CONTEMPLATION

I find it quite interesting that having crossed the ocean, landing in Israel, my deep interest and concern with the current events of the day has become less intense. Instead, perhaps more fitting, I find myself often in deep contemplation, introspection, trying to define more distinctly what are the parameters or lines designating, delineating one's 'Jewishness'. Just what is it that makes one Jewish or is there even any such designations, tried and true through the eyepiece of history?

Mind you, I do not expect any world shattering revelations within this self introspection, but I guess, as we slide down the backslide of life, we all find, discover, a need to look within. Perhaps it is connected with the desire to leave a legacy, one of thought, not necessarily of money or things  - even as the stock market is taking care of that, quite handedly! Perhaps as I walk the streets of my ancient homeland, as I visited a most wonderful thought provoking museum precisely focused on that very issue, the need manifested itself.

And so for a bit, though not totally, I have eschewed the corruption of our nation, the dangers and perils just about overwhelming us and the world in general. So, to begin with. I have known my identity as a Jew since birth or perhaps even within the womb! I lived in a Jewish world, family, friends, school, holidays and when young enough, I could even believe the world was, in fact, Jewish.

Born into a post WWII era, where insane hatred of Jews resulted in horror unknown to man, an attempt to wipe out an entire Jewish nation, extirpate their very memory, erase it from the world's memory banks. In doing so, monetary gain via slave labor, theft of properties and goods, and heretofore unplumbed depths of rabid hatred were satisfied, even encouraged. Blood lust ruled the day.

So who was a Jew in those unthinkable, yet so real, days and times. To whom was fate prescribing death for the "criminal" act of being Jewish? There was no questioning then who was Jewish. You were Jewish if so defined by the government wallowing in its own stinking depravity. Bloodlines were traced, fanatically. Conversion to another religion?  Never mind that - you were Jewish. Jewish law defining who is and is not a Jew, no matter, for Jewish you were, and  Jewish you would remain until your last breathe. 

 During that time of horror and bloodshed, nothing new in Jewish history, there were those who proudly proclaimed their heritage even as others denied and hid. There were those who underwent forced conversion, but practiced secretly, and were always distrusted, suspect and suffered unthinkable deaths. Some left their countries, where their families had lived for generations even hundreds of years, for to be a Jew was the most important thing to acknowledge. Even those who rebuffed being categorized as a Jew, so far were they from the tradition and practice and community, found themselves classified, like it or not, as members of the Jewish tribe.

Was it traditional communal practices that made one Jewish? Was it inherited, within the very blood and genes, so that even an adopted child would feel its tug? Would, in fact, that tug manifest itself centuries later, driving so many to trace their roots, find their ancestors and join the nation? Could one will oneself in or out of peoplehood? What indeed made one Jewish? Simply look around at any Jewish community worldwide and wonder, agape, at the differences among them, by skin tone, by ethnicity, by religious practices diverged over years of almost isolation, affected by influences of surroundings, of outlooks and viewpoints  and then tell me what makes a Jew- a Jew?

Stick with me over the next few postings as I maneuver myself through this question, as I think about, both large and small things that make up one's Jewishness, defines that person as a Jew. Will not be easy and I, in fact, have no idea where it will take me, as we go through this process together.   

The only thing I do know with 100% belief and internal knowledge is that I am a Jew and would never think to deny it. No matter those who hate me, who would throw antisemitic garbage on my lawn, try to kill me and mine, or deny my very membership in the panoply of mankind.