I was very moved by your story. I’m totally ashkenazi jewish, but we observed Thanksgiving, Christmas and Passover. My granny was religious all by herself. She lit candles for the Sabbath. She came to US before 1900. She was the only religious person in the family. My father was more socialist than Jew. He brought my sister and me up as Americans. But, living in Manhattan we were quite jewish in the food we ate, the friends we found, and the Yiddish that was spoken now and again by the family. My father wanted above all to be assimilated. I always wanted to know what it was to be raised jewish in America. My husband’s family has shown how it’s done. Especially his mother, who wrote a jewish history of Saratoga Springs NY that has a special room in the Saratoga Springs library. She was a truly admirable, warm and loving person who I adored.
I was very moved by your story. I’m totally ashkenazi jewish, but we observed Thanksgiving, Christmas and Passover. My granny was religious all by herself. She lit candles for the Sabbath. She came to US before 1900. She was the only religious person in the family. My father was more socialist than Jew. He brought my sister and me up as Americans. But, living in Manhattan we were quite jewish in the food we ate, the friends we found, and the Yiddish that was spoken now and again by the family. My father wanted above all to be assimilated. I always wanted to know what it was to be raised jewish in America. My husband’s family has shown how it’s done. Especially his mother, who wrote a jewish history of Saratoga Springs NY that has a special room in the Saratoga Springs library. She was a truly admirable, warm and loving person who I adored.