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 Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:24 pm
No, but we all have horns and big noses!!
J/K ... don't flame me please. sweatdrop
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Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:28 pm
Divash TunaSandwitch I'm not sure if this is part of this topic, but I'll post it anyway.
Last Purim I went to shul. I'm not religious, but I keep kosher, the holidays, and a few more things. Anyway, a religious Jewish girl comes up to me. She looked about eight years old. This is how our coversation went:
Little Girl: Are you Christian?
Me: Uh...No. I'm Jewish.
Little Girl: Well, you don't really look Jewish. Are you sure?
That actually hurt my feelings. I was dressed modestly (tznias). I was wearing a black and purple sweater, black skirt, and boots. My face looks Jewish - I have a small hooked nose, and big sad eyes.
I was upset the entire Purim. I'm a convert. I have blue eyes, pale skin, red hair (well, now it's just red eyebrows, since I cover my hair now), and a tiny little embarrassment of a nose, not a real nose at all. I don't look Jewish, and I hear about that fact every time I go into a synagogue, including my own synagogue which I've attended for five years, and the one I attended before, which I attended for three years. When people say "You don't look Jewish," or at least when adults say it, what they're really trying to ask is whether you're a convert, a prospective convert, or if you're a Christian who's come there to proselytize. But halachah forbids asking if someone is a convert in order not to embarrass them, so they can't just ask straight-up. They have to make a leading statement and then hope that you'll feel you have to explain yourself to them. I don't play that game anymore, though I used to do so, trustingly. Now I just smile and say, "I get that a lot, and I'm never sure how to respond. I guess being Jewish is about something more than what shows up on my face, eh?" Usually that ends the conversation. I'm sorry you had that experience, Tuna, but in a way I'm glad when those who are born Jewish and who do "look Jewish" have the experience, once or twice in their lives, that I have had every time I've walked into a synagogue for the past ten years. Next time someone in here thinks about saying to someone else, "You don't look Jewish," please think again, and keep the statement and the implications to yourself. It hurts, to be singled out as not being really a part of mishpachat Yisrael (the family of Israel). It's like walking into a family reunion and pointing out the kid who is adopted. You may not mean anything by it, but I guarantee you, the adopted kid burns inside.
Oh, and Divash, I know what you mean about the "leading questions". I already know never to tell anyone Jewish my last name unless I know them well enough to be comfortable with them knowing I'm a convert. (This is stupid, since you can be an ethnic Jew with the last name "Mitchell", all that means is that your Dad's name is Mitchell. Your mother could be Rosenberg or Cohen or whatever for all they know.) I made the mistake of telling this one Lubavitch rebbe know my full name, and he freaked out at me because he immediately concluded from that that I was not Jewish. But I let it go because he was the rabbi to a DP camp after the war, so he's inclined to be paranoid around gentiles.
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:17 am
roothands No, but we all have horns and big noses!!
J/K ... don't flame me please. sweatdrop Jews don't flame ninja (accept on hannuka).
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:20 am
ZonkotheSane kingpinsqeezels ZonkotheSane kingpinsqeezels ZonkotheSane they're mad at you? they have no right. You're completely right. If you're going to be stupid, you're going to except your consequences. of course. but i don't plan on being stupid You...stupid?! Never. xd We'll leave that for me. there are different kinds of stupid and you qualify for...? wink
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:04 pm
roothands Divash, I know what you mean about the "leading questions". I already know never to tell anyone Jewish my last name unless I know them well enough to be comfortable with them knowing I'm a convert. (This is stupid, since you can be an ethnic Jew with the last name "Mitchell", all that means is that your Dad's name is Mitchell. Your mother could be Rosenberg or Cohen or whatever for all they know.) I made the mistake of telling this one Lubavitch rebbe know my full name, and he freaked out at me because he immediately concluded from that that I was not Jewish. But I let it go because he was the rabbi to a DP camp after the war, so he's inclined to be paranoid around gentiles. Interestingly enough, Cohen isn't only a Jewish name. It's also an Irish name, and pronounced "coin." Sometimes they alter the spelling to Coyne when coming to North America, but not always. I know Jews with surnames from Chinese, Sanskrit, Scottish, German (like Rosenberg, which is German for Rose Mountain), Russian, Greek, various African languages, Arabic, French, Italian (including the granddaughter of a famous Italian boxer)... Name a nationality, and there are Jews that have names that belong there. If anyone gives you a raft of grief about your surname, you tell them that Mitchell is a Jewish name because there's a Jew who has that name. Just like Miller, which is another English name, and the third most common Jewish surname in North America.
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:40 am
nathan_ngl roothands No, but we all have horns and big noses!!
