#(etc. etc.) – @izzyizumi on Tumblr

Anonymous asked:

I saw you answered an ask about cultural vs. religious identification, and I wanted to say that I've been struggling with the same thing, but in a different way. I'm a Korean adoptee with Jewish parents, so technically I'm not cultural and I feel like the only way I can keep calling myself Jewish is if I commit myself to the religion, which has been very stressful because I'm not sure I believe in it all. How/can I maintain my Jewishness?

antisemisogyny321 answered:

My understanding is that if you were adopted before 13 and were raised Jewish, then you’re considered by most to be a Jew. I’m not sure how this applies if you don’t practice Judaism as a religion.

Anyone input from someone who is either also an adoptee or just knows a lot about the subject?

I’m a transethnic adoptee (declared Jewish as an infant) and was culturally Jewish for the majority of my teens and 20s, but not religious.

If your parents are Jewish, you are Jewish. It doesn’t matter if your parents are your parents by biology or by adoption.

There will be some Jews who will not accept you, because they are too beholden to their ideas of normativity (the same as Jews who will never accept patrilineal Jews absent a conversion). They are people who refuse to shift their ideas and relinquish normativity while at the same time refusing to acknowledge and realize that those concepts actually affect and hurt individuals. They are hurting the very community of which they profess to be “guardians.” But to me and to others you are Jewish no matter your religious views or absence thereof.

While I am not a transracial adoptee and do not pretend to understand exactly what that experience is like, I am a transethnic adoptee and would be more than happy to be a sounding board for the anon if they are in need!

#non fandom #jewishness #jewish issues #jewish ethnicity #jewish intracommunity issues #patrilineal jews #adopted jews #non biological jews #culturally jewish #non observant jews #(all related as well)#(btw they're not talking about 'that' kind of transracial and transethnic)#(they're talking about people of a different ethnicity being adopted by Jewish parents)#(it's a confusing topic yeah)#(but it's not 'that' kind)#jewish psa #(but yeah like for example the Korean asker being adopted by Jewish parents)#(etc. etc.)#(like even at the absolute least I was definitely 'culturally Jewish' during my entire childhood)#(and into my later years as well tbh)#(but I became very conflicted for a long while)#(because there was SO much conflicting information)#(both given to me in real life and on the earlier internet and pre 2016 tumblr)#(that made me seriously reconsider if I had that right to keep calling myself 'Jewish')#(anyhow yeah 'It doesn’t matter if your parents are your parents by biology or by adoption')#(anyhow this is an older post so if you're not Jewish please don't interact but 'liking' might be ok)#(but yeah this is specifically a Jewish issue and intracommunity discussion)#(reblogging mainly for references and also AGREED)