In light of recent attacks on Jewish establishments, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about my Jewishness and the pride that I take in being an American Jewish woman. Every day that I see new attacks on Jewish establishments, or any religious establishment for that matter, I can’t help but question why? Why does my religion bother you? Why do you hate us so much? I mean yes, I understand the hatred towards Jews because it dates back to before medieval times but we live in the modern world, where Jews have been relieved of the blame for killing Jesus and where it’s been proven that no, we don’t have devil horns hidden under our frizzy, curly hair.
I still don’t understand though, why, just why, my religious preferences bother you so much? What does me standing in a synagogue with other Jews praying to G-d about the State of Israel and world Jewry have to do with you? Why do you have to call in bomb threats, knock over our cemeteries and graffiti establishments with the swastika? What do YOU get out of it? (In case it’s not clear, I’m speaking to those that have antisemitic views).
I hope that it’s soon realized that no matter what anyone does to try and tear the Jewish faith down, we will not fold. We are one of the oldest religions in the world and we are a proud people, at least I am. I will never not be proud of my Jewish faith. I will never not state proudly “Yes, I am Jewish,” no matter who asks me because it’s who I am and I won’t apologize for it.
In case you’re a little bit confused as to what being Jewish means, let me give you my opinion on Judaism. To me, being Jewish doesn’t mean that we hate Muslims, Catholics, Protestants or anyone. It means that we accept differences, embrace them and celebrate them because being of a different religion doesn’t make you a bad person, it makes you, you. And, if you don’t choose to celebrate any faith that’s okay too. Being Jewish, to me, doesn’t mean that LGBTQIA+ people aren’t welcome. It means that they too were made b’tzelem elohim (in the image of G-d) and should be celebrated as such. Being Jewish doesn’t mean that we want to seek violent revenge on antisemites, Holocaust deniers and the like, it means that when we are attacked we hold our head up high and we hurt with the communities or the people being hurt. It means that while yes, we do want justice, we want fair justice because fairness wasn’t always guaranteed to us. Being Jewish means that however you celebrate your faith, if you even celebrate it at all, you will be accepted because that is who we are.
For me, my Jewishness means looking for the good in people. It means remembering that even the most evil people are human, too. It means that I hurt when I see communities being attacked but it also means that I am more proud than ever to be a Jew in the world and I will continue to be proud because I refuse to be scared by cowards who attack cemeteries at night. I refuse to be discouraged by a President that isn’t looking too hard into these attacks and is instead more worried about his ‘stolen thunder.’ I refuse to be any less of a Jew tomorrow than I am today.
