The Mountain Family

From the Appalachian backwoods comes a family so amazing, a true story so incredible, and a light so bright — it will illuminate our own lives as well.

When Sheryl Youngs married John Massey, she looked forward to a life based on the Biblical principles her parents, members of a small but fervently religious congregation, had instilled in her.

What she didn't expect was to be making that life in a shack on a mountain in impoverished Appalachia.

And she didn't expect that she would end up living on that mountain, homeschooling her ten children.

And she most certainly didn't expect that somehow, incredibly, miraculously, she and her entire family would discover the truth of Judaism, the beauty of Torah - and the Jewish People the entire family would ultimately come to join.

This is the story of the pastor's daughter who became a Jew, mother of ten Jews, all devoted to Torah learning and mitzvah observance. It is a story of struggle and search, of searing disappointment and unlooked for hopes, of questions asked and prayers answered.

Most of all, it is the story, told in her own words, of a woman whose deep love of Torah is an inspiration to us all.