We're both Jewish

[no_hypocrisy]

I am the daughter of Jewish parents who were children of Jewish parents who were children of Jewish parents. I went to Sunday School, flirted with a Bas Mitzvah but didn't get one. I toured Germany and Austria, visiting a vandalized synagogue in Augsburg and Dachau. And I "lost God". I literally left the religion during the Yom Kippur service in 1984. And now I am an atheist. But I'm still Jewish.

Compare my situation to that of a dear childhood friend.

He discovered after his parents' deaths that he was adopted. His (adoptive) parents raised him as a Conservative Jew. As an adult, he took the Ancestry DNA test and not one drop of Jewish blood. That raised flags. He found his biological parents, both non-Jews. My friend is modern Orthodox. He immigrated to Israel and lives in a West Bank settlement. He went to the Israeli rabbis to see if he still qualified as a "Jew" notwithstanding the bris and the bar mitzvah, Jewish wedding, raising a Jewish family. They deemed he was Jewish according to Israeli law (and Jewish law).

So here we both are: I'm born Jewish and have no faith and my friend was born non-Jewish and more Jewish in his life than I could ever expect to be. His faith is sincere and unfaltering.

We're both Jewish.

[hlthe2b]

1. As a young child I always found it hard to understand the issues with Judaism and Jewish by birth

did not apply to Catholics (a family friend was both Jewish by blood AND choice but their husband was born to Catholic parents but not a follower of the faith). I think my perplexed parents trying to explain this to us were probably lucky we didn't have an Arab Muslim and likewise a Coptic Christian in the neighborhood to further the confusion.

But, I think this thing with Whoopi underscores that many Americans and particularly African Americans, may view this in a uniquely American perspective if they are not well versed in the 3500 years of history nor well-educated on the past two centuries of European history. And not being well informed/educated on history is once again a major problem for us and only underscores my sig line quote.

But, I appreciate your more contemporary irony.

[Budi]

2. K & R

And for your friend, a thank you to Israel & Jewish law.

I wasn't raised anywhere near the Jewish faith & practices, though I have always held a particular respect & affinity for their unity.& bond within their faith.
Though I too am of Jewish blood, was never given the opportunity to participate in the faith & practices, simply by the path of my family.

I do also know the decision to leave one's faith they were raised with, however.

[agingdem]

3. I am the child of Holocaust survivors..

I never knew my grandparents, aunts, uncles…they died in Auschwitz, Hitler’s victims…I am Jewish, ethnically and culturally, but I am not religious…my late husband was “half Jewish”…his mother was Baptist (she never converted)… my mother-in-law made the conscious decision to follow her husband’s faith and in doing so, she and her son were much “better Jews” than I will ever be…both my children married non-Jews..my five grandchildren were raised without a faith and yet they all identify as Jewish…my oldest granddaughter says it’s a DNA thing..my college age grandson, a member of a predominantly Jewish fraternity, is quick to anger when told he doesn’t “look” Jewish..his response: “I am a Jew and I have the bona-fides to prove it…I am the great great grandson of Auschwitz survivors so stfu asshole”!…