Iâve already spent years and years being mad and scared and watching antisemitism being thought of as an old fashioned fear even as hate crimes against Jews rose, and I am exhausted by it. So instead of writing about that, after turning on my computer after Shabbat to hear the latest in headline atrocities, Iâm going to list some of my favorite things about Jews, Judaism, and being Jewish (tipping toward the Orthodox/Modern Orthodox experience, because thatâs mine):
how onomatopoetic Yiddish is - there is no word in English that appropriately connotes the feeling of shlepping something somewhere
we had a rabbanit speaking at the end of shul today who started by dropping a book down on the table and saying, âLetâs talk about the five morally complex stories in our parsha (weekly Torah portion)â
the smell of Shabbat preparation - clean floors and chicken soup and rushing
doing the ten plagues with wine or grape juice on Pesach (although honestly, the highlight of my seder every year is shouting âר֡×Öź×֚ת־×× ×Öź ×Ö´×Ö´Öź×ע֡ ×Ö°×Öˇ× ×§Ö°×¨Ö´××֡ת ׊ְ××֡ע ׊֜×× ×ŠÖˇ××ֲרִ×תâ)
praying in the aisles on a flight to Israel
the swell of Eitz Chayim in a Shabbat service, the way the voices unconsciously harmonize
the Gemara thumb (this is apparently niche enough that it doesnât actually come up on Google, but ask someone who studies the Talmud, and theyâll know what youâre talking about)
Jewish humor, and the universality of the Der Sturmer joke or the âtwo Jews on a desert islandâ one
the motley crew of people youâll see when youâre at a Jewish institution during a trip far away
the peace of Shabbat, and the way I can feel the week sloughing off of me as I uncover my face from lighting candles
when someone talks about someplace rural and to really drive the point home says, âthere isnât even Chabad thereâ
the enormous, gorgeous mezuzot on the entrance to my college Hillel
as complex as we are, thereâs a Jewish shorthand regarding different types of people - no matter what community youâre in, being a regular attendee of hashkama minyan means something (and donât even get me started on those nuts who daven netz)
taking the time around Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur for apologies and forgiveness and taking stock of your own behavior
the history of antisemitism and Jewish survival in the US. They didnât want to treat us when we were sick or to be their doctors, so we started our own hospitals. They put quotas on their colleges, so we made those too. Â
Jewish apps and websites to tell you where the nearest minyan is, and the latest on whatâs kosher and whatâs not and what the symbols look like, and what time Shabbat starts and ends where you are
people wanting to pick and choose traditions based on familial origins aka âI wish I could marry a Dutch Sfardiâ
Purim: itâs not just Jewish Halloween
Lecha Dodi to the tune of Hallelujah, but also Lecha Dodi in general
the way my abba talks about how when he was saying kaddish for his father, those few minutes were a time for daily remembrance for that full year
Different Opinions re: breaking the glass at a wedding (sing first? pause before mazel tovs?)
my parentsâ hands on my head when I get a blessing on Friday night
the âI knew it!â feeling when you look at someoneâs Wikipedia page and it starts âborn into a Jewish familyâ
swaying with your friends while doing the Carlbach or the pirate tune at havdalah
when you have soup in the sukkah and the steam billows out of the pot
our perseverance and tenacity and ability to survive and thrive through the generations. Through expulsions and pogroms, through outright genocide and its more insidious precursors, Judaism has nevertheless continued and grown only stronger and richer and more complex and beautiful. We say in the seder every year as we celebrate our freedom and continuation, âFor not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us.â And I can think of no better response than that of the Ponovezher Rav when he went to see the Arch of Titus in Rome with its triumphant depiction of the sacking of Jerusalem: âTitus, Mir Zenen noch doâŚAvu Bist Du?â Titus, we are still here! Where are you?
