a sense of continuity, of connection to a broad purpose, being a collaborator in a multi-generational project; this is what gives life meaning. those of us lucky enough to be endowed w/ an ancestral culture & corresponding set of values have a responsibility to contribute back
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RT @margaritaevna95
The more I study the ancient history of my heritage, the stronger I feel being connected to such formidable people, and the more resp…
https://twitter.com/margaritaevna95/status/1398489878262845440
being secular jew, i have a somewhat complex relationship w/ my ancestral legacy. I greatly value the cultural aspects, lessons of history, values, emphasis on education & personal responsibility; but not so much the vehicle historically used to propagate this culture, ie Judaism
this puts me in the odd position of having to pick & choose which aspects of my heritage i focus on & propagate further; a religion is a rather effective carrier for culture/values, possessing rituals meant for this purpose. being an atheist however, I can't just adopt them as is
myself & those like me face a peculiar challenge; how to update ancestral traditions to fit into a modern context, such that they can be practiced wholeheartedly?
the standard answer is to just go thru the motions, or not practice at all. but this leads to cultural whitewashing
considering my various misgivings with the contemporary American overculture, personally, I'd rather not adopt it wholesale, & instead transmit something worth holding yourself apart from it for to my kids. no Wonderbread & soda in my household.
it's worth getting bullied over.
chances are, as I grow older, I'm going to become that tedious overly serious dad boring everyone w/ the dramatic retelling of the escape from Egypt, the shoah, etc. some part of me recoils at the level of sincerity required for this, but biting that bullet is par for the course
as much as I remember being deeply bored with these rituals as a kid, and cringing at their drama, I would be remiss to let those emotions determine my actions going forward; i got a lot of value out of those retellings, even if I didn't appreciate it at the time.
I guess its going to fall to me to actually study our history more seriously so that I'm able to do a halfway decent job of this; I wonder if there are any courses available for How To Bore Everyone At The Table By Being Very Jewish
bet many in my generation would appreciate one
although, to be fair, i may be being a bit too autistic about this; I'm certainly not the first person to think about nor address this problem. many other secular Jewish families practice in this way by observing the holidays, retelling our history w/o the supernatural overlay