J/K ... don't flame me please. sweatdrop Jews don't flame ninja (accept on hannuka). "jews don't flame jews" we need that in hebrew, and on a banner. t-shirts would also be nice.
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:44 am
Divash Interestingly enough, Cohen isn't only a Jewish name. It's also an Irish name, and pronounced "coin." Sometimes they alter the spelling to Coyne when coming to North America, but not always. I know Jews with surnames from Chinese, Sanskrit, Scottish, German (like Rosenberg, which is German for Rose Mountain), Russian, Greek, various African languages, Arabic, French, Italian (including the granddaughter of a famous Italian boxer)... Name a nationality, and there are Jews that have names that belong there. If anyone gives you a raft of grief about your surname, you tell them that Mitchell is a Jewish name because there's a Jew who has that name. Just like Miller, which is another English name, and the third most common Jewish surname in North America. meh. surnames are from and for the goyim. i go by yoni kamensky, but where it counts, i'm yonatan benyamin ben yehoshua dov. yeah, y'all be googlin' me now
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 1:53 pm
ZonkotheSane meh. surnames are from and for the goyim. i go by yoni kamensky, but where it counts, i'm yonatan benyamin ben yehoshua dov. yeah, y'all be googlin' me nowYes, because I'm such a stalker. rolleyes blaugh And one of these days, we should make a guild t-shirt IRL. xp
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darkphoenix1247 Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:48 pm
darkphoenix1247 ZonkotheSane meh. surnames are from and for the goyim. i go by yoni kamensky, but where it counts, i'm yonatan benyamin ben yehoshua dov. yeah, y'all be googlin' me nowYes, because I'm such a stalker. rolleyes blaugh And one of these days, we should make a guild t-shirt IRL. xp That would rock so hardcore. Yes...I agree we make such tshirts.
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:51 pm
kingpinsqeezels darkphoenix1247 ZonkotheSane meh. surnames are from and for the goyim. i go by yoni kamensky, but where it counts, i'm yonatan benyamin ben yehoshua dov. yeah, y'all be googlin' me nowYes, because I'm such a stalker. rolleyes blaugh And one of these days, we should make a guild t-shirt IRL. xp That would rock so hardcore. Yes...I agree we make such tshirts. "jews don't flame jews"
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:58 pm
Its Happy Line Woah, first time I ever made a topic on Gaia. anyways, yesterday at school some kid was picking on a friend of mine saying she has a big head. I stood up for her, and told the kid to shut up. The next thing that came out of his mouth stunned me. He looked at me than at my friend, that asked my friend if she is Jewish, before she could answer he said the thing that really pissed me off. He asked, "Do all Jewish kids have big heads?" I was getting ready to knock him out. But instead I told him to shut up, and to stop being a retard. Has this ever happend to you? I've been asked if all jews are tall (like me). But I suppose that wasn't really that racist...more that they were stupid. rolleyes
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 3:05 pm
Silverah A lot of people at school give me grief about keeping kosher. I'd rather avoid the 20-minute explanation of why I don't eat pig or other meat in the school cafeteria or when I go eat somewhere with them, so I just say I'm a vegitarian. Which works in my favor, since the school administration won't bend over backwards so Jewish kids have something to eat at the A-B honor roll luncheon but will for vegitarians. *shrug* And I beat up anyone who uses "Jew" as an insult. Ha ha sounds alot like me...I pretend to be vegitarian as well...glad I'm not the only one. Only difference, is that in Australia you have to pack your own lunches so thay might get confused if I come to school with meat on my sandwhich. rofl
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 3:35 pm
ZonkotheSane nathan_ngl roothands No, but we all have horns and big noses!!
J/K ... don't flame me please. sweatdrop Jews don't flame ninja (accept on hannuka). "jews don't flame jews" we need that in hebrew, and on a banner. t-shirts would also be nice. I'm willing to do a banner, but as for shirts? sweatdrop
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 3:38 pm
nathan_ngl ZonkotheSane nathan_ngl roothands No, but we all have horns and big noses!!
J/K ... don't flame me please. sweatdrop Jews don't flame ninja (accept on hannuka). "jews don't flame jews" we need that in hebrew, and on a banner. t-shirts would also be nice. I'm willing to do a banner, but as for shirts? sweatdrop i'm thinking orange also 3nodding
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darkphoenix1247 Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:26 pm
nathan_ngl ZonkotheSane nathan_ngl roothands No, but we all have horns and big noses!!
J/K ... don't flame me please. sweatdrop Jews don't flame ninja (accept on hannuka). "jews don't flame jews" we need that in hebrew, and on a banner. t-shirts would also be nice. I'm willing to do a banner, but as for shirts? sweatdrop I mean people make their own shirts individually in reality, and we can all have like Hopsiah or something on it. xp WAH! I hate orange! blaugh
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