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Diaryland
Religious upbringing (2) 2003-11-29 @ 1:19 a.m.
So whatever the reasons they had for choosing to do so, my parents raised me in the Jewish faith. I was raised in the Reform 'denomination', if you want to call it that. Denomination, like conversion and Sunday School, is really a Christian concept. If you live in the USA though, your religion will be infused with English Protestant practices whether you realize it or not. The degree to which you can become like them determines how much success you can have in this society. For some, like the Irish, German, Scottish and French Americans, their skin color and cultural proximity lent them to eventually abandon their unique cultural heritage and be subsumed under a category called "White". For others, called "Reds" and "Blacks", "Browns" and "Yellows", true assimilation has never been an option, and they have suffered for it. The Jews found themselves in a sandwiched place, able and willing to assimilate in some regards but not in others. Long legal debates were held in the courts about whether or not Jews were to be considered whites, and thus whether or not they would enjoy the priveleges (the human rights) that went with such a designation. Its the way America works - it tries to assimilate people to adopt "traditional values" (read: 17th century White Protestant English chauvinist heterosexist values) that really haven't changed that much since Calvin was preaching his bullshit back in the day.
Oh, I'm sorry - I really should respect the religious contribution of such a great mind, blah blah blah. Hey, my European ancestors were pretty impressed by this guy, and some of them may have known him personally. They moved all over the place (eventually here) under his inspiration, and some became ministers in his churches. I just still think he was a poor theologian who, like Luther, bashed the Catholics left and right but swallowed their bible and 1600 years of exegesis without fundamentally questioning it. Ah well - "Small moves, Elly... small moves..."
Wow, I have digressed. You'd better watch out, cause' I do this a lot when it comes to religion and spirituality. I have a lot I've learned and I have to get it out of my system, lest I die and no one ever get any use out of it. But lets get back to my Jewish upbringing.
The first temple I remember attending and where I was first enrolled in Hebrew school was Temple Israel, a little reform temple in Long Beach, CA. I really enjoyed going there, and I gather that the rest of the family enjoyed it too. We even attended regular shabbat services on Friday nights for awhile. I found the services very beautiful, and I was young. There was both a choir and a cantor, and together they sang some very beautiful songs, in both Hebrew and English. My favorite has always been "Shalom Rav" - its a very beautiful Hebrew song that asks God to bestow peace on Israel, and all the world in some versions. Download it sometime if you can find it. Aside from the beautiful songs and chants, there was a lot of other wonderful things about the services. The beauty of the ritual objects for one, including the torah, which we would kiss as it passed by. We had two rabbis, one male and one female, and they gave good sermons in my memory. Rabbi Lisa was really cool especially, and she had a real talent for working with the kids. She was as likely to tell us a Chasidic folktale about the hilarious fools of Chelm as she was to talk about Moses. After services, we would all gather together and enjoy Challah and kosher wine. Challah is a really delicious sweet bread if you've never had the pleasure of eating it; its kneaded into giant strands and comes out of the oven looking like a sailor's knot. Smells wonderful too. Ummm... just thinking about it is a yummy experience...
Meanwhile, I was attending Sunday school and having my own experiences there. I might still have some old textbooks left over from that time. They taught us about the patriarchs and Moses and how we were God's special people. We learned the alephbet and about the different Jewish holidays and what they meant. Some were much more fun then others in my opinion, but unfortunately for little me, the boring ones were apparently much more important. The biggest thing I remember about back then was the pride engendered in us about being Jews. It really gave me a good feeling inside when I thought about being one of God's special people. But for all the good things it brought and the reasoning behind us learning that, there was a bad side to it. There was an ostracism that was created in regards to people of other faiths. Somehow, a message got through to us that the world hated Jews, perhaps because we were better. And that non-Jews persecute Jews, so you'd better watch out. So on one hand, we were told that we were exalted, and on another, told that we were hated. It makes for a very confusing mentality for a little kid. Sometimes I would advertise my Jewishness to others because I believed thats what a good proud Jewish boy was supposed to do. Most of the kids I told hadn't really thought about religious stuff much. Others had misconceptions about Jews - one kid I told thought all Jews were Orthodox New Yorkers and wondered why I didn't have any braids. Eventually I figured out it was arrogant of me to keep making an issue out of it, but it took awhile because I had that damnable Jewish pride that just kept demanding me to advertise it.
It seems silly now in retrospect, but maybe that's inevitably the message that kids at my temple got. Maybe its only a dilution of the message all Jewish kids are getting. Is it a bad message? Is there a way to teach Jewish kids humility, that Judaism is not better than other faiths? Or is that an inevitable contension that Judaism makes against Gentiles - "we know something you don't know". Why we became outsiders, how we became outsiders, should we even be outsiders - I'm sure the rabbis have been pondering these things much longer than I have. The answers still aren't clear.
"Details in the Fabric" - May 31, 2009
Not So Quick Questions - April 6, 2009
The Morning Stars - Lords of the 15 - April 9, 2009
Sincerity and Faith in Magic - April 10, 2009
Not So Quick Questions (2) - April 14, 2009
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