I grew up on the near-North side of Chicago, around 5700 North and 2900 West (near Lincoln & California, about a block south of Mather High School).
Our neighborhood was about 80% Jewish and about 15% Catholic, with my family being "one of the others". In actuality, as my Mother is of Jewish descent, technically, I am of Jewish descent, and thus I am a Jew. I, however, don't believe in the Matriality thing - you are what you say you are, because only you can establish your identity. If you say you're Buddhist, that's good enough for me.
I was raised Missouri Synod Lutheran, which is a very conservative, non-accepting, non-diversity-oriented (!) religion. The MS Lutherans and the Catholics, by and large, are the only religions that do not allow FreeMasons to attend services (I know FreeMasons that attend those churches, and belong to those religions, but they don't discuss it, and they can't wear their rings and stuff in church). How stupid is that? Ever wonder why membership is dwindling?
Please bear in mind that I am not putting any religions down - if you're a MS Lutheran, or a Catholic, or a Shintoist, or whatever - that's fine by me.
JUST DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO WITH MY BODY,
NOR WITH WHOM I CAN SLEEP.
Once I rejected the anti-semitic teachings of my father, and learned of my true heritage, I began to identify as Jewish. Most of my friends are Jewish, and for many years, I have lived in Jewish neighborhoods. I prefer to live among "members of the tribe", as it were.
In my old neighborhood, Yiddish was spoken quite openly and frequently. I adore Yiddish and Yiddishkeit. Yiddish is such a flavorful language, speaking it is like living among hundreds of years of history whilst wrapped in a quilt of life!
Finally, around October of 1999, I decided that I wanted to be knowledgeable about Judaic things, as I enjoy my Jewish identification and wanted more depth in those areas.
"Most people come to religion in mid-life
because they're cramming for the final."
--Steven Wright
I consulted with a rabbi in a Chicago synagogue about conversion. She told me to take an "Introduction to Judaism" class, aka Jewish Stuff 101. I did, I passed my Beit Din, took my "dunking" (the Mikva), chose a Hebrew name, and thus am - both by birthright, and by Beit Din - Jewish.
As I now live in San Francisco, I regularly attend services at Congregation Keddem, a Reconstructionist congregation in Palo Alto.
This page was last updated on / Dernier mise à jour sur 2008/03/29
Copyright / Marque Déposée 2008, T'Surakmaat (aka Yvette Seifert Hirth).
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