I remember sitting in a World History class in highschool when we were doing a section about organized religion. We were talking about the five major religion. I grew up near Fabric Row in Philadelphia. Historically this part of town is very Jewish. In the early days of the 20th century, Fabric Row was part of a very large marketplace that was primarily run by Jewish families. Today there is still a highly concentrated Jewish population there. When I started school at 5, I was introduced to the kids of the neighborhood...who were mostly Jewish. As I got older, this didn't particularly change. I was among them. My mother's entire family is Russian Jew. My father, I suppose, would be Catholic if only because his father was 100% Italian and in his words, "When you're Italian, you're just Roman Catholic...it doesn't really mean anything". So, I'm half Jewish, but the "right" half to become a citizen of Israel, if I so desired...and also to avoid "Shiksa" status, if you care about such things. This was basically the case with all of my friends. In addition, very few of the Jews I knew were particularly religious. They participated in rituals and went through their bar/batmitvahs, but no one seemed to actually care about "God" itself. None of them prayed as far as I knew. The most I heard anyone talk about religion is when they were whining about having to eat matzo during Passover.
My Warped History with Religion
My Warped History with Religion
My Warped History with Religion
I remember sitting in a World History class in highschool when we were doing a section about organized religion. We were talking about the five major religion. I grew up near Fabric Row in Philadelphia. Historically this part of town is very Jewish. In the early days of the 20th century, Fabric Row was part of a very large marketplace that was primarily run by Jewish families. Today there is still a highly concentrated Jewish population there. When I started school at 5, I was introduced to the kids of the neighborhood...who were mostly Jewish. As I got older, this didn't particularly change. I was among them. My mother's entire family is Russian Jew. My father, I suppose, would be Catholic if only because his father was 100% Italian and in his words, "When you're Italian, you're just Roman Catholic...it doesn't really mean anything". So, I'm half Jewish, but the "right" half to become a citizen of Israel, if I so desired...and also to avoid "Shiksa" status, if you care about such things. This was basically the case with all of my friends. In addition, very few of the Jews I knew were particularly religious. They participated in rituals and went through their bar/batmitvahs, but no one seemed to actually care about "God" itself. None of them prayed as far as I knew. The most I heard anyone talk about religion is when they were whining about having to eat matzo during Passover.