Being Jewish in a world where there are literal Nazi’s walking around and blending into society is scary. It is scary that there are people who would want to see me dead just for being raised in a certain religion or religious atmosphere. I am not in a place in my life where I can attend or organize rallies to fight for my rights as a Jewish person, so I have to choose my weapons carefully and enter the fight with the one thing I have that these people do not. Intelligence.
By intelligence I do not necessarily mean smarts. I mean emotional intelligence as in the ability to feel empathy for other people. I cannot think of a group out there in the world that I would like to see perish just because they happen to belong to that certain group. I empathize with the people around me and do not wish ill will on anyone. In this sense, I am superior to these white supremacists.
I want to inform people about my culture. I want them to learn about our holidays and the different nuances in the different branches of Judaism. To show them the joy that comes with celebrating Purim, my favorite holiday, would mean so much to me. I feel like maybe if I could show these individuals that I am a person too, maybe they could experience a change of heart.
The truth is that I am a person. I feel emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, fear and I experience loss and gains in life just like anyone else. I am a student, daughter, sister, girlfriend, friend, coworker, future teacher, woman just like so many others in the world and the addition of the label of Jewish should not negate any of my other labels. I command respect, not because I am Jewish, but because like you, my dear reader, I am a person.
HCXOXO,
Hope