About Robert Schoen

Dr. Robert Schoen is a writer and composer with degrees from Boston University, the University of California, Berkeley, Laney College, and California State University East Bay.

Semi-retired from the practice of optometry, he is active in efforts to promote Jewish-Christian understanding. He lives with his wife, Sharon Chabon, in Northern California.

Dr. Schoen is available for speaking engagements and book-signing events, and may be reached by e-mail.

The following interview was conducted by Loyola Press, publisher of What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew About Judaism.

Loyola Press: Where are you from? How, if at all, has your sense of place colored your writing?

Robert Schoen: I was born in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in Wantagh, a Long Island suburban community. Because of the ethnic groups I was exposed to as a child and teenager, I realized quite early on the differences between us and similarities we share.

As I relate in my book, for many years, my family made a weekly pilgrimage to my grandparents’ Brooklyn home in the heart of a commercial/residential neighborhood. It was in this city atmosphere that I first observed multi-culturalism at its best. The streets were filled with people of all different racial and ethnic backgrounds, speaking a variety of languages—Italian, Polish, Yiddish, German, Greek, Russian. Churches and synagogues dotted the neighborhoods, and since we generally visited on Saturday or Sunday, the streets were often filled with families on their way to or from religious services. I observed ministers, rabbis, priests, and nuns (dressed in full habits), on their way to wherever they were going.

As a boy, my father clearly remembers a nun speaking a few words of Yiddish to him when he was introduced by his Italian friends. Not unlike multilingual shopkeepers in ethnic neighborhoods today, many immigrant Jewish shopkeepers learned to speak enough Italian to do business with their customers. New York was truly a melting pot of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and humanity.

Being Jewish was an ethnicity, in the same way one was Italian, Irish, or Puerto Rican. Then there were subdivisions based on religion—Irish Catholic, Italian Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran. We all had our labels as well as a type of “radar” that helped us identify our own. How could these experiences not color my writing?

When, as an adult, I moved to California, I found that for the most part strong ethnic identities were either not there or had disappeared with older generations. While people still go to church or synagogue, they do not typically wear their ethnicity on their sleeve in the same way they did when I grew up in New York. Here, ethnic labels are more commonly used for restaurant identification and fashion statements.

LP: When and why did you begin writing? When did you first consider yourself a writer?

RS: I first started writing when I was a Communications major at Boston University. It’s where I also started reading anything of significance. In class, we compared the writing styles of Hemingway, Dostoevsky, the New York Times, and the Bible, noting how well-written fiction and non-fiction contain similar elements.

But my career paths went in other directions, and until writing What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew About Judaism, I’d never thought of myself as a “writer.” I’m a musician, composer, and lyricist, and have no difficulty identifying myself as such. Now that my book is published and people refer to me as a writer or author, I suppose I’ll have to take those labels seriously.

LP: What is the point of your book? Why should someone read it?

RS: Even though Christianity evolved from Judaism and Jesus himself was a Jew, during their religious education and upbringing most Christians learn little about Judaism and the Jews. Often what they do learn is based on myth or hearsay and serves only to increase their curiosity (or multiply their misconceptions) about why Jews do what they do and believe what they believe.

Through the years, I have wondered about how best to answer questions that my Christian friends asked. I wrote this book to satisfy curiosity, answer questions, and offer a resource for inquisitive people.

LP: Are there any personal experiences that were important in inspiring you to write this book?

RS: While I may have been inspired on a deeper level, the one factor that nagged at me every year, year-after-year, is the Christmas-Hanukkah connection.

If I ask a non-Jew, “What is Hanukkah? What do you know about it?” I generally receive answers that describe it as “A time when Jewish kids get lots of presents” or “The holiday when Jews light candles” or, the ultimate, “It’s the Jewish Christmas.”

Now my response to this and other misconceptions is in book form.

LP: Why do you think Christians have had a growing interest about religions different from their own in recent years?

RS: For the same reason that Jews have a growing interest in other religions. We are all searching for truths. We are looking for answers to the big questions. And not only are we interested in other religions, we are interested in other aspects of our own religions—mysticism, Kabbalah, etc.

LP: What was your most life-changing moment?

RS: When I was a teenager, I had a near-death experience. I remember distinctly a short conversation I had with God in which I explained that I was just too young to die. I began to recover from my illness the next day.

LP: What brings you the most happiness?

RS: As a composer, I have had the opportunity on a number occasions to sit in the audience and hear a piece that I’ve composed performed by good musicians. In that moment time is suspended, all is well, and I am at one with the world.

LP: What is your favorite chapter in the book and why?

RS: I can’t answer that. All the chapters are like my children, and you would not want me to pick a favorite, would you?

LP: In What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew about Judaism you describe Jewish religious practices, culture and life, and historical social issues. Of these, which do you want Christians to become most aware of?

RS: My editors at Loyola Press asked me to include a section in the book entitled, “A Call for Understanding and Community.” I’m so glad they did, because it is here that I express the hope that we can all work together to make our limited time on Earth one of sharing, understanding, tolerance, compassion, and community, and help make this often-troubled world one of peace and harmony. I pray that we can all take to heart the words of both Hillel, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor,” and Jesus, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).