Katie’s Korner: Despise no man, and deem nothing impossible
Saturday morning I woke up, and I was suddenly one year older. I had gone to sleep as a 28-year-old and woke up as a 29-year-old. I spent the day checking my phone, receiving birthday text messages, Facebook posts, and calls from friends and family. As I was going through Facebook I saw the first post: “4 People Being Held Hostage in a Synagogue in Colleyville Texas”. My heart froze – four people in my community were being held hostage while I was celebrating my birthday? I spent the rest of the night checking my phone, calling friends and family, and checking to make sure they were okay.
Fast forward to Thursday, January 20, and I was preparing to confirm my Judaism. I had spent months working with a Rabbi who confirmed that just because my father was Jewish and my mother was not Jewish, did not mean I was not Jewish. But I wanted something concrete. I wanted something to confirm for the world that I was indeed Jewish, despite going to Israel, leading trips to Israel, working for Jewish organizations, and living Jewishly most of my life. I sat in my living room speaking to my Beit Din. One question I received from my Beit Din stood out -- Is there any hesitation going through this process of affirming my Judaism, especially after what happened in Colleyville?.
While I took a second to pause, I spoke honestly and from the heart. I was choosing to affirm my Judaism for everyone and stand proudly as a Jewish woman, but I could assimilate back into a non-Jewish world. I have no outward signs that I am Jewish, and growing up in a multifaith family had shown me it is easy to live with no religion. However, I would not be doing that; I would forever stand with my Jewish community; what had happened in Colleyville, of course, made me pause, but it was not a stop.
While what happened in Colleyville has given us a moment of pause. We continue forward, despite the fear. We create policies to keep us safe; we attend training to prepare ourselves. We continue to stand proud to be Jewish because that is what the Jewish people have been doing for thousands of years. We will continue to stand proud until the day comes when we do not have to be afraid to say we are Jewish, we hope to inspire allies to take up this cause with us, as this work will not be completed until we all work together to stop antisemitism.
