Religion & Spirituality

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I have a question…

One of my cousins on my father’s side is Jewish. She converted 45 years ago when she married a Jewish man, and they’ve raised their son and daughter as Jewish, including Bar and Bat Mitzvah. She keeps a kosher home still, even after her husband passed away, and was going to the synagogue regularly (before Covid). She keeps a mezuzah on her door. She recently told me that a kid (twenty-something) told her "well, you’re not [b]really[/b] Jewish, and your kids aren’t really Jewish either. Their mother has to be Jewish, not just their father." My cousin told him, "My children [b]were[/b] born to a Jewish mother." She was very offended. Once you convert, don’t you become part of the community ? 🤔

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Human1000 · M

We natives have a prejudice towards those who convert.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Human1000 Really ?

Human1000 · M

@bijouxbroussard Yes, some more than others. Maybe prejudice was the wrong word, but a feeling they aren’t 100 % real Jews.

Mamapolo2016 · F

@Human1000 That appears to be against your religious law. Just sayin'.

Human1000 · M

@Mamapolo2016 No doubt, it’s just that we don’t have a mission of conversion like Christianity so it doesn’t feel central, and there is a strong ethnic component separate from the religion. For example, no one can convert to Japanese, but most Americans accept legal immigrants who become citizens as Americans. In fact, I take pride in that as an American.

Mamapolo2016 · F

@Human1000 So do I.

I would think converts would be honored, as they knowingly take on the trials and tribulations of Judaism - not just born to it without consent.

Human1000 · M

@Mamapolo2016 “Mmm, not so much,” as my mother would say. 😉. A shared experience of the Holocaust is also a factor.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Human1000 But there are Jewish people of many different ethnicities. Her husband was French Jewish (Ashkénaze) and his father survived the camps.

Human1000 · M

@bijouxbroussard If her family wasn’t Jewish then “it” doesn’t get passed down. I’m not saying it’s right, by the way.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Human1000 [quote] A shared experience of the Holocaust is also a factor.[/quote]
Through their father, her children are descendants of Holocaust survivors.

Human1000 · M

@bijouxbroussard My apologies for not reading the topic well enough! To the extent conversion is an issue well, a little insight as to why.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Human1000 One would think that a people who experienced such profound discrimination wouldn’t pass it on—but even as I say this I know better.

Human1000 · M

@bijouxbroussard I don’t know any Jew who would murder a convert, desecrate their grave, or call them a filthy Jew.

Mamapolo2016 · F

@Human1000 Not the first time I've been wrong. Likely not the last.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Human1000 But they would say, " you’re not one of us" ?

Human1000 · M

@bijouxbroussard Not in a declarative way like that. Too much anger, much milder. If you meet a fellow Jew there is a connection. Not so much with a convert.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Human1000 I feel bad for her, then. 🙁

Human1000 · M

@bijouxbroussard I don’t think I she’ll run into any issues.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Human1000 She hadn’t until this kid.

Human1000 · M

@bijouxbroussard Ahh, of course, you’re right. That was very rude of someone to say to her.

Mamapolo2016 · F

@bijouxbroussard What prompted him to say such a thing?

Mamapolo2016 · F

@bijouxbroussard Makes me think of Ruth. "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."

Then some snotnose kid says, "You're not REALLY Jewish."

bijouxbroussard · F

@Mamapolo2016 Her presence in the synagogue, apparently. She didn’t know him from Adam. He’s new. She’s been attending services there since 2006 and everyone has been nice to her. Both her son and daughter are now married to members there.