All genitals matter, circumcised or uncircumsized.
Kaitlin Hahn,
Miami, FL
Blond hair, white skin, he’s jewish
Thomas Larsen
Ann Arbor, MI
I have said it over and over, that I actually am not Jewish, but every time I say so they give a start of surprise.
Secretly Jewish, with no idea why
Brian Chapman
Portland, OR
I discovered, in my 40s, that my ethnicity and my ancestry were not what I had been led to believe. For mysterious reasons (anti-Semitism) my father concocted a fictional back story that became how my brothers and I viewed ourselves. Now, with knowledge of a different cultural identity but absolutely no roots in it, I am forced to ask the question of who I really am and where I really belong.
Are you sure you’re not Jewish
Casey Barnes,
Kansas City, MO.
New option at doctors – Eastern European
Anonymous,
Baltimore, MD.
When people discuss race, they seem to refer to only people of color. I always check Caucasian on forms. At the doctors yesterday, there was a new option, Eastern European. It felt like a better fit for me. Just because my skin lacks pigment, doesn’t mean that I am the same as everyone else without much pigmentation. It goes back to how race is defined. In some countries, Jewish is considered a race.
Mixed and I love my perspective
Shava,
Lake Oswego, OR.
At times it can be confusing. I have wondered where I fit in. But in the end…I’m so glad to have the depth of experience that being multicultural has given me. I’m black, white and I’m Jewish. It’s amazing!
Did not choose to be Jewish
Sarah Elizabeth Rosen,
Laguna Hills, CA.
I did not choose to be Jewish. But, I have come to realize as I got older to appreciate who I am and how my religion is important to me. People think I am Mexican because I am tan, but really I am a Eastern European Jew. When I tell people that I am Jewish, they look at me and say I can see that, you have the hair and people are sometimes making money comments. I am proud to be Jewish and I do not care what people say. I love celebrating the holidays and getting to know about my families lives. Being Jewish is a big part of me and I am not ashamed. CBU-HIS311
White = Christian, I’m not, I’m Jewish
Janice Cagan-Teuber,
Arlington, MA
To me, “White” has always meant “Christian”. I grew up in a neighborhood that was 99.9% Catholic. We were the only Jewish family around. I was constantly harassed by the neighbor children because I was Jewish. Yes, I look “White” but I don’t identify as “White”. I know I have the privilege of Whiteness, but still don’t feel it.
You’re Indian AND Catholic?! No way!
Josie H
Australia
I am a Catholic Indian.
The middle school I went to was not Catholic, and when I graduated into high school (which was Catholic), I ended up in the top Religion class, getting 80% + in all my tests. One day,a boy asked me disbelievingly, “You went to a non-Catholic primary school? You’re Indian? And you’re in the top class for Religion?”
For your information, I did answer in the positive for his questions, and they also made me edgy. I didn’t really mind his comment about my primary school, but it was the “you’re Indian?” question which really did it for me. It seemed as if in his eyes, an Indian cannot be Catholic. This is the kind of ignorance that promotes racism (and makes me feel like I want to punch someone).
I have a message for everyone and I really hope you share it.
Someone from Pakistan can be a Sikh.
Someone from Italy can be Hindu.
Someone from Africa can be Jewish.
Anyone can be whatever religion they wish. So stop judging others, and assuming everything about them.
Jew Test: Pick Up That Penny
Victoria
USA
I don’t know if this fits on the site, (which I love by the way), because Judaism is a religion and not a race. But I am sick and tired of being judged by my Jewishness and comments like “you don’t have a Jewish nose” or “kinky Jew-fro” and “if someone picks up the penny I dropped, it’s a Jew”. We all need to learn to stop these disgusting stereotypes and be more tolerant of one another.
Just what do you people eat?
Judith A Harper,
Pikesville, MD.
Years ago our family integrated a Predominantly Jewish neighborhood in New Haven, Connecticut. I am African-American. While walking our German shepherd, I was approached by an elderly woman who asked if she could ask a ‘personal’ question. It was the question submitted. For a moment, I was speechless, but then replied, ‘food, just like you.’ It has always intrigued me that people can live such insulated lives as to not realize that we are more alike than different.
First Jewish girl I’ve been with
Sarah,
East Lansing, MI.
My great-grandparents fled pogroms in Ukraine.
