quix wrote:Questions of identity are interesting.... What makes a Jew a Jew? I think I'm a Jew, my family and friends think I am too. Yet I don't believe in God and I don't practice Judaism. Even if I did, what difference would that make?
So.... Am I a Jew or not?
I think if i think I am and if other Jews think I am, then I am.
It's a toughie.
My mom is Jewish by birth, but not a believer, and being raised in the era she was raised, her religious training was considered unimportant. So am I, never bar mitzvah'd, from a non-Jewish father, never went to temple except for family and friend-related ceremonies, was pretty much not at all raised in the faith or even culture, however you define that, Jewish? I've been told many times that I am, but definitely don't self-identify that way.
And like that story that Velvis told about the woman that self-identified as black despite no African heritage, it can't be
completely down to self-identification. But it should
mostly be, right?
Like I said - toughie.