I preface this by saying that I am an only child and that I grew up in a rural, small, midwestern town. I was raised [very] loosely Protestant, and didn't meet a Jewish person (to my knowledge) until I was 25.
When I was a kid, probably 11 or 12, I had a very realistic, vivid dream. My brother and I were helping our mother prepare for Passover Seder. In the dream, I was a few years younger, and my brother was probably a few years older than I was. We were trying to one-up each other for some reason, and I was furious and jealous because our mother chose him to get her special plates out of the cabinet. I was determined that I was going to get the Seder Plate from the cabinet, but when I looked for it, it wasn't there. In the corner of the same room, there was a wood stove and I noticed that the silver plate was sitting right there. Triumphant, I grabbed the plate with both hands and immediately cried out in pain, dropping the plate and causing it to be dented.
My mother came running into the room and immediately was scolding me about the plate, until she saw my hands. There, burned into the fleshy palms was the backwards inscription from the plate... it was writing and I knew it was a prayer, though I don't know what it said.
I was crying and bemoaning the fact that my hands hurt so much and that my brother was getting to set the table, and some other gripes. My mother took me by my shoulders, looked me square in the eyes and said "Think of all the times you don't want to *have* to set the table, and think of how lucky you are that today, when your hands are burned, your wonderful brother is willing to set the table so you don't *have* to."
Something about the whole experience stuck with me. Because of what was burned into my hands, I wanted to learn foreign languages. I've since studied practically everything *but* Hebrew, but that dream is what spurred my interest. I asked my mom what a Seder was, and she told me it was a devilish goat... so I thought my dream had no meaning.
All of that is creepy on its own, but then my first year of college, I took a world religions course. The first day of class, the instructor had us take an informal quiz, to determine where our beliefs actually put us. The first question asked what we identified our religion as. It went on to ask questions such as what one really believes about Jesus, about social programs, about inter-racial marriages, about just a whole slew of things that one wouldn't necessarily associate with being related to religious doctrine at all.
We were then given another worksheet to 'grade' ourselves, based on our responses. It was similar to the 'tests' found in magazines that tell you if you're a Type A personality or if you're too much of a wallflower at parties. Basically, it told me that I fell well into the category of what is commonly associated with Jewish beliefs, followed by Unitarian Universalism.
Something about Judaism has always resonated with me, and having had no exposure to it as a child, I'm not sure where it comes from.
One sort of anciallary and very pretty belief of Judaism is that there's not really any such thing as a convert; just people who were born with "Jewish souls." Maybe that's you.
When I was a kid, probably 11 or 12, I had a very realistic, vivid dream. My brother and I were helping our mother prepare for Passover Seder. In the dream, I was a few years younger, and my brother was probably a few years older than I was. We were trying to one-up each other for some reason, and I was furious and jealous because our mother chose him to get her special plates out of the cabinet. I was determined that I was going to get the Seder Plate from the cabinet, but when I looked for it, it wasn't there. In the corner of the same room, there was a wood stove and I noticed that the silver plate was sitting right there. Triumphant, I grabbed the plate with both hands and immediately cried out in pain, dropping the plate and causing it to be dented.
My mother came running into the room and immediately was scolding me about the plate, until she saw my hands. There, burned into the fleshy palms was the backwards inscription from the plate... it was writing and I knew it was a prayer, though I don't know what it said.
I was crying and bemoaning the fact that my hands hurt so much and that my brother was getting to set the table, and some other gripes. My mother took me by my shoulders, looked me square in the eyes and said "Think of all the times you don't want to *have* to set the table, and think of how lucky you are that today, when your hands are burned, your wonderful brother is willing to set the table so you don't *have* to."
Something about the whole experience stuck with me. Because of what was burned into my hands, I wanted to learn foreign languages. I've since studied practically everything *but* Hebrew, but that dream is what spurred my interest. I asked my mom what a Seder was, and she told me it was a devilish goat... so I thought my dream had no meaning.
All of that is creepy on its own, but then my first year of college, I took a world religions course. The first day of class, the instructor had us take an informal quiz, to determine where our beliefs actually put us. The first question asked what we identified our religion as. It went on to ask questions such as what one really believes about Jesus, about social programs, about inter-racial marriages, about just a whole slew of things that one wouldn't necessarily associate with being related to religious doctrine at all.
We were then given another worksheet to 'grade' ourselves, based on our responses. It was similar to the 'tests' found in magazines that tell you if you're a Type A personality or if you're too much of a wallflower at parties. Basically, it told me that I fell well into the category of what is commonly associated with Jewish beliefs, followed by Unitarian Universalism.
Something about Judaism has always resonated with me, and having had no exposure to it as a child, I'm not sure where it comes from.
Reply
One sort of anciallary and very pretty belief of Judaism is that there's not really any such thing as a convert; just people who were born with "Jewish souls." Maybe that's you.
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
i'll change mine to they_say_jew
Reply
Jew-cy.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment