HEY JEWS

particularly related to the end:

Both the ignorance I had encountered in Laupheim and the philo-Semitism I experienced in Munich had made me feel like an outsider — but each also made me more determined to help in the creation of a German-Jewish identity. Now that my very presence was enough to make some people resentful, however, I grew impatient with the endless complications of being a German Jew. I wanted nothing more than to be seen, finally, as an individual. And so, despite everything I loved about Germany, and unlike so many other German Jews, I decided to leave.

When I first moved to New York, as a graduate student, I hoped that living here would make it possible for me to choose who I wanted to be. In Germany, I always thought twice before mentioning that my ancestors were Jewish: I knew that, once I’d pronounced that fateful word, I would, in the minds of many, be reduced to it. In New York, a city of more than a million Jews, I found that this hardly changed how others saw me.

Being free to construct my own identity has had an unexpected effect: I’ve come to realize that being Jewish is not particularly important to me after all. Sure, I enjoy “Seinfeld” and a whitefish bagel. But is that enough to make me “culturally” a Jew? I’m not convinced. I can see why many other secular, nonobservant Jews — who speak Hebrew, or grew up following Jewish ritual — feel that being Jewish defines them. But defining myself strongly as a Jew when I know so little about religion or ritual would, I believe, cheapen the tradition I would be claiming to invoke.

New York has given me the same liberty it has afforded generations of immigrants: the freedom to be true to myself. In an age of identity politics, we assume that this must mean the freedom to proclaim one’s identity. But, for me, it has just as much to do with the liberty to shed an identity to which I’d long been reduced.

A true New Yorker, E.B. White suggested, is one who has come to the city “in quest of something.” It is because New York is defined as much by its newcomers as by its natives that I hope to spend my life here. My identity is no longer that of a Jew or a German. It is that of a seeker who has found; that of a stranger who has come to be at home; that of, simply and immeasurably, a New Yorker.

I mean, I don't think I'm as otherwise detached from Jewish identity as this guy is, considering how I grew up, but I relate to the idea of wanting more than anything for being Jewish not to be an "issue" all time, even in benign circumstances. In NYC that's genuinely true -- few people here pester you with constant questions about Jews or needle you with just-over-the-line "jokes."

Maybe it's sort of a luxury and even an impossibility to enjoy the benefits of being both fully "assimilated" and having a separate identity at the same time, but NYC is the place where you can come close to that. In a way the piece made realize that the whole idea of having an "identity" is largely a product of living as a minority -- I doubt that native-born Israelis, for example, conceive of a Jewish "identity" in the same way diaspora jews do.

of note tho is that among all the places where jews live, NYC + Israel probably have the highest rate of self-identification w/ Jewish culture + practices (even non-observant Israelis keep holidays + Shabbat at higher levels than diaspora Jews). but you're right too, i think, that intolerance + anti-semitism can create a Jewish identity, esp where one didn't necessarily exist before. i prefer living among a lot of jews just bc of the comfort + convenience (lots of jewish community services can only exist when you have a certain # of ppl making use of them) plus i'd rather avoid discrimination if possible. but i don't think this reduces my level of identification, but maybe puts a different spin on it?

I think I'm trying to get at something slightly different though - it's not necessarily about "intolerance" or "anti-semitism." It's just that there's a certain comfort in being part of the default group, or at least one of them -- of existing in large enough numbers that you DON'T have to be constantly reminded of your "identity."

Like, people who celebrate Christmas in America probably mostly wouldn't talk about it being part of their "Christian identity." Celebrating Christmas is just What You Do.

