r/JewsOfConscience • u/DeadRat__ Jewish Anti-Zionist • 24d ago
Discussion - Flaired Users Only problems with jewish identity
i was not raised as a jew. my great-grandmother was jewish, but she was forced to convert to catholicism in order to marry my great-grandfather. after discovering this, i began to study judaism and felt extremely comfortable and happy with the religion, and began to contact my local synagogue for conversion. problem is: i didn't like the people that ran the local synagogue. i didn't felt welcomed for who i am and what i belive, they are staunch zionists.
there is no other synagogue in the city (i live in a small state capital in brazil).
i don't know what to do. I wasn't raised jewish, but fell in love with the religion and began to study the Halakah and observe the mitzvot.
i don't like to call myself a jew because i never did my formal conversion, but i don't feel like anything else.
what am i?
3
u/auggie_sochalski Jewish Democratic-Socialist 19d ago
So, hi. Fellow Brazilian jew here (vou colocar as coisas em inglês pro resto do povo entender. E aqui, de qual cidade você é? Se bobear da pra arranjar algo) So yeah, first of all: is that your maternal grandmother? Because if it is, it doesn't matter, you are a jew. A similar thing happened to me throughout my life, but with my mother trying to give me a jewish name (I was supposed to be named David) and raise me in a jewish school; my godmother tried her best to prevent it, being afraid of what antisemitism could do to me. My father was a non religious jew and my grandmother was an atheist, so nobody cared. It was only later that I discovered all of that, and jumped right into the religion (keeping the shabat, consulting with rabbis, praying, etc.). Don't be afraid to answer your calling. Don't be afraid to question your pears. There are a lot of good people here to help you. And hey, we live in the same country, so don't be afraid to contact me either!
Muita paz, Baruch H'shem!