OK, so I was trying to figure out exactly what about being raised Jewish is really a part of my identity. When I think about my sense of self, what parts of "me" do I actually associate with Jewishness, in general? It just seemed a natural way to connect with people when I was living in NYC. The sense of humour, the intonations with a slight Yiddish bent, the constant looking for a bargain ;)
But I think perhaps I should start back a bit further...
First of all, my maiden name is Rosen. Which is like the Jewish version of Smith. And I never really thought about that growing up in Miami, FL, because really, there was a little bit of everything. My graduating class was about 800 people, and a total melting pot. I was a debate geek, as were most of my friends: Jewish, Hispanic, Asian, African-American, and of course, the average white kid mixed in for fun. The common factor being that we were, for the most part, in Honors and AP classes, and we all liked getting out of school to go to competitions (we were a nationally renowned team, which was pretty awesome). Then in college (Syracuse), same thing. Mixture of friends, different backgrounds, but religion never really came into it, beyond the late-night philosophy sessions...
And then I decided to go to graduate school in Iowa City, IA. Suddenly, being Jewish was a rarity. Imagine my surprise at realizing that I was the first Jewish person that my best buddy, Monica, had ever met! She was very curious, and I realized I had to step it up a little in order to answer her questions. My thesis advisor was an MOT as well, but I think we were the only ones. Granted, I really only knew our small department, and the few people I met outside of classes like my housemates...
My first real eye-opener: I was doing my hours in the hearing clinic. Back before digital hearing aids, we would have a chance, as a university clinic, to test patients with 3 or 4 different types of hearing aids to see which ones they did best with. So I was working with this older gentleman, and Monica was across the room with a different patient. After about 90 minutes with the man, we started going over his results and talking about which hearing aids would be best for him. His off-the-cuff remark to me, " Wow, they really try to Jew ya with the prices of these hearing aids".
Whoa.
He wasn't trying to be an ass, I don't think. Though it seemed apparent to ME, wearing my last name on my nametag, I suppose it was just common discourse. Monica ran over to me after he was gone asking if I was OK...and admitted that she'd used the term growing up, just because she never knew it applied to real people, it was just the phrase she learned. Which I think was pretty big of her to own up to...
The other odd thing was when one of my professors gave me a hard time about switching a group project due date as it fell on Yom Kippur weekend. I just remember her asking the class with exasperation, " Does anyone else have a problem with this date?"....ummm....no....I am the only Jew here...
Generally speaking, Iowa City was a liberal haven in the midwest, but it really was the first time I'd felt my Jewishness as something a bit, well, extraordinary, I suppose. It really made me think about how I identified myself. There's a bit of pride, I think, at being a part of a people/culture who have been persecuted for so long by so many. You know that Tom Lehrer song National Brotherhood Week?(you can listen to it here if you don't know it...), "...And everybody hates the Jews"...There's something in my identity with that fatalistic, self-depricating sense of humour, and this was really the first time that I wasn't surrounded by more of the same...
No comments:
Post a Comment