Jewish Identity

My father and his Jewish Identity

My father was adopted from a Jewish family. My grandparents were both ashkenazi Jews, while my father looks like a middle eastern Jew. He commonly gets stopped at the airport and asked where he is from, and he was born in NYC, not anywhere in the Middle East. But that is besides the point, the point is that he grew up going to a predominately ashkenazi synagogue with family that was ashkenazi, and all though he looked like he was definitely not ashkenazi, but I don't think that he ever felt out of place. In fact I think that he actually felt like he looked more Jewish, which was what my real point is. I never actually thought that the stereotypical Jew was one that looked like a European Jew with white skin. I think I always thought the stereotypical Jew had dark skin. But that's just me.

posted by Lainna @ 11:21 AM