A few classes ago, we were talking about Hanukkah and its meaning to the Jewish religion. We talked about how it really was not one of the more important holidays but rather that it got so big so that little Jewish kids would not feel left out during Christmas. I remember my first Hanukkah. I was with my dad and he had gotten me a box of pencils. I was 4, and it was probably one of the best presents I ever got, as silly as that is.

For a very long time, I had no idea what the other Jewish holidays were. I knew about Hanukkah and Yum Kippur, but that was about it. I felt like such a fool when one of my friends told me that she was going home for Rosh Hashanah and I asked her, “What’s that?” After that, I began asking my Jewish friends about their experience as practicing Jews and what Judaism meant to them (much like the fieldwork projects we did in this class, but less formal). After my dad died, the only personal connection I had to Judaism was an annual Hanukkah dinner with some friends of my mom. And for a very long time, I was unaware that there was anything else to it. I was woefully ignorant. Ironically, despite my ignorance, I felt more connected to Judaism when having just that one dinner a year than I do now with all of the knowledge I have acquired through my studies. 

Our class the other day made me remember what I thought of Judaism compared to Judaism now. Because of this class, discussions with friends, and other classes, I have learned so much about the religion itself, its history, and its significance to the lives of Jews everywhere, and my connection to it. Though my connection to Judaism still resides in the memory of my dad, I have a better idea of what it could have meant to him. If nothing else, having the knowledge of the history of my heritage gives me more of a base and a frame for my opinions and beliefs, regardless of whether they agree with those of the Jewish faith.

Today (9/24) the cross country team went on a run as we do every day.  This run usually proves to be a long quiet one that is done at the war college.  Usually it goes about 12 miles around a two mile loop so talking is highly encouraged so we don’t go crazy.  Today we got to talking about classes and topics in each class. I quickly brought up our class! I wanted to ask what we had originally asked in our interviews, what do you think it means to be Jewish.  I figured a non-Jewish outside the classroom response might be interesting.

We have to do 2 miles to the war college, then 4 laps of the 2 mile loop and then again 2 miles back to campus. The guy’ answered in fairly different ways.  One of the guys on the team who is Catholic answered first.  He explained that it was his understanding of the basics of the religious aspect of Judaism.  That people who identify themselves as Jewish do not believe in Jesus as a messiah.  He also pointed out that the bible that we had been talking about in the warm up to the war college was different in the Jewish religion.  He wanted me to know that if a person said they were Jewish that meant that they read the Old Testament and not the New Testament.  The bible he refers to and has faith in is not the same bible.  Another guy on the team who went to church as a child also had a response that dealt with the religion.  He said that he understands that Jewish people have no experienced church in the way that he is familiar with.  He explained that if someone were to say they were Jewish he would not be able to picture what that looks like in his head.  He said the image that comes to mind is Chanukah and other popular culture themes related to Jewish life like a dradle or chocolate that is wrapped in a gold coin.  The third guy on the team who went to Catholic school recalled the story of the Exodus.  He said that when a person identifies themselves as Jewish he pictured the story he was taught about the Jews being in the desert for 40 years.  The last guy that we were running with briefly explained that he thinks of Jesus because Jesus was Jewish.

My teammate’s image and understanding of what it means to be Jewish is narrow.  They really only brought up the religious aspect of what it means to be Jewish.  This is in complete contrast to our interviewees who had more to say about the culture and related cultural events that made them Jewish.  The interviewees talked about the religion but explained that the experience is what they believed meant to be Jewish.  I think before the interviews I might have answered in the same way as my teammates, but in a few weeks I feel that my understanding and image of what it means to be Jewish has drastically changed.

In this class, a large portion of our discussion surrounding cultural boundaries is in relation to how Jews created boundaries between themselves and other cultures. We have spent some time talking about the differences between movements in Judaism and among individuals, but we have not really referred to these differences as boundaries. I wonder if this language is rarely used to discuss interactions among Jews, because it is uncomfortable to recognize that Jews are actively working to separate themselves from each other, as well as other populations. Borrowing, rejecting, and dividing are concepts that are most certainly not exclusive to Jews’ relations with non-Jews. It would be nearly impossible to acknowledge all of the ways in which this happens within Judaism. Because of this, I would like to explore how I have begun to recognize my own borrowing and rejecting processes within Judaism and how these processes have shaped my own cultural boundaries.

I recently attended a very untraditional Rosh Hashanah(Jewish New Year) service in a neighborhood park. I do not think of myself as particularly traditional, Jewish or otherwise, but I think that in experiencing something so untraditional, I was made much more aware of my traditional tendencies. Some of the Jewish cultural boundaries we discussed in class relate to food, costume, music, and religious practices. Costume is an example of a boundary I used to separate myself from fellow Jews in the park on Rosh Hashanah. Because we were in a park, many people there wore jeans and other casual attire. As appealing as wearing jeans sounded to me, I could not bring myself to wear them. Something felt funny to me about dressing so casually for one of the most important days on the Jewish calendar. I chose to wear a skirt. This boundary is not only a visible boundary to others, but also a personal time boundary. I believe that part of my inability to dress casually came out of the desire to create an internal boundary between my everyday life and the time of the High Holy Days. This can arguably be done through means besides clothing, but perhaps my use of clothing reflects my borrowing of more traditional ideas. My clothing that day created more than one boundary. I arrived in a jacket covering my shoulders that I later removed after spending some time in the sun. Uncovering my shoulders would always be seen as unacceptable in an Orthodox setting, and it would have been equally inappropriate during a High Holy Day service in my Conservative synagogue.  By rejecting this notion of modesty I made a second boundary. This time it was not between a more liberal Jewish population and me, but rather a more conservative one.

This specific costume choice is only one small example of boundary making in my own life and lives of other Jews. Of course, my experience is not representative of all Jews, it is not meant to be generalized. However, I feel that my borrowing, rejecting, and boundary creating is particularly reflective of my experience as a Conservative Jew.  I find the desire or need to create boundaries to be very interesting. This Jewish desire for separation starts on a large scale with separation from other cultures, continues into divisions in the form of movements in Judaism, and still proves necessary in the lives of individuals. Sometimes we experience and internalize boundaries without even realizing, but it is especially fascinating to step back and examine their existence and influence in our lives.