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Suddenly Jewish : Jews Raised As Gentiles Discover Their Jewish Roots by Barbara
Kessel (Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and
Life)
Reviewed by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein
Book Review
Imagine waking up one morning to find out that everything you
thought you were, you aren't: white, or female, or American; imagine
your mother telling you on her deathbed that, actually, you were
adopted. Now imagine the tremendous identity anxiety that would
provoke.
The stories in Suddenly Jewish are just that: people who found
out that they were Jewish, either by accident or after serious
investigation. People who had been raised as good Christians,
or as some secular version of that, suddenly understanding why
their grandmother always ate matzah in the spring or why a certain
uncle was "different."
The book has fascinating stories from children of Holocaust survivors
who hid their Jewish identities after the war, as well as Jewish
children who were hidden and raised by Christians during the Holocaust
but didn't know their birth parents; from people who traced their
Jewish ancestry back to the Spanish Inquisition, and from adopted
children in non-Jewish homes who found out their birth parents
had been Jewish. The stories are told in first person, making
the reader have a real sense of intimacy with the expereince.
The author found these stories through web sites dedicated to
conversion and through ads in various papers. Not all the "sudden
Jews" she found were happy with their discovery. Some converted
back to Judaism at great personal cost, including alienation from
their non-Jewish families. Others just live with this new knowledge
and try and understand it. Many were angry at the silence and
deception of the hiding, while some clearly understood and empathized
with their parents or grandparents decision.
Suddenly Jewish is a worthwhile read, easy and accessible. It
doesn't try and preach any definition of what being Jewish means
to the reader, but it does raise serious questions as to the nature
of Jewish identity. Is being Jewish something you get at birth,
even if you didn't know it then, or is it something you get through
exposure, education, and experience? Is "being" Jewish an existential
reality, or is it only real when lived? The stories in Suddenly
Jewish are great discussion starters for such questions.
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