Every story needs a starting point. For years, my mother and I had been talking about how to tell our family’s story, and whether our experiences as a Jewish interfaith family would have value for anyone but us. First we imagined a blog, then a life-coaching business, a book, and even a cookbook. Then she was diagnosed with cancer, and suddenly the whole project seemed more important than ever.

In January, 2020 we started recording content. In March we launched a crowd-funding campaign. The pandemic hit and derailed all of our plans, but we kept recording content—remotely at first and eventually in-person. We managed to gather our family around the same dining room table where we’d shared hundreds of dinners. We talked, and we told the stories that we’ve been telling and retelling for decades…this time on tape.

It’s 72 Miles til Kentucky, and this is the place to start. Enjoy.

72 Miles features the stories of three separate interfaith Jewish families–two real, one not, and one mine. Together, they trace 150 years of Kentucky history, with experiences that resonate today—about being Jewish in America, about being Jewish and southern at the same time. About being Jewish, being interfaith, and the blending of the two.

So strap in, and take a ride with me, up and down I65, or back and forth on the L&N Railroad. In the end the when and the who don’t make as much difference and you might think. But the where sure does. My name is Nathan Jordan Vaughan. It’s 72 Miles til Kentucky. Let’s get moving.

72 Miles Til Kentucky was written and produced by Nathan J. Vaughan. Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lofi Girl. Curricular components for each episodes are available on the show's website.

You can learn more about me and any of my work on my website, www.nathanjvaughan.com.

Subscribe to my regular Torah podcast, Modern Torah anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.

My family has a motto, “We are making memories.” It’s a motto that’s led us through life’s more chaotic moments. The secret to making memories, of course, is how you tell the story. And in my family we strive to tell, and retell, really good stories. And we’re not the only ones. Storytelling is a southern folk tradition, and I come from a long line of master storytellers, a tradition I’m proud to carry on, because some stories just need to be told. Of course, every story deserves some slight embellishment, that’s a southern tradition too. Like the time I climbed a 50 foot oak tree at Scout camp, as part of the ropes course, and sensing my fear the Scoutmaster shouted up at me, “Remember, when you tell the story later this tree was at least 200 feet tall!”

72 Miles features the stories of three separate interfaith Jewish families–two real, one not, and one mine. Together, they trace 150 years of Kentucky history, with experiences that resonate today—about being Jewish in America, about being Jewish and southern at the same time. About being Jewish, being interfaith, and the blending of the two.

So strap in, and take a ride with me, up and down I65, or back and forth on the L&N Railroad. In the end the when and the who don’t make as much difference and you might think. But the where sure does. My name is Nathan Jordan Vaughan. It’s 72 Miles til Kentucky. Let’s get moving.

72 Miles Til Kentucky was written and produced by Nathan J. Vaughan. Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lofi Girl. Curricular components for each episodes are available on the show's website.

You can learn more about me and any of my work on my website, www.nathanjvaughan.com.

Subscribe to my regular Torah podcast, Modern Torah anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.

Every interfaith family has at least two sides to its story. Mine features a poor white boy who was the odd duck in his devout Baptist family, and a Detroit Yankee who was raised in a tight-knit Jewish community until she rebelled and ran away to Kentucky.


This episode also introduces the second of three families featured in 72 Miles, one that’s make-believe. Conjured from the imagination of I.J. Schwartz in an epic Yiddish poem titled New Earth, that follows the life of Josh, a Jewish blacksmith, newly immigrated from Lithuania, who settles in rural Kentucky with his wife and young son.

72 Miles features the stories of three separate interfaith Jewish families–two real, one not, and one mine. Together, they trace 150 years of Kentucky history, with experiences that resonate today—about being Jewish in America, about being Jewish and southern at the same time. About being Jewish, being interfaith, and the blending of the two.

So strap in, and take a ride with me, up and down I65, or back and forth on the L&N Railroad. In the end the when and the who don’t make as much difference and you might think. But the where sure does. My name is Nathan Jordan Vaughan. It’s 72 Miles til Kentucky. Let’s get moving.

72 Miles Til Kentucky was written and produced by Nathan J. Vaughan. Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lofi Girl. Curricular components for each episodes are available on the show's website.

You can learn more about me and any of my work on my website, www.nathanjvaughan.com.

Subscribe to my regular Torah podcast, Modern Torah anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.