even a secret agent can't lie to a Jewish mother.

The conversation goes something like this:

Them: Your skin is so pretty, what ethnicity are you?

Me: (Because I get my olive complexion from my Dad, I usually respond with,) I’m ½ Jewish.

Them: But that’s a religion, not an ethnicity.

Me: Oh, yeah...

Ever since I was little, I’ve never really known how to answer this question about myself. It always ended in confusion for everyone involved. The question, as it applies to me and my ethnicity, does not seem very straightforward. It is complicated by the fact that my father is of full Jewish ancestry.

I’ve decided to write out my thoughts on the subject as an effort to a) explain why I claim to be Jewish and b) figure out if I am justified in making such a claim.

I was not raised Jewish, nor do I practice it. I don’t consider myself super knowledgeable or anything like that. However, I still enjoy learning about it. And I consider it a strong part of my background and genealogy.

In an attempt to make this easier for everyone, I think it is very important to recognize that Judaism does not fit easily into the conventional Western categories of religion, ethnicity, or culture that we were brought up with. This in part reflects the fact that most of Judaism's 4,000-year history predates the rise of Western culture. So, for the time being, let us view Jewish-ness from a more universal lens and forgo our culturally constructed views about it, shall we?

As I understand it, Jew is a term used to denote both followers of a religion and members of an ethnicity. In a religious sense, the term refers to followers of Judaism whether they are ethnically Jewish or not. That is, a person can be white, black, Asian, Hispanic and be Jewish.

In an ethnic sense, though, it refers to those who trace their ancestry from the ancient patriarch Abraham through his son Isaac. Ethnic Jews include those who identify themselves as Jews in a cultural or ethnic sense. The bottom line is that part of my family descended from ethnic Jews, so I'm Jewish whether or not I practice Judaism.

So, the way I see it is this: Judaism/Jewish is very ambiguous, because there isn't a separate word to differentiate between religion and one's culture/background. Some Jews do not see themselves as ethnic Jews, but do follow Judaism. Others see themselves as ethnic Jews, but don't follow Judaism. They each hold water. Neither is more or less legitimized than the others. It just depends.

I feel incredibly lucky that I was raised to appreciate my Jewish ancestry. My dad was born and raised an Ashkenazic Jew. He always made a point to have us celebrate Hannukah and learn about his heritage. And let me tell you, my dad is such a Jew. Not only does he sport a Borat moustache, he can read in Hebrew from the Torrah (though he’s a bit rusty… his Bat Mitzvah was quite some time ago). I’ve seen videos of him celebrating Passover as a teen. And when I was a kid, he’d even sing the candle lighting song to us while we stood around the table and lit the menorah. It went something like this, Borukh Ato Adoynoy la la la. One of my favorite memories of my childhood was receiving the huge parcel from my grandparents in Chicago. They’d send all of our gifts individually wrapped within a huge box. It was awesome.

So... in conclusion, even though I don't practice the religion, I don't believe in the principles of Judaism and I don't obey the laws of the Torrah, I am Jewish.