This reflective essay examines the complex identity negotiations of a Jewish civil rights activist during the 1960s American social justice movements. Through personal narrative and ethnographic observation, Lauter explores the tensions between individual Jewish identity and collective activism in Mississippi's Freedom Summer (1964) and subsequent civil rights work. The methodology employs autobiographical reflection, combining field experiences with family interactions and movement participation to analyze identity formation. Key findings reveal a fundamental ambivalence between rational recognition of Jews as ordinary people and emotional conviction of Jewish exceptionalism rooted in historical suffering and moral obligation. The study documents how Jewish activists navigate dual marginality: alienation from non-activist Jewish communities who view civil rights work as peripheral to Jewish concerns, and partial exclusion from predominantly Christian social justice movements despite significant Jewish participation. Lauter identifies a paradoxical "two homes" phenomenon wherein Jewish activists develop solidarity networks within broader movements while maintaining distinct cultural markers. The research concludes that Jewish activism emerges from perceived special historical obligations to pursue justice, creating productive tension between particularist identity and universalist commitments. This analysis contributes to understanding minority group participation in social movements and the relationship between ethnic identity and political engagement during the civil rights era.