Gregory Ruderman
Valencia, CA
In most ways, being Jewish in modern America is significantly easier than at any time in the past, such as when my grandfather got his degree at MIT, something Jews typically couldn’t do in his era, but there are times when the discrimination is more insidious. From the supposed “war on Christmas” to the various attempts to legislate biblical morality (and the straight-out racist paranoids), I am personally appalled that there are still people who still believe that their way of belief is the only “right” way. I happen to like being wished “happy holidays” at the checkout–I think it’s respectful. And only once have I replied to a heartfelt “Merry Christmas” with an equally heartfelt “Happy Chanukkah”. Just because I am white doesn’t mean I follow Jesus, and just because I’m Jewish doesn’t mean that I am weird or somehow other, or that I run Hollywood or any other section of the international Jewish conspiracy.
My grandfather used to have a piece of art in his office which was a stylized and colored version of the hebrew word “shalom” (peace), and he kept it in the office as a kind of one-question test. People who didn’t know what it was, thought it was just art, and people he did, he knew were Jewish (or very knowledgeable). I didn’t even realize I had a similar thing in a bumper sticker in my office that looks like one of those Jesus fishes, but with feet, and it says “gefilte” inside. That is, until someone came into my office and asked what “jee-fil-tee” meant. Even after the explanations, I was left realizing that this was a person who basically had no idea that Jews really existed, and certainly didn’t have the slightest idea about our culture. And this is in a day and age that you can find matzo and gefilte fish in almost every grocery for passover.
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