” Being Jewish means so much to me. It is my culture, my heritage and to a certain extent it is also my identity. Most of who I am comes from my being Jewish.
I don’t follow all the Jewish laws, but I follow the ones that are important to me. I keep kosher, observe some of the holidays and consider myself a Conservative Jew. I don’t go to temple that much, although I do like my temple very much, because I still don’t understand most of the prayers (they’re in Hebrew). But some of my friends think that I’m super-religious just because I ate matzoh while they were feasting on spaghetti during Passover. (During Passover, Jews don’t eat leavened bread as a symbol of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt.)
Every year, I fast on Tisha B’av around August. This holiday commemorates the destruction of the Jewish temple, which led to the Diaspora, when Jews were sent into exile from Jerusalem. I feel a special connection to this holiday because my parents were expelled from Iraq where my ancestors had lived for 2,000 years. Iraq used to be called Babylon, and this is the land that the Jews were exiled to when they were forced to leave Jerusalem.
My people have suffered tremendously
Last year, it really hit me how awful the situation really was. I could visualize the destruction occurring when the temples fell and the people dispersed. That was the point when the whole culture was split up, and even though I’m not very religious, I can feel what a huge loss it was. My ancestors were torn away from everything they had cared about.
I cannot ignore who I am. I cannot ignore what my people have faced. Persecution is not distant in my family history. When my parents were growing up in Iraq, they faced major discrimination because they were Jewish. Jews were called spies and hanged in the streets. My mom’s cousin was murdered by the authorities because he wouldn’t say he was a spy. My father was thrown in jail several times. Because of what happened to my parents I see things differently from other people: I know that persecution exists and I have doubts that there ever will be “world peace.” I’ve seen how racism perpetuates itself from generation to generation. I think this has made me more tolerant because I know what it’s like to be shunned or persecuted.
It makes me really angry when I think about what my parents went through, but I cannot hate their persecutors. As a Jew, I know it’s wrong to hate others. I may not be the ideal Jew, but I’m proud of my culture.”