Back in 2013, I had typed a few words into the Google search bar, and little did I know that by clicking the search button I’m about to take the first step onto a completely new path – one that would shape the next few years of my life.

I had recently opened a new business: providing Jewish education programs and classes using performing arts to Jewish communities. My methods, which I had developed over a few years, also included incorporating Jewish culture with circus arts. I was curious if anyone else has made this type of mashup before, and thus I google searched for “Circus Jews”. One of the first results that came up: the  New York Times obituary for Adolf Althoff, a German circus owner who saved a family of Jewish circus artists from the jaws of the Nazis. Years later, I still recall the sensation that passed through my body: a combination of utter...