Jesse Jackson’s daughter converts to Judaism

Jesse Jackson’s daughter reveals she converted to Judaism, says her father gave his blessing.

By World Israel News Staff

Ashley L. Jackson, the daughter of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, has revealed that she converted to Judaism following a years-long spiritual journey that received the support of both of her parents.

Jackson, a writer, producer and founder of the nonprofit Push The Next Generation, said she formally completed her conversion on June 12. She disclosed the decision publicly Friday in an opinion article for The Washington Post.

She said her interest in Judaism developed gradually after years of considering the relationship between religion, justice and public service.

Jackson began exploring those questions while attending college, but said they took on greater urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she experienced a serious illness and a lengthy period of isolation. An online conversation about Jewish life led her to begin reading about Judaism and eventually attend a Shabbat service.

She continued returning to the synagogue and eventually began the formal conversion process.

“I was raised to believe that faith must lead to action,” Jackson wrote, saying she found the same principle reflected in Jewish study, ritual and the concept of tikkun olam, or repairing the world.

Jackson said she was deeply moved by the sound of the shofar during her first Rosh Hashanah service and gradually came to view the Jewish community as her spiritual home.

Two years before her father’s death, Jackson brought him to a Shabbat morning service at IKAR, a Jewish community in Los Angeles led by Rabbi Sharon Brous.

The longtime civil rights leader sat in the front row, held his daughter’s hand and participated in the service despite not understanding the Hebrew prayers, Jackson recalled. He also joined congregants celebrating a bar mitzvah.

At the end of the service, Brous called Jackson’s father forward to receive a blessing. Before the rabbi began speaking, the congregation reportedly rose and gave him a spontaneous ovation, bringing him to tears.

The synagogue visit carried particular significance because Jesse Jackson was one of the best-known Baptist ministers and civil rights activists in the US. He worked with Martin Luther King Jr., founded the organizations that became the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.

Ashley Jackson said her father’s willingness to enter her Jewish community reflected the curiosity and openness he had encouraged in her throughout her childhood.

After completing her conversion, she adopted the Hebrew name Miriam Yiskah. She described Yiskah as a feminine echo of Jesse that would carry her father’s memory into her new religious life.

Jackson said she hoped her experience would demonstrate that divisions between the black and Jewish communities were not inevitable. She concluded that “our differences do not preclude unity.”

Her conversion also adds a new dimension to her father’s complicated relationship with the Jewish community.

During his first presidential campaign in 1984, Jesse Jackson faced widespread criticism after using the antisemitic term “Hymietown” while referring privately to New York. He subsequently apologized and sought to repair relations with Jewish organizations, although concerns continued over his associations with arch terrorist Yasser Arafat and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Following Jackson’s death at age 84 in February, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism acknowledged that he had “caused tremendous pain in the Jewish community and beyond” but said that, through later engagement and apologies, he ultimately became “an ally in the fight against antisemitism.”

The organization also recalled Reform Jewish leaders joining Jackson at demonstrations and events supporting civil rights and other shared causes.

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