My boyfriend is ..by culture of his ancestors, Jewish. He does not follow the religion and was brought up in a non-practising household as well. Once as a teen he dabbled in Christianity but that didn't hold him. His religion..for all intents and purposes..is veganism.
Since his last name is very very Jewish sounding...people assume right off that he must be Jewish. Well yes...in a sense yes. If they asked me his religion..I would not say Jewish....if they asked me his heritage..I would. I've learnt over the years to not refer to him as Jewish. He is not a self-loathing Jew or anything like that...but he does not like to be painted into a religious tradition that he feels nothing for nor is practising. I don' blame him. I hesitate to even playfully say "Happy Passover" because I know I will get a "sigh". I guess he's just had it so much in his life that he gets tired of it. The pressure to be a certain religion and to be expected to know all about it by others can be quite the assumption. He never even had his bar-mitzvah so according to the Jewish faith he would still be considered..at the ripe old age of 45...to be boy..not a man. It is kind of funny to have his goy girlfriend use yiddish terms around him or tell him when certain Jewish holidays are! but again...we don't need stereotypes...we don't need to pidgeon hole people into certain labels just because of their ancestry either. I guess I was just delighted when I first found out what his heritage is because I find it a rich culture and I'm very interested in cultures...but the newness is wearing off (after seven years) and I'm getting over it ...LOL. His family culture is not mine to play with. Sigh. ;) No one likes the pressure to be something they are not. I remember dating a guy and he said to me on the first date "how about you go and get some of your witchy clothes on?"....as if I was supposed to have this vast closet of witchy costumes to wear for him to get a thrill. Okay boyfriend...yes...thinking about it..I can see how that would be very irritating. Sorry.
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interesting- the meld of differing religions and the people who choose not to practise them.
ReplyDeletei too am asked about my witchy clothes and dancing naked under the full moon- some people !!x
yes! aint it the truth? LOL.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard the term skyclad I imagined women dancing in diaphanous blue dresses! Ha! Even better when I found out what it really meant. ;)
ReplyDeleteskyclad ain't bad!!! hehehe. I've only done it twice with other people. Many times at home alone. It's never a requirement.
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