I think you're tapping into a wider issue here of "belonging," not just nationally or religiously but to anything. Could even be a family! I also think you need to trust your instincts. If your gut is telling you to lean into your Israeli identity, go with it. You can't fight where you are emotionally right now. Just be. You'll come back to the language posts (which I've not yet seen b/c I started following you last week!). We all contain multitudes.
When my boys were teenagers, my oldest was an avowed atheist. Invariably at every Passover seder the boys would literally come to blows. The oldest would start making faces or noises with the mention of God and the youngest would find that insulting so off they went at each other. We actually sat them on opposite ends of the room at one point. Today there is no such issue.
My former atheist now tells me he says Shema every day and is teaching himself tanach. He gets podcasts from Jewish religious sites like Tikvah Academy. So don't worry about your eldest when it comes to his Judaism.
October 7 did many things to the Jews here in the diaspora. The effect I think it had was not what Hamas and the antisemites in the street expected. Jews, like my sons, are not running away from their Judaism but running towards it. This just shows that our enemies truly do not understand us and never will.
I want to say thank you for your words, your previous post and that you talk about these topics. I'm in a similar boat to you - I've lived both outside and inside our homeland, write a newsletter where I don't typically talk about these topics, yet they're in my heart all the time. I'm really grateful that you're talking about it and I find it quite healing even.
Write wherever you are, regardless of what your original plans were. I find them to be connected anyway - culture, belonging and language, and the joys and pains of belonging to a certain culture, are all linked to each other in my eyes.
I so love this and especially for its little gems: "Without a plan, one can start feeling all sorts of feels and it can get a little uncomfortable"; "I have been thinking about belonging. And how... nothing strengthens your sense of identity and belonging like school performances"; "In the Church assembly today I didn’t say ‘amen’, because I didn’t agree when they mentioned Jesus. But who is right?”; and "And maybe it is only when we securely belong to our cultures that we can truly appreciate what other cultures and peoples bring to the world." Each one priceless in it's own way. Seriously.
I so love this and especially for its little gems: "Without a plan, one can start feeling all sorts of feels and it can get a little uncomfortable"; "I have been thinking about belonging. And how... nothing strengthens your sense of identity and belonging like school performances"; "In the Church assembly today I didn’t say ‘amen’, because I didn’t agree when they mentioned Jesus. But who is right?”; and "And maybe it is only when we securely belong to our cultures that we can truly appreciate what other cultures and peoples bring to the world." Each one priceless in it's own way. Seriously.
I think you're tapping into a wider issue here of "belonging," not just nationally or religiously but to anything. Could even be a family! I also think you need to trust your instincts. If your gut is telling you to lean into your Israeli identity, go with it. You can't fight where you are emotionally right now. Just be. You'll come back to the language posts (which I've not yet seen b/c I started following you last week!). We all contain multitudes.
Thank you, Delia, for reading and commenting. I appreciate it more than I can tell. Yes, I agree, "belonging" is a much wider issue.
I hope you will continue to share about your life, whether past, present, or future. I love hearing your thoughts on these things.
Thank you, Sandra 💜
When my boys were teenagers, my oldest was an avowed atheist. Invariably at every Passover seder the boys would literally come to blows. The oldest would start making faces or noises with the mention of God and the youngest would find that insulting so off they went at each other. We actually sat them on opposite ends of the room at one point. Today there is no such issue.
My former atheist now tells me he says Shema every day and is teaching himself tanach. He gets podcasts from Jewish religious sites like Tikvah Academy. So don't worry about your eldest when it comes to his Judaism.
October 7 did many things to the Jews here in the diaspora. The effect I think it had was not what Hamas and the antisemites in the street expected. Jews, like my sons, are not running away from their Judaism but running towards it. This just shows that our enemies truly do not understand us and never will.
That's so interesting, your teenagers' trajectory. I guess they just go through stages, like all of us, and need to find their own way.
I want to say thank you for your words, your previous post and that you talk about these topics. I'm in a similar boat to you - I've lived both outside and inside our homeland, write a newsletter where I don't typically talk about these topics, yet they're in my heart all the time. I'm really grateful that you're talking about it and I find it quite healing even.
Write wherever you are, regardless of what your original plans were. I find them to be connected anyway - culture, belonging and language, and the joys and pains of belonging to a certain culture, are all linked to each other in my eyes.
Thank you, Ella, for your kind words. I so hope the coming weeks / months bring some closure and then healing to all of us.
Poignant, honest, and raw. Yannai was a beautiful baby.
💕
I so love this and especially for its little gems: "Without a plan, one can start feeling all sorts of feels and it can get a little uncomfortable"; "I have been thinking about belonging. And how... nothing strengthens your sense of identity and belonging like school performances"; "In the Church assembly today I didn’t say ‘amen’, because I didn’t agree when they mentioned Jesus. But who is right?”; and "And maybe it is only when we securely belong to our cultures that we can truly appreciate what other cultures and peoples bring to the world." Each one priceless in it's own way. Seriously.
I so love this and especially for its little gems: "Without a plan, one can start feeling all sorts of feels and it can get a little uncomfortable"; "I have been thinking about belonging. And how... nothing strengthens your sense of identity and belonging like school performances"; "In the Church assembly today I didn’t say ‘amen’, because I didn’t agree when they mentioned Jesus. But who is right?”; and "And maybe it is only when we securely belong to our cultures that we can truly appreciate what other cultures and peoples bring to the world." Each one priceless in it's own way. Seriously.