Joyce Shales is Tlingit, and has Haida and Jewish ancestry as well, and grew up in the southeastern Alaskan town of Sitka. She declared as a Baha’i in 1964, around the age of twenty, while living in Fairbanks, Alaska.
She has taught in many areas of the world including Greenland. She and her family live in the tiny Eskimo village of Shish-maref, where she is working on a master's degree in sociology from the University of Alaska.
On Pilgrimage, while sharing her story during her time together about her mother’s great-grandmother, who was born to a Haida mother and a German Jewish father. Recalling a childhood fascination that she had with “the holy land” in Israel, even before she learned about this Jewish relative, Shales noted that subsequent trips that she made to “the holy land” as a Baha’i were especially touching on account of this connection. Speaking about her first trip to Israel in 1968, she recalled: “I got down and kissed the ground when I went there. I felt like I came home. Must be my ancestors, my genes, my DNA. the one that kissed that ground.”
She has taught in many areas of the world including Greenland. She and her family live in the tiny Eskimo village of Shish-maref, where she is working on a master's degree in sociology from the University of Alaska.
On Pilgrimage, while sharing her story during her time together about her mother’s great-grandmother, who was born to a Haida mother and a German Jewish father. Recalling a childhood fascination that she had with “the holy land” in Israel, even before she learned about this Jewish relative, Shales noted that subsequent trips that she made to “the holy land” as a Baha’i were especially touching on account of this connection. Speaking about her first trip to Israel in 1968, she recalled: “I got down and kissed the ground when I went there. I felt like I came home. Must be my ancestors, my genes, my DNA. the one that kissed that ground.”
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