Britt Trachtenberg,
Long Island, NY
p>I think part of my story is about how I ended up being born with privilege in an affluent community in Long Island, while my great-grandparents immigrated from Russian-controlled areas of the Ukraine in the early 1900s. My great-grandparents sought to leave because of instances of religion-based violence– called “pogroms” in Russia. They settled in Brooklyn, where they would open a hardware store and raise two children: my grandmother and aunt. My grandmother has fond memories of working in her parents’ hardware store and often speaks to how hard her parents worked to give herself and her sister a better life in America.
“Pogrom” is a Russian word that translates to “wreak havoc” in English. Historically, there are many instances of Ukrainian and Russian Jewish people being persecuted and attacked for their religion. For example, in 1903, Kishinev became a very unsafe place for Jewish Ukrainians to live after a newspaper used the minority group as a scapegoat for the death of two children. Such statements, unfortunately, resulted in many murders and homes destroyed (Source: https://www.history.com/topics/russia/pogroms).
Today, antisemitism is still a relevant topic all over the world. Many leaders, activists, actors, and members of our communities have spoken out against antisemitism and have started movements and calls to action to create change. The movement Grassroots Jews (www.http://www.grassrootsjews.org/new-page) works to bring together communities of Jewish people through things like services, communal meals, and even food recipe suggestions for holidays. Another movement called Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (https://www.bendthearc.us/) focuses on bringing together Jewish voices in America to fight for justice and equality in chapters across the U.S. Current campaigns include petitions to stand with Jewish communities in Florida against white nationalism. Movements like the ones named above are relevant to my story as an American Jewish woman because of how antisemitism hurts my Jewish friends, family, and neighbors and how much it has hurt my relatives and people that my relatives care about.
The cultural struggle is truly endless.
Nelly Shulman,
Russia
I am Jewish, Russian. Finnish and German. I have a very strong Jewish identity and no less strong Russian identity and they have always been very difficult to reconcile. Living with two cultures inside is incredibly difficult. I teach both Russian and Hebrew and can never say what am I at the moment. I guess it will remain unsolved.
I stare longingly at others like me
Mary Ann Paris
Philadelphia, PA
Except for my brother, there were never any children who looked like me. I am black and white, more specifically Black, Jewish, German, Irish, Italian and polish and my brother and I have European features. We grew up in a segregated part of Philadelphia among black children. They never wanted to play with us, made us inferior with their words like “Light bright, damned near white”. As we grew older, my white friends would ‘compliment’ me by saying, “You know, you look white!”
My brother told his first wife’s father that he was Italian because she was from deep in the south and her father and brothers were Klansmen. I was twenty-seven years old before I saw another woman who shared my coloring, my features, parents of opposite races. I stared, so hard for so long, memorizing her features and wondering, as she met my gaze if she’d walked the same path I had. If she were a victim of circumstance. Since then, I’ve seen several inter or bi-racial adults and children, but the experience of recognition.
That “Wow, someone like me.” hasn’t faded and I always stare, always wonder what road they’ve crossed to get where they are. When I was able to check off ‘bi-racial” for the first time, I cried. For once I didn’t have to choose. I was allowed by the government just to be me. A person of unknown origin who doesn’t have to shun an entire side of her family just to maintain the illusion of human. When I found out our president was of mixed heritage, I cried again, “finally”, I thought, “people like me are ‘good enough’. Praise the Lord.” and then when I heard all the naysaying and race bashing, inter race bashing, I had to turn a blind eye or risk sinking into a depression. The nation debating his race was debating and discrediting mine.
Maybe one day in my life, the sight of one like me will be such a common occurrence that I will be able to stop staring. Maybe one day the census paper won’t have a race box at all. That is my prayer.
I am more than religion requires
Hannah Drillings,
Chester, NY
I am ethically an Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jew, but have always felt disconnected from my religion. growing up in an orthodox synagogue, the women were separated from the men, and shunted to the back of the room. I never felt seen or heard as a person. as an adult, I want to be understood as only myself, culturally and ethnically Jewish, but not religious.
Latinx adoptee naturalized immigrant Jewish American
Jeffrey Nolish,
Detroit, MI.
We all belong. Diversity is a gift.
How did you get a boy?
Claire Wallick Moy,
Maplewood, NJ.
This is what I was asked in 1998 when I moved to NJ.
Our 3 children look much more like their father than me.
so many girls have been adopted from China in this generation, but not boys.
A white Jewish woman with an Asian looking boy is outside of people’s reference point.
Picture of Russell 2003.
Am I the care giver? Well yes I am.
