Thursday, April 9, 2009

Kosher Eggs

It's not easy being a mixed-breed. I'm Jewish - since it's passed from the mother - but I'm also partly Christian because 2 of the 3 most important men in my life (my father and my husband) are Christian. I've always celebrated Christmas and Easter as well as all the Jewish Holidays and I feel like that works for me. What doesn't work is that I don't fully belong anywhere because I'm never quite Jewish enough and I'm certainly not remotely Christian enough and, as a result, I kind of linger in a blurry space in between. I like that I'm a link between the 2 and I love that my son will have the option of pursuing my blurry religion or focusing fully on one of the two.
As a Jew in Dublin I'm even more confused. The ROI (that's Republic of Ireland and not Return On Investment in this case) is 99% Catholic and 100% ignorant of what being Jewish means. I feel like I might as well say I'm purple for the degree of understanding I get here when I say I'm Jewish. Oy. This is the same place where, when I asked for a copy of Barbara Walters' autobiography, I was met with the response 'I'll check if we have it - who wrote it?'... Again, oy.
As with pretty much everything in my life, I do it my way - this Jewish thing, parenting, my marriage, my work, life in general - I do it how it suits me and it mostly works. Sometimes I kind of envy the people who have something more prescriptive, more routine to guide them and then I also really don't. The strangest part of the year is now with Pesach and Easter and then the Fast ... A religious binge and purge, if you will.
Anyway, Happy Easter to you all and Chag Sameach to the rest and both to me and MacKenzie.
Enjoy the chocolate eggs (can anyone explain their relevance?) and the matzo (hope you've stocked up on Senakot). That's all.

5 comments:

Henri said...

Cool post. Like your perspective. Although I'm sure the fine folks of East London will disagree with you about it being a small town... :-)

Paris Popcorn said...

i love your blog my darling!!!
oh the good old days in slummies!!! :)
xx

Anonymous said...

Very true! well put!

RedOnHerHead said...

Loving the "oy"!

Tim Atkinson said...

Eggs are actually a traditional pagan spring/fertility symbol hijacked by Christianity in the seventh century. Tell that to the Priest!