Some of the things I write are too personal to post up on Jewlicious, so I've been keeping them in a folder on my desktop. Most haven't made it to their full potential, a few didn't really come out the way I wanted. It's been over a year since I've posted here, I kind of forgot I'd created this for myself, and whoever else was interested in my driveling...
The next posts will be from the 'archives' or rather, the trash bin, of this year's posts that never made it to WordPress.
Here's my audition piece for the Jdate blogger gig that I didn't get...
There’s something that happens during the introduction, whether through IM, email or in person. Whatever that something is, it creates a chasm between him and me. The erosion begins when he asks what I do, and I say that I work in the Jewish community. Suddenly I’m SuperJew or a representation of all this guy finds troublesome with Judaism, a stand-in for the Rabbi that caused him never to return to shul after his bar mitzvah or a fountain of information about what other Jews believe.
In reality, I am none of those things. I had an average upbringing in a diverse, and very Jewish, suburb. I grew up Conservative but haven’t been to services much since Yom Kippur. I’m struggling to discover what God means to me. In short, I’m like so many of you, my fellow Jdaters. Whatever our surface differences, and no matter our reasons, we made the decision to try to find a Jewish significant other.
It would seem that Judaism is a part of our self-concept, so much so that we consider it a priority in finding a suitable date…relationship…fill in the blank here. But what does Judaism mean in this context? Is it just a characteristic on a checklist? Or a defining trait that allows one to be not Jewish, too Jewish or Jewish Enough? And is it legit for any of us to judge another’s for their Judaism?
For me, and I’m sure many others, the desire for Jewish continuity and a strong Jewish identity is a driving force in life, in work and in love. As I’m not the only young Jewish professional I know deemed “too Jewish” to date, one has to wonder…what defines “Jewish enough” for the average Jdater?
