whose stories are they?

[nextian]

This is a personal essay I have been trying to write for a very, very long time. It isn't sparked by one thing in particular, but it comes in response to, and accord with, things I've read by chopchica and miriam_heddy and roga and dafnap and abyssinia4077 and xiphias and kita0610 and ... yeah

Comments

[thingswithwings]

thank you so much for writing this; I've learned a lot, I hope, from reading it. What you say about centuries of tradition and scholarship and thought being cruelly erased or bastardized is very moving and even shocking, to me, and makes me think about what gets lost - who gets left behind - when we look at texts like this one, breathing texts, "in isolation." I'm not religious myself, but I have enormous respect for people who are, and enormous frustration for fellow nonbelievers who think there's something modern about atheism and something primitive about faith. Which is a long way of saying, this post was beautiful and thoughtful.

Anyhow, I'm sorry, I don't mean to ramble, I just wanted to say: your post made me think about things I haven't had to think about before, and that's a really good thing, and thank you.

[nextian]

Thank you for reading it, for serious. I'm very glad it made you think.

You can ramble here any time. ♥

[sleepinbeast]

I second thingswithwings's comment. I am a German student with a Christian background, and your essay pointed out to me how little I actually know about Judaism

[nextian]

Well, I've seen Torah 101 and Judaism 101 linked pretty heavily around the threads -- and may I had, the url jewfaq.com? My new favorite thing. I can't remember all the books people have recommended in these comment pages, but most of the people who did so are people I know and trust, so take a look around and see what you want.

There's also the two sages story: Hillel and Shammai were two of the most respected rabbis ever, although we like Hillel a lot better now; he was warm and friendly, while Shammai was prickly and strict.

One day a Gentile comes up to Shammai's hut and says, "Hey, Shammai! If you can teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot, I'll convert."

As he balances, grinning, Shammai puts out a hand and shoves him over. "Torah takes a lifetime of study," he growls. "Stop wasting my time. I wouldn't convert you even if you were sincere

[skywardprodigal]

Thank you for writing this eloquent and impassioned reclamation.

[nextian]

Thank you for your praise, and for reading it.

[rosehiptea]

This is really good. It says a lot of things I wish I could say but can't.

Thank you.

[nextian]

Thank you for reading and for your comment. It took me a really long time to be able to say this myself, so best of luck to you.

[chopchica]

Wow, what an *amazing* post. Thank so so much for this. And being referenced as somebody who led you toward writing this...what an honor! Again, thank you.

[nextian]

Haha, um, the issue was more whether or not to just reference you. Your posts about being Jewish in fandom are really a big part of the reason I'm, you know, still around and not dead of frustrated-rage-induced apoplexy.

Thank you so much, on every level.

[chopchica]

I'm pretty sure from now on you'll be on that list too :)

[ariastar]

I think this is the bit where I start feeling a little horrified that my parents made very sure I understood I was Jewish and then made absolutely no effort at all to have me understand what that meant, so I live in a headspace where I can talk fairly coherently about the New Testament and don't even know how to start talking about anything that came before it. I don't know, but I'm very glad this post exists, if only so I can go back to it and remember that I don't know what I'm talking about.

[nextian]

I'm glad this post did something for you. I hope very much that you get to find a way into the heritage, honey, if you want to.

[redstapler]

my parents made very sure I understood I was Jewish and then made absolutely no effort at all to have me understand what that meant

THIS.

My mother never converted, but embraced the faith wholly. As I got older (I was the youngest by many years), my family's involvement dwindled. Say, sometime after my bat mitzvah.

Religion ceased to be important in the house until I said one day I wanted to practice Wicca. (I was 14. It didn't take.)

Like you, my New Testament knowledge is almost better than my Old Testament knowledge, mostly because I ended up studying a lot of Medieval lit in college.

It's very confusing and frustrating, especially when my former roommate found more and more of her identity in the Jewish faith, and I felt myself at odds with a major part of my heritage.

I'm a pretty firm agnostic these days.