I am also reminded of a story (maybe from Metropolitan Diary in the Times?) of the post-9/11 era where a conversation between a passenger and a muslim cab driver was described, something like:

Passenger: "Do you find it hard to be a muslim in New York today, with all of the prejudice?"
Cabbie: "Well, it's not always so bad, but I get tired of people interrogating me."
Passenger: "How do people interrogate you?"
Cabbie: "Like you are doing, right now."

a nice takedown of that lazy surname piece making some rounds:
http://mosaicmagazine.com/tesserae/2014/01/jewish-surnames-supposedly-explained/

some of you might get a kick out of this: my dad's voice at age 11 can be heard on this recording at around 3:50.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx1c7TUWHVo

very cool, thx for sharing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5jyYD2WEw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nGSNEhXEu_s

let me try that again…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGSNEhXEu_s

I've been idly speculating about joining a temple/congregation here in SF but have never found one I really liked. My wife was chatting with a co-op friend of ours whose also Jewish and she said they found one they liked and sent me the link:

http://www.orshalom.org/web/guest/home

My wife asked me what Reconstructionist meant, which I had a little difficult explaining (I've never attended Reconstructionist anything; I was raised in a Reform household though, so I have some educated guesses). Website is a bit lol. Feel like my options are so limited - on the one hand there's the super-rich and super-conservative temples on the other side of town and then on my side of town all we have is the LGBT temple, and I'm not into either of those. My daughter was telling me yesterday how she wants to go to Hebrew school, feel like I better come up with something and maybe this isn't too bad/ridiculous? I dunno.

so i was thinking i might wear a costume today but the only one i have on hand is a dashiki + like rasta hat from college. question: from a scale from 1 to blackface, how racist is a rasta costume on purim?

our bit of london is very close to the *very orthodox stamford hill, and there were some AMAZING costumes being worn today

i have to leave for this chaggiga in about an hour so speak now or forever hold ur peace xp

dont do it

Yeah, don't do it. Where a crown or something.

Wear.

Dont do it

dont

did you do it

i just wore the dashiki, which is really a nice piece of clothing that's very colorful. i didn't wear the hat or anything which felt a little over the top and maybe tipped the scale into minstrelsy.

http://www.complex.com/style/2013/08/clothes-white-people-shouldnt-wear/dashiki

obv wearing any outfit of another culture as a costume is complex (punz, lol) tho hopefully this wasn't too offensive to anyone :/

fwiw, I saw a (non-blackface) rasta dude at the purim party I went to, fake dreads, some kind of colorful shirt, etc. It didn't really register as minstrelsy to me since there are already so many white reggae dudes with dreads, but IDK.

yeah, i wouldn't have done fake dreads and like i said i thought the hat was too much, but idk, u know i love western african culture and music and so i hope my wearing the dashiki was more respectful than just drunken college student going lol?

don't worry, i'll make sure to pick up a keffiyah for next year

(jk, next year we plan to do a family costume as adventure time characters)

shakey mo, my DC shul shopping (which is rather lol for a non-Jew) led me to a Reconstructionist synagogue, where I will/would totally go if/when I were to actually convert. I go to High Holy Day services there and it is awesome and reconstructionism is a good fit for a not-feeling-the-personal-god-thing person such as myself.

and the music is so much better than at Reform temples. Sorry, Reformers!

not sure how i feel about this but seeing jay leno on their front page puts me further into the "fuck off" ledger though.
http://nicejewishguys.net/

If I join a synagogue I want it to have a really good cantor, which is hardest to find in reform temples for whatever reason.

xp, yeah, generally a little sick of that kind of easy, corny, self-deprecating jewish humor schtick at this point in my life, but it's such a part of the culture, whaddyagonnado? As for whether it's actually offensive, I don't think so.

the twin sons of the cantor at the synagogue i went to when i was growing up became a briefly famous canadian boy band

Excellent!

Reform synagogues I have been to have had cantors who don't have the vocal power and passion of cantors in conservative synagogues; plus the reform ones have had Rabbis who strum acoustic guitars in a very insipid folk music kind of way. But alas, some of the conservative ones I have been to include participants who want to make the temple nearly Orthodox, which is not for me.

I guess I was lucky, the cantor I had at my reform temple growing up seemed (to me anyway) totally old school - sonorous, booming voice, all organ+vocal arrangements/no acoustic gtr.

