When Did We Start Needing Labels? |
This morning I was sitting on my mirpeset with a cup of coffee, replaying a conversation I had with my son the night before.
It started with what seemed like a simple question.
He asked me to compare him and his sister.
They’re each on different religious journeys, and he wanted to know how I saw the differences between them.
I answered as best I could.
Then he asked me something I wasn’t expecting.
Not because I don’t know my son.
Because I wasn’t sure I wanted to answer the question at all.
“I don’t really think that way,” I finally said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“The labels aren’t the problem,” he said. “People judging the labels are.”
But ever since that conversation, another question has been sitting with me.
When did being Jewish stop being enough?
I grew up Modern Orthodox in America. When I first came to Israel at 18 to........