Why is a scooter cruisin,’ cartoon scribblin,’ joke crackin,’ Southern drawlin,’ Chassidic student making chicken soup with matzo balls in her crock pot on her parents’ 300 acre farm in south-eastern Ohio’s Appalachian country?

Yochana Coleman is a cliché buster. From an early age this spunky fighter was pushing the boundaries and refusing to settle for accepted norms. Her mother remembers her as a serious child, asking questions one just didn’t ask, of her parents, Sunday school teachers and ministers.

Yo’s Jewish mother and non-Jewish father didn’t hide Yo’s Jewish origins, but mentioned it insultingly. “I learned I was Jewish when I was three. Dad expected that someday the USA would turn against the Jewish people like every other country has at one time or another, so I was going to have to learn how to defend myself. He taught me how to shoot and left me two rifles when he died.”

So much for Jewish education! Her parents raised her as a Southern Baptist, being missionaries themselves. She recalls “just knowing in her DNA” that something was not right. Throughout Yo’s childhood of active church training, the nudging feeling of things that bothered her remained. Asked at what age she started questioning, she laughs and responds, “3..5..8..12..15...16...17...18..”

Yo enrolled in Columbia Bible College, among the top in the world. “The church taught that Judaism is totally false, and if you believe or follow it you’ll burn in Hell.” That fearful teaching kept her cognitive dissonance more or less at bay. Even with the Southern Baptist veneer, however, “growing up Jewish meant I was different. Inside I knew that something was expected of me, though I wasn’t sure what.”

Mentors helped Yo keep her Jewish spark alive. “Throughout my journey, people from whom you’d never expect it would appear and say, ‘Go for it!’ There was a woman in the church who heard my questioning—she encouraged me to challenge and never give up."

I wanted to learn Hebrew since I was a kid. My gentile Hebrew teacher at the college had a PhD from Hebrew Union College. When he saw my passion for Hebrew he told me to check out a nearby Temple.

I spent my first Rosh Hashanah at a synagogue and it clicked! It was amazing! Phenomenal! I decided that I had to continue going there, but the school forbade it.”

After graduation, Yo continued working in the Bible College library. She worked for a friend at the CAJE (Conference for Alternatives in Jewish Education) convention and saw women wearing kippot. “‘Hey,’ I thought, ‘Why not?’ Back at school, I thought the kippah would be a good anti-Semitism detector, so I slipped it on. Halfway across campus a friendly colleague yelled, ‘You’re going to Hell!,” to which I replied, “See ya there!” The ferment continued as the kippah aroused both the most vile anti-semites and several self-hating Jews who had ditched their identity.

Another surprising advocate appeared, a teacher named Ginny Hoyt, who nudged Yo into kosher. She had invited a group of students over for dinner and then apologized to Yo for having prepared ham.

“No problem,’ I assured her, ‘I was raised on the stuff.’

She gave me a stern look- ‘But you’re Jewish!’

‘So, I’m a pagan Jew!’ I said in exasperation.

She spelled it out in no uncertain terms. ‘G-d made you a Jew and expects you to live like it!’

I pointedly ate the ham, took a second piece- and my body swelled up! Mrs. Hoyt gave me a clear ‘I told you so!’ look- and I was so swollen that I was on crutches for three weeks!”

I was learning to keep kosher and working along with Chosen People Ministry when they told me ‘We don’t want you back–you’re a freak and a weirdo–if you keep kosher you’ll offend some of our gentile members!’

I was between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to go. When the Bible College realized that the kippah wasn’t just for show but I was really pursuing Judaism, they issued an ultimatum. ’Be like us or get out—we’re not going to have a Jew working here!’ They gave me a paper to sign, but I barely heard them, concentrating on my inner conversation in which a voice was asking, ’Will you deny My Oneness?’

My reply to the Bible College came from the depth of my soul. I ripped the paper and tossed the shreds proudly stating, ‘I was born a Jew, I live as a Jew, and I'll die a Jew!’

‘Sorry to hear that,’ was the official’s reply.

I grinned and with an ‘I’m not!’ walked out.

Though broke, Yo felt a new freedom, and began pursuing Judaism in earnest. She tried several shuls. One Friday evening this earnest and unique seeker appeared in her kippah, leather jacket, jeans and sneakers. As a woman, Yo was directed to the women’s section of an Orthodox synagogue! “’Hey, I’m in the wrong shul,’ I gulped. But then they started singing Lecha Dodi to welcome Shabbos—it was like all the angels came down, everything stopped!” she recalls.

After some learning, Yo bumped into Chabad.org while web-surfing one day in ’96. “I spent 12 non-stop hours on the site. I found it! I cried at the keyboard.” From then, everything fell into place. She connected with Chabad of Columbia to learn all she could.

Yo’s next stop was the Machon Chana Institute for Women in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She pursued her Torah studies in this school for women from diverse backgrounds, and fit right into the warm and dynamic community. She began “buying books like an idiot, as though I am about to move somewhere where I won’t have much access,” her journal relates.

Yo’s premonition was accurate, as the late 90’s brought this feisty gal a major life challenge and bump on the road. In 2002, Yo suffered three strokes and her MS came out in full force. For a while she was able to stay in New York, with the support of many friends and some accommodations- “if you ever saw a cute red scooter blasting down the streets or sidewalks (driving like a total lunatic)… that was me!” New York’s “interesting sidewalks” became too much of a maneuverability problem as Yo’s MS symptoms increased, and last October she moved back to the farm.

Thanks to the Internet and one indomitable spirit, Yo spreads her wacky version of sunshine and humor to fans around this little globe. Her website, Yobee’s Whacky World, is updated almost daily and full of interesting and inspiring links, tidbits, wisdom spiced with a laugh. She sells her delightfully whimsical cartoons and cartoon-illustrated items at yobeeland! And she dispenses words of cheer, fortitude and poignant insight to a web-network of Machon Chana alumni scattered throughout the world. As they deal with their own life challenges, they rely on Yo for a smile and a boost.

Undaunted, Yo continues to pursue her long-sought after Jewish life. She studies Talmud on CD, and keeps connected with tapes, video, books and that wonderful net. She browses Wal-mart and the local grocery for their latest kosher delights. Her solitary and simple Shabbos meals are certainly a valued spiritual treasure up Above, as this brave Jewish daughter lights candles and gazes out over the pastures.