The Doctor Who Became Religious Thanks to His Daughter: 'I Studied Torah to Prove Her Wrong'

It all began at age eight, when Alison Josephs from New York was in fourth grade. "I walked into the classroom and saw my friends crying. I knew something terrible had happened, and I asked my teacher what was going on. She said that Angela's father went crazy the night before and killed her and her brother, and then committed suicide."

"I couldn't understand it and started to wonder why we are even alive," she recalls.

This question became significant in her life and troubled her as she grew up. She searched for the answer in various places, always haunted by thoughts of that unfortunate friend who lost her life for no fault of her own. "I had no idea my religion addressed the meaning or purpose of our lives. I thought that being religious meant you were crazy or outdated," she says.

But at 16, everything changed. Alison was exposed to religion in a closer way through various emissaries who crossed her path, and gradually, she started realizing this was the truth she wanted to live by. "I gradually began to make changes in my life," she says. "I prayed, studied Torah, and became observant."

However, her parents, an economically well-off and educated couple, were not pleased. "I was worried because she was very young, and I didn't know where it would take her," recalls Marlene. "I didn't know where she was headed, and I told her, 'I want you home.' That's how we started having Shabbat dinners."

But her father's mind, a neurologist by profession, couldn't rest. "I trained in neurology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, where there is a large Hasidic community," he says. "I treated many patients from this community and thought the people wearing strange cloaks were just wasting their lives. I felt great contempt towards these people."

'If You Think I Am Ruining My Life – Please, Save Me from This Cult'

"He made it very hard for me," shares Alison in an interview published on the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs' website. "I was 16, and he told me I was becoming a fanatic and extremist, and that I was destroying our family."

Alan: "Because I was angry she was doing these things in my house."

"He thought Alison had joined some cult," adds Marlene, and Alison quickly explains: "It's his people and his books, and he knew nothing about them, so I recommended certain books for him to read to get closer to my world and understand what I believe in."

Marlene: "He shook off the books and moved them aside, then told Alison: 'I will prove to you how foolish this religion is.'"

"I told him: 'No problem'," Alison smiles. "Learn what I learned, meet who I met – and if you think I am ruining my life and the lives of the grandchildren you haven't met yet, then please, save me from this cult. And after a year of his constant nagging, he started learning just to annoy me."

Her father spent an entire year delving into sources to find proof that it was a false and distorted religion and to flaunt it in front of his daughter. But then something amazing happened: "One day he came to me and said: 'I was such a fool. It was under my nose all along, and I mocked it. It's time I filled in the gaps."

Alan: "When this change occurred – my life became much clearer than it had been before. We started on a certain path, and now we're 37 years down the line. There are so many wonderful things about religion, and my life is much more enjoyable and meaningful as a religious person than it was when I was secular. The fact that Alison became religious is the reason we are religious today. And we are very proud of her for that."