Buffalo, NY – A high school student in upstate New York was getting sick of school. During his junior year, he knew he had to find a way to take days off without getting in trouble, so he decided to convert to Judaism, so he could take off the numerous holidays.
“I saw how all of the Zachs in my school were always missing days because of Jewish holidays,” Rob Franklin started. “I was pretty sick of school and I had used all of my sick days, so I needed a new solution. So I decided, why not convert to Judaism.”
It wasn’t as easy as Franklin thought it would be. Especially because Franklin didn’t know much about Judaism and wasn’t raised in any religious background. “Learning Hebrew was extremely difficult,” he told us. The Torah was really hard to read, but I knew it would all be worth it. I spent a ton of time at the synagogue with the rabbi.”
Now a senior in high school, Owens has already missed a good amount of this year. “It’s crazy to me,” he explained. “We get all of these days off and nobody says anything. They just give us the assignments we need and tell us to enjoy our hospitals.”
When asked what his favorite part of being Jewish was, he replied, “The matzo. Even if you don’t want to convert, just go down to any grocery store and pick a box up. It’s delicious”
