My secularly (“culturally”?) Jewish former supervisor just came by my office to tease me affectionately about my music. He said, “You know you’ll have to listen to something else after you convert, right? I don’t think they let Jews listen to country music.” We were cracking up together for a good minute.
What this made me think of is how I don’t share the same cultural background as born-Jews. I share the same destiny and a communal history, and my family will share the traditions and the faith and the community, but I have a whole personal cultural background of my own that will still be part of who I am. I will not blend so easily within my community, and will not stand out so easily outside of my community. This is such an interesting facet of what Jews-by-choice bring to Judaism that I hadn’t put much thought into before.
There is a sad hole tonight where my Intro to Judaism class used to be, and I so wish I could bring this back to the other converts to discuss!
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