My mother and grandmother both grew up not meeting anyone Jewish outside their families until my grandmother moved to Florida. There really isn't a way to make those connections without meeting and talking to Jewish people, which is really unfair to the people who don't have that opportunity. I was lucky. I had lots of Jewish friends growing up who knew my family history, at least vaguely, and didn't laugh (or at least not meanly) when I asked questions.
What I wish I had, and that I can't recreate, are the versions of the customs that my family had. I can practice Jewish tradition myself, make a tradition for the family that comes after me, but I will be the first in my family to do them this way. This is why I prize so highly the traditions that somehow survived almost completely intact. My family never made a big deal out of Christmas, my mom's family hadn't, and my dad had nasty memories associated with it, but one thing we did do, was every year, my siblings and I got oranges, chocolate coins, and checks from my parents, my grandmother, and her sister, the first of which is a family tradition, and the second and third are Hanukkah gelt repackaged. This is the way my family celebrates this holiday, and I don't have to remake it.
I'm actually putting together just such a list, mostly of YA books. (I may have gotten a little annoyed when I saw that all of the books on the weneeddiversebooks list with Jewish characters were Holocaust novels, and most of them only had Jewish side characters) but anyway, I haven't read most of the books I need to for the list, but I'm getting there. Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine, which is mentioned below is about a Sephardi Jewish boy who sneaks out of his New York orphanage very night and experiences the Harlem Renaissance. The Chosen and The Promise by Chaim Potok are classics about two mid-century American Ashkenazi Jewish boys, one mainstream orthodox, one Hasid, who become friends. I'll have more soon.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2014-06-04 03:35 pm (UTC)What I wish I had, and that I can't recreate, are the versions of the customs that my family had. I can practice Jewish tradition myself, make a tradition for the family that comes after me, but I will be the first in my family to do them this way. This is why I prize so highly the traditions that somehow survived almost completely intact. My family never made a big deal out of Christmas, my mom's family hadn't, and my dad had nasty memories associated with it, but one thing we did do, was every year, my siblings and I got oranges, chocolate coins, and checks from my parents, my grandmother, and her sister, the first of which is a family tradition, and the second and third are Hanukkah gelt repackaged. This is the way my family celebrates this holiday, and I don't have to remake it.
I'm actually putting together just such a list, mostly of YA books. (I may have gotten a little annoyed when I saw that all of the books on the weneeddiversebooks list with Jewish characters were Holocaust novels, and most of them only had Jewish side characters) but anyway, I haven't read most of the books I need to for the list, but I'm getting there. Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine, which is mentioned below is about a Sephardi Jewish boy who sneaks out of his New York orphanage very night and experiences the Harlem Renaissance. The Chosen and The Promise by Chaim Potok are classics about two mid-century American Ashkenazi Jewish boys, one mainstream orthodox, one Hasid, who become friends. I'll have more soon.