My entire life has been heavily influenced by Judaism. I went to my temple’s preschool, attended weekly Hebrew school, spent weekends at Camp Hess Kramer with my fellow classmates, and that was only throughout elementary school. At first, these activities were predetermined for me by my parents, who had decided that they wanted me to be very knowledgeable about my religion. As I grew older, however, I was the one choosing to remain involved.
Where most kids decided to stop being active with temple and Jewish activities after their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, I only took larger roles. I spent my Tuesday evenings at meetings as a member of our Temple Youth Group, where I could be with people who were equally as involved as myself. I decided to continue spending my weekends at NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth) retreats, attended a month-long session at a Jewish sleep-away camp in New York, and joined a fellowship connecting Jewish teens from all around the world that even included a three-week trip to Israel.
These activities were not about praying or about singling out a “Jewish way of life.” They were each unique, some focused on different sects of Judaism, some focused on other religions in relation to Judaism, and others focused on values of Reform Judaism. However, they all focused on leadership skills and networking with other Jewish teens.
Being Jewish is such a large factor of who I am, and it is something that everyone knows about me within the first few conversations I may have with a person. Yet as I grow older I have begun to realize that not everywhere I go shall have such a positive (or even none at all) reaction to finding out I am Jewish. There are places I may attend college in which I will be the first Jew some people meet. Someone was talking to me about this recently and told me that when this inevitably happens, I need to know that I am then representing an entire religion.
I firmly disagree with this statement and it upsets me that someone could think one young girl could represent roughly 20 million people. Consequently, while I do not define an entire religion, it does not define me either. I am Jewish because I agree with the values I have been taught time and time again at services and in classes. I am Jewish because the people have an energy and positive spirit that are unlike any other I have encountered before. I am Jewish because the food tastes of happiness and the traditions wrap me up like a warm blanket. I am Jewish, but I am also much more than just that.
I do not want this to be the only thing people think of when they want to describe me. I am more than my religion, and while it will always be a source of comfort and love within my identity, I am happy to say that it is not all that I am. The values are cemented within me, but my religion should never be a factor when it comes to someone’s judgment of who I am as a person altogether.
