http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif Where's the Jewishness?
This morning I caught the last half of the movie School Ties.
I never list it as one of my favorites when asked to, but I suppose it is. It always stops me in my tracks, and always makes me think. Though I've probably seen it - or parts of it - at least a dozen times, my breath is taken away every time I see the sheet with the huge, black swastika draped over the bed.
When I was a baby my godparents gave me one of these.
At first I would just wear it on special occasions. Then I wore it every day of my life from about the age of 11 to the age of 23 (except for a few months when I was 18 and spending lots of time in a hospital). I even wore it when I went here: http://www.cobleskill.edu/ and I was the only Jewish person on my entire dorm building's floor, and the only Jewish person many of my dormmates had met. When I needed to fast for the day because of this, I was told I MUST attend a mandatory lunch floor meeting by the Resident Assistant on my floor. Even after I told her that I was more than happy to attend, but I could not eat, she continued to give me a hard time. She also managed to tell everyone on my floor I was Jewish. Bitch. I wasn't keeping it a secret, but I also wasn't advertising it. I guess Mary Ellen from Corning, NY didn't care about enforcing this. One night a girl on my floor came up to me and said, "You're Jewish? My grandfather was in the KKK - isn't that cool?!" and she honestly thought it was a cool coincidence that she was going to college with a type of person her grandfather had wanted to lynch. People on my floor were SHOCKED to hear that I did not celebrate Christmas, and were unable to wrap their heads around that concept. They asked what I did on Christmas. DUH - movies and chinese food, like every other card-carrying Jew. Come on - I wouldn't want to get kicked out for breaking protocol. They asked if I celebrated Thanksgiving, since I didn't celebrate Christmas. (There is a reason Cobleskill is not ranked very highly among the other 63 state schools within the SUNY system.) Growing up in lower New York, I had never met people who hadn't met Jewish people before, and I didn't know how to handle it. My mother recalls my telling her that she forgot to tell me how to accept people who don't accept other people. Just one of many reasons I wanted to leave that college after one semester.
When I was about to move to South Florida (where I'd be going on job interviews) my mother pointed out that perhaps I should not be advertising my Jewishness in the DEEP SOUTH and I should not wear my Star of David necklace until I knew who I was working with.
It turned out that the majority of people I worked with and for were either:
A. Jewish; or,
B. From New York (where being Jewish is common), or
C. Both A and B
I grew up in a town in New York where more than half the people are Jewish. Even the kids who celebrated Christmas would bring their lunch sandwiches to school on matzah during Passover. At most seders we would have at least one guest at the table who was not Jewish.
When I was saying goodbye to the General Counsel at my last job in Florida before flying out to San Francisco, as he hugged me he said, "If you ever have any problems, remember that Levi's is Jewish" which I found hysterically funny. I flashed to it being 2am in San Francisco, me being lost in a scary and semi-deserted neighborhood, hailing a cab, and through my tears telling the cab driver to "Please take me to Levi's right away - it's an emergency!" I would then knock on the door of their headquarters, flash my Star of David necklace, and they would promptly welcome me in with open arms, giving me free jeans for the rest of my life. Because you know, all Jews stick together. Membership has its privileges.
Meanwhile I can't find any raspberry hamentashen to save my life.
I never list it as one of my favorites when asked to, but I suppose it is. It always stops me in my tracks, and always makes me think. Though I've probably seen it - or parts of it - at least a dozen times, my breath is taken away every time I see the sheet with the huge, black swastika draped over the bed.
When I was a baby my godparents gave me one of these.
At first I would just wear it on special occasions. Then I wore it every day of my life from about the age of 11 to the age of 23 (except for a few months when I was 18 and spending lots of time in a hospital). I even wore it when I went here: http://www.cobleskill.edu/ and I was the only Jewish person on my entire dorm building's floor, and the only Jewish person many of my dormmates had met. When I needed to fast for the day because of this, I was told I MUST attend a mandatory lunch floor meeting by the Resident Assistant on my floor. Even after I told her that I was more than happy to attend, but I could not eat, she continued to give me a hard time. She also managed to tell everyone on my floor I was Jewish. Bitch. I wasn't keeping it a secret, but I also wasn't advertising it. I guess Mary Ellen from Corning, NY didn't care about enforcing this. One night a girl on my floor came up to me and said, "You're Jewish? My grandfather was in the KKK - isn't that cool?!" and she honestly thought it was a cool coincidence that she was going to college with a type of person her grandfather had wanted to lynch. People on my floor were SHOCKED to hear that I did not celebrate Christmas, and were unable to wrap their heads around that concept. They asked what I did on Christmas. DUH - movies and chinese food, like every other card-carrying Jew. Come on - I wouldn't want to get kicked out for breaking protocol. They asked if I celebrated Thanksgiving, since I didn't celebrate Christmas. (There is a reason Cobleskill is not ranked very highly among the other 63 state schools within the SUNY system.) Growing up in lower New York, I had never met people who hadn't met Jewish people before, and I didn't know how to handle it. My mother recalls my telling her that she forgot to tell me how to accept people who don't accept other people. Just one of many reasons I wanted to leave that college after one semester.
When I was about to move to South Florida (where I'd be going on job interviews) my mother pointed out that perhaps I should not be advertising my Jewishness in the DEEP SOUTH and I should not wear my Star of David necklace until I knew who I was working with.
It turned out that the majority of people I worked with and for were either:
A. Jewish; or,
B. From New York (where being Jewish is common), or
C. Both A and B
I grew up in a town in New York where more than half the people are Jewish. Even the kids who celebrated Christmas would bring their lunch sandwiches to school on matzah during Passover. At most seders we would have at least one guest at the table who was not Jewish.
When I was saying goodbye to the General Counsel at my last job in Florida before flying out to San Francisco, as he hugged me he said, "If you ever have any problems, remember that Levi's is Jewish" which I found hysterically funny. I flashed to it being 2am in San Francisco, me being lost in a scary and semi-deserted neighborhood, hailing a cab, and through my tears telling the cab driver to "Please take me to Levi's right away - it's an emergency!" I would then knock on the door of their headquarters, flash my Star of David necklace, and they would promptly welcome me in with open arms, giving me free jeans for the rest of my life. Because you know, all Jews stick together. Membership has its privileges.
Meanwhile I can't find any raspberry hamentashen to save my life.
posted by Green at 4/10/2005 02:03:00 AM
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