Saturday, December 13, 2014

A Family Reunion and a Jewish Identity Crisis Solved

For me, coming to Israel has in [big] part been about rediscovering my roots. During my recent trip to Jerusalem I had the opportunity to do just this. Reconnecting with cousins after spending generations divided by an ocean is a magical feeling. 

Thanks to my father, Leon Taranto, who for years has been conducting extensive genealogical research, this glorious meeting of long-lost family members was made possible.

Left to right: Cousin Graziella, me and Cousin Natan! I am meeting them for the first time ever!
Natan and his daughter Ela (my seventh (Dad is this correct?) cousins) scooped me up from my hotel, which they informed me is in a new neighborhood in Jerusalem, and brought me closer in to the city to take a walk back in time. Our destination was a Jerusalem neighborhood called Ohel Moshe. 

Entrance to Ohel Moshe neighborhood.
Ohel Moshe is special to my family because there my family has a synagogue that bears the great Taranto name ;-). Once of my patrilineal uncles was the synagogue’s founder in the late 1800s. It is called the Yom Tov Taranto synagogue in his name.

Ela and me in front of the synagogue! That plaque up top says my last name in Hebrew!
Yom Tov (my uncle from way back when) never had any sons, or perhaps any children at all. Instead of bequeathing the synagogue unto a person, he mandated that the synagogue be forever existing as a synagogue. 

Standing in the very room that I know in which one of my family members more than 100 years ago stood is a weird feeling. There is almost a forced sense of familiarity. I should add that it is slightly troubling when I ponder about whether Uncle Yom Tov would approve of my lifestyle and way of thinking… not that I need his approval. 

The synagogue consists of one small room and lacks a place inside for women to worship. Instead there is a bench outside for the women. I respect that orthodox congregations separate men and women - however I do believe in the availability equal worshipping facilities. I am of an egalitarian mind. (So I guess I am saying I do not approve of the lack of availability of indoor seating for women at my family’s congregation.)

Seen on the right - the bench from where women are welcome to worship.
Following the our visit to the synagogue Natan and Ela took me for some yummy vegan eats at a nearby natural bakery where my eyes and nose were aroused like never before. We picked up a few different pastries and then headed a few shops down to sit and sip homemade apple and pear cider. Public Service Announcement: If you have not yet tried pear cider, you need to jump on the bandwagon immediately!

Inside the bakery. (Just had a thought: why is she touching her hair? That's a bit unsanitary....)

YUM!

Left to right: green apple cider, pear cider, red apple cider.
Then on the way back to the hotel I got to meet Natan's mother Graziella who was born in Greece and later lived in Italy. We communicated in multiple different languages, it was amazing!

After my mini family reunion I returned to the leadership conference I had been attending in Jerusalem. Speaker after speaker, we as participants were challenged to answer the question: What does being a Jew mean to you?

To me, being Jewish is not about the religion or any type of spiritual connection with a god. Rather, to me, being Jewish is about my heritage and family. I believe that Judaism just so happens to also be a religion, a governing system, a set of guidelines for eating, etc… In my opinion, to be Jewish one does not need to subscribe to the religion and rules of Judaism.

(And I must add: by the word “family” I am not just talking about my family. In my opinion  just by being born unto someone Jewish you are automatically a part of the Jewish family. It is a worldwide family- Kazakhstan, Australia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Chile, Bolivia, Sweden, France, India, China, and the list goes on… As a Jewish person, I know that if I was in one of these countries and there were some kind of emergency I would automatically have somewhere to stay, just in knowing there is a Jewish community in existence.)

Participants from my summit. The people pictured are from Russia, the U.S., Poland and Israel; at the conference there were also people from Argentina, Ukraine, Sweden, France, Bulgaria, South Africa, England, Canada, Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Italy, Romania, Spain and Australia, and probably more that I am forgetting!
However — when I think about calling myself “Jewish,” in my head I am divided. In general when I think about religions I feel that religions divide people, which is why religion is a tough topic for me to think about. I wonder, am I being a hypocrite by putting religion down but then also calling myself “Jewish” and associating with “the Jewish people?”

I struggle with this thought. And then I remind myself that there can be two types of Judaism  ethnic Judaism as a race and ideologic Judaism as a religion. 

Anyone can be a Jew in ideology. However not everyone can be a Jew ethnically. I am an ethnic Jew but I am not an ideologic Jew. Every ancestor before me has been Jewish. Because of this I can't make myself un-Jewish. I do not need to practice Judaism to be Jewish. The thoughts in my head are not necessarily in line with the tenets of the religion of Judaism, and that is okay.

For me the phenomenon of meeting my long-lost cousins coupled with my attendance of the convention has assisted me in defining what Judaism is to me specifically: It’s not a religion, it’s a family.

Another cousin, Tal, from the same branch of the family. I wasn't sure where to include this picture in this post so I am including it here! We are the same age!

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