"What are you?"

[asterroc]

I recently commented elsewhere on my being half-Chinese and half-Jewish (I'm a goy Hapa!), and someone else asked me about Judaism as a race/ethnicity/culture/religion/nationality. I thought I'd post my response here b/c I wrote it pretty well if I do say so myself. :-P

I haven't gotten this question in a while, thanks for asking! My interpretation could very well be different from others, but this is how I personally identify and explain my feelings about it.

Judaism and Chinese are both cultures. If we talk about race/ethnicity I self-identify as half Asian and half Caucasian, though some others might call Jews Middle Eastern (I think that's sometimes considered a race, but I could be mistaken). If we talk about nationality I am American (I am a US citizen from birth, and both my parents are US citizens) - when people ask me "what" I am, I always reply American and let them stew on that for a bit before answering what they're really asking. :-P

As my father is Jewish and my mother is not (her family is Episcopalian and also follows ancestor worship), I am not considered a member of the Jewish religion unless I choose to convert, but I was raised with the values of Jewish culture. I was not baptized and have never attended services so I am also not Episcopalian, and there is no formal organization to ancestor worship. The religious aspects of Judaism are the easiest to identify, but there are a lot of other values and cultural elements.

Other cultural elements can include what emphasis is placed upon education, personal achievement, career vs. family, community, elders vs. the young, how large a family to have, and so on. For example, both Chinese and Jewish cultures put a large emphasis upon personal achievement (in career and education), but Chinese parents typically want you to focus this on what will bring the most honor to your family (and certain careers bring more honor than others), while Jewish parents typically want you to focus on what will bring the most money to your family and personal happiness.

There's actually a lot of overlap in Jewish and Chinese mindsets - thankfully for me, or I'd be schitzo! :-P

Comments

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

My disorganized religion / belief system is agnostic atheist (I do not believe there is a God, but I cannot prove it so it is something I believe). I celebrate a number of Jewish, Christian, Chinese, and American holidays, but only their family/commercial/social/cultural aspects, not their religious ones.