I saw a kid dressed for Purim in my neighborhood on Sunday wearing sweatpants, basketball shorts, a hoodie, an Obama mask and a gigantic afro wig. :-\

Speaking of which: http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israelis-who-dressed-up-as-Ku-Klux-Klan-members-on-Purim-make-waves-on-Facebook-345846

The JPost's coverage is pretty weaksauce too -- "A tasteless brand of humor, or a clever display of satire?" No, it's fuck you.

secretly always resented the cantors b/c they would just sing x 5 everything the rabbi just said thereby lengthening the boring service.

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201403191756-0023572

oh jesus

NAGL for the jews

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWzK5mVuGzM

xpost My first reaction is that no way were Israelis stupid enough to dress as the KKK for Purim, but then I thought, yeah, pretty much everyone is stupid enough to do something that stupid.

Back in school we had to read transcripts of the original Klan meetings, and it's kind of amazing how many people showed up to join. Iirc, it's basically like:

"blah blah early Klan stuff"

(guy raises hand) "Can Jews join?"

"No. Blhal blah more Klan ..."

(another hand goes up)

"Can Catholics join?"

"No" And so on.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/mitt-romney-corners-matzo-market

Bain Capitol buying Manischewitz

They should go heritage brand with it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/passover-with-a-strictly-biblical-flavor/2014/04/07/f6893c04-b531-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html

How Karaite Jews celebrate Passover (I've never heard of them before)
excerpt:

The Torah’s Book of Exodus, Chapter 12, offers one description of the instructions for Passover fare: “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: [Each household] shall eat [lamb] roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs” (Jewish Publication Society translation).

Remy Pessah of Mountain View, Calif., follows those words and long-standing family traditions each year at Passover time. Born in Egypt, the 66-year-old chemical engineer turned fiber artist was raised with Karaite Judaism. (“Karaite” is a form of the Hebrew word “karaim,” or “followers of Scripture.”) She joined the Karaite community in the San Francisco Bay area, which by some estimates includes more than 200 families. Pessah’s Seder table reflects this Jewish movement that takes its cues directly from the Tanach: the Torah, Prophets and additional texts known as Writings.

“Our Seder is pretty much different from the rabbinical Seders,” Pessah says. “The way we read the Haggadah, the preparation of the Haggadah, the whole atmosphere.”

It indeed differs, both in terms of the Haggadah, the book of readings that tells the Passover story and guides the Seder, and the meal. There are no Four Questions at a Karaite Seder. There is no fruity charoset and no wine — the latter is a fermented product. Instead, Pessah serves homemade grape juice.

The rabbinic Seders that Pessah referred to are what most observant American Jews know as the standard. Those Seders are based largely on the ancient rabbis’ redaction of the Tanach. That redaction is called the Oral Torah. The Karaites see the Oral Torah an interpretation rather than hard-and-fast rules. Some of the several thousand Karaites in the United States, especially those far from the Bay Area enclave, practice a mixture of Karaite and rabbinical traditions. The biggest Karaite community resides in Israel, and another pocket lives in Turkey.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/passover-seders-move-to-nights-that-work-for-busy-lives/2014/04/13/3eca9316-c106-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html

No Karaite Jews quoted here. This is about how Passover's 8 nights, and you may as well do the seder on a night that works for everyone to get together (according to some).

We actually had a seder last night which is kind of ridiculous but that was what worked for my very secular in-laws.

It's that time again!!!!

Hey Jews I wrote a little passover ditty, sung to the chorus of "Eye of the Tiger":

It's the
Bread of affliction
It's the bread of the Jews
Risen bread--it's not kosher during Pe-sach
And my boss--says "be careful! It is con-sti-pa-ting"
I-don't-care-I-just-ate-sev-en sheeeeeeeeeets
Of the mat-zah

― quincie, Sunday, April 12, 2009 9:44 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

loool

ooooh I need matzah crack recipe--the stuff with toffee and chocolate and nuts. Anyone?

i love that song