Being a proud Jewish young adult has taken the forefront of my personal goals in life; and for several wonderful reasons. Growing up, my Father’s side of the family set the tone of my early Jewish life by being interconnected, supportive, and constantly active. My mother’s side was smaller spread out geographically during my childhood, therefore most Jewish event ran through the proximate and extraordinarily numerous extended family on my father’s side. We have done everything together including the high holidays, shabbat dinner every single week, and visits to shul. It was always the best time being with my cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents, but its significance wasn’t stationary. As a child, the importance of these events and traditions were learned but never fully understood.
When I went off to college, my entire scope of Jewish learning and ambition took off. Instead of living relatively far from our shul at home, the Hillel building and Chabad house were right across the street from me. Gradually, I felt right at home with the Jewish community in both houses. While they were different, they shared a beautiful culture of togetherness and love for Judaism. At home, Jewish values were handed to me and surrounded me without any effort on my part. However, at college, I found out that I needed to actively seek it. Making the effort to involve myself and translate my home customs into my college life was a fun and exciting new chapter. What resulted was a positive feedback loop of involvement and student leadership in both Chabad and Hillel; an increase in attendance meant an increase in connections with students and adults, a stronger connection to G-d and the ideals of Judaism, and a stronger connection to myself.
That right there is what being Jewish means to me. There isn’t a clear cut definition, and everyone has their own way of extrapolating it, but I’ve developed a general doctrine: it’s a connective force that is limitless in its potential. Mentally, physically, and socially: the more one commits to it, the more blessing they notice. Over the past year and a half, I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Israel. I was donated a pair of tefillin, I now celebrate the lesser known Jewish Holidays that I never used to do as a child. Each of these recent occurrences I never thought would have been possible, but were a result of good faith and honoring the many traditions of Judaism. The interconnectedness and mutual support among its followers are what makes this culture so special to me, and it continuously augments my pride as a Jew every single day.
