people. One of the individuals there attended the same graduate school as I did,” he said. “But do I feel generally insecure? No, I don’t.”
Temple Beth Or, he said, had police protection at services the night of the shootings, as it has for high holy days. Deborah Jergensen said the Seattle attack has her “keeping my eyes open.” Yet, she believes the Jewish community is now stronger than ever.
The family’s “We Stand With Israel” sign has been on display since long before the current conflict in the Middle East. They have no plans to remove it.
About the violence between Hezbollah and Israel, Randy Jergensen said it’s a complex and difficult situation. “Americans in general like their answers in sound bites, and these questions can’t be answered in sound bites.”
On Israel’s security, he stands firm.
“As for my opinion, before we can have a discussion you have to answer the question, ‘Does the state of Israel have a right to exist?’ If you say no, we have nothing to talk about,” he said.
“Air strikes in Lebanon, does that make me happy? No,” Randy Jergensen said. “But they’re dealing with Hezbollah and Hamas, people who don’t think Israel has a right to exist.”
They’ve made their journey as a family.
For their son, Deborah Jergensen said, “some of the things were tough.” The first holiday season, they had a Christmas tree and a menorah.
“We sort of weaned him that year. Now he’s proud of his Jewishness,” Deborah Jergensen said of her son, who’ll attend a Jewish camp in North Bend this summer.
“I’m proud of it,” she added. “And I don’t care who knows that I’m Jewish. That’s easy for me to say, sitting in the safety of my house.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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