Thread:
Jews are always told how they should identify and what part of the identity they need to remove in order to be viewed as equal while as a diaspora. First it was change/drop your “religion”, then it was keep your “religion” but drop your national identity (peoplehood). 1/
Jews are always told how they should identify and what part of the identity they need to remove in order to be viewed as equal while as a diaspora. First it was change/drop your “religion”, then it was keep your “religion” but drop your national identity (peoplehood). 1/
It never worked and all it does is create a “picking and choosing” of our identity to define us when it really should be viewed as a full package. A package that involves shared history, language, traditions etc. with minor variations in each due to being a diaspora. 2/
Our people is much easier understood when viewed through the lens of a tribe where “conversions” are essentially a right of passage into the tribe; a path to “citizenship” in the modern perspective. 3/
We should be allowed to define our peoplehood and our identity without being forced to co-opt foreign concepts which were imposed on us as a way to assimilate and even erase said identity. There’s nothing wrong with being culturally different from other nations. 4/
We can embrace our entire peoplehood for what it is without trying to break it apart to appease those who will always view us as different regardless. I am a Jew, my parents were born in different regions of the world, yet their heritage and culture are tied to Judea/Israel. 5/
They and their ancestors each had different lived experiences due to the different regions they lived in, yet their communities have more in common with each other than they had with the different nations they lived among. 6/
For further understanding I regularly recommend Einat Wilf’s lecture here titled “what do we mean when we call Israel ‘The Jewish State’”. In 30 minutes she gives, in my opinion, one the clearest summaries of the evolution of our identity.
END
🎥:
END
🎥:
