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Apr. 6th, 2004 09:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pantryslutI find I cannot participate in the current googlebomb to get Wickipedia's entry on "Jew" to the top of the list (to counter a racist/anti-Semitic googlebomb -- does anyone have a good pointer to info on the counterbomb campaign?) without supplying some content to go with it. So here, forthwith, is a discussion of how (not why) I am not a Jew.
To some people, this will come as a surprise; other people will be scratching their heads as to why I need to state the obvious.
The surprised people will say: but you celebrate Passover! You know obscure facts about the kosher laws! What about that joke you told?
The short version is: my father is a wannabe.
Now, the reason that he's a wannabe is somewhat more complicated. He seriously considered converting, early in his adulthood -- when I was a kid, in other words, and ready to absorb everything my parents handed out. Eventually he decided, more or less, that he wasn't sure enough about the existence of God to go full bore on that one, and dropped it, but he didn't drop the general affinity. But there's more to it than just that. There's some evidence that my father's family might have been crypto-Jews.
My father's family were the only German Lutherans in their Chicago neighborhood, which was dominated by Polish Catholics. But they weren't really very religious (although they did send Dad to Sunday school).
My father tells tales of the older members of his family speaking a language that he didn't recognize -- and that they refused to teach the children. It wasn't German, though.
I have evidence that my last name is at least sometimes a Jewish surname.
Anyway. it's not clear whether this is true or not -- there's more evidence, but on the other hand my father's a wannabe, so maybe he's coloring the facts -- although the full-fledged theory that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
imnotandrei came up with is really very entertaining, and if you know me in person you'll have to hear it sometime.
btw,imnotandrei isn't Jewish, either, according to the Wickipedia entry. But his father is. Hanging out with him for the past ten years has also helped with this cultural absorption thing, although I am astounded in retrospect by how much I already knew when I met him. Also both East Lansing and Chicago boast sizeable Jewish populations, and I absorbed a lot of things that way.
Including the observation of Passover. As I said to a friend last night, "It's a holiday all about food. Of course it's important to me!"
I used to think that I was just a culturally aware person, however, until I moved to California. In California, we all know how to use chopsticks, but some of us still think that Jews have horns. (Oops, that's anotherimnotandrei story. Sorry, dear.)
So, in a nutshell: No, I am not Jewish. Yes, I celebrate Passover. It makes sense if you're me.
To some people, this will come as a surprise; other people will be scratching their heads as to why I need to state the obvious.
The surprised people will say: but you celebrate Passover! You know obscure facts about the kosher laws! What about that joke you told?
The short version is: my father is a wannabe.
Now, the reason that he's a wannabe is somewhat more complicated. He seriously considered converting, early in his adulthood -- when I was a kid, in other words, and ready to absorb everything my parents handed out. Eventually he decided, more or less, that he wasn't sure enough about the existence of God to go full bore on that one, and dropped it, but he didn't drop the general affinity. But there's more to it than just that. There's some evidence that my father's family might have been crypto-Jews.
My father's family were the only German Lutherans in their Chicago neighborhood, which was dominated by Polish Catholics. But they weren't really very religious (although they did send Dad to Sunday school).
My father tells tales of the older members of his family speaking a language that he didn't recognize -- and that they refused to teach the children. It wasn't German, though.
I have evidence that my last name is at least sometimes a Jewish surname.
Anyway. it's not clear whether this is true or not -- there's more evidence, but on the other hand my father's a wannabe, so maybe he's coloring the facts -- although the full-fledged theory that
imnotandrei came up with is really very entertaining, and if you know me in person you'll have to hear it sometime. btw,
imnotandrei isn't Jewish, either, according to the Wickipedia entry. But his father is. Hanging out with him for the past ten years has also helped with this cultural absorption thing, although I am astounded in retrospect by how much I already knew when I met him. Also both East Lansing and Chicago boast sizeable Jewish populations, and I absorbed a lot of things that way.Including the observation of Passover. As I said to a friend last night, "It's a holiday all about food. Of course it's important to me!"
I used to think that I was just a culturally aware person, however, until I moved to California. In California, we all know how to use chopsticks, but some of us still think that Jews have horns. (Oops, that's another
imnotandrei story. Sorry, dear.) So, in a nutshell: No, I am not Jewish. Yes, I celebrate Passover. It makes sense if you're me.
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-06 10:35 am (UTC)And I don't have horns.
I do! I do!
Date: 2004-04-06 04:01 pm (UTC)I do! I do! .... and I keep them in a jar on my desk. :)
(With apologies to F. Bloch.)
P.S. Technically,
Re: I do! I do!
Date: 2004-04-06 04:18 pm (UTC)Re: I do! I do!
Date: 2004-04-06 04:40 pm (UTC)I do! I do!
(Oh, wait, that's where we started.)
I do. Lori insists that I do, because I said it correctly to her when telling her about this post; I think I may also have had a moment of confusing R. Bloch and F. Brown.