Spirituality

My relationship with spirituality and religion is a complicated one. To start with, I was born and raised in an interfaith household. My father was raised Jewish and my mother raised Catholic.

When it comes down to it, neither one of them was particularly religious. My mother really only went to church as an afterthought, and I have no idea when the last time my father went to temple was. We celebrated a handful of holidays from each faith, mostly as an excuse to celebrate together. Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, Passover, et cetera.

I can honestly say that I never felt that much of a connection to either of my family's religions. Throughout most of my life I have identified myself as agnostic.

As time passes and I get older, though, I find myself wanting to connect more with my cultural identity. Christianity is everywhere, being a majority cultural group in America Christian and Christianized symbols are pervasive, not that that's necessarily a bad thing. But given that, I felt that I should connect more with my cultural identity as a Jew first. And in my time in college, I have tried and succeeded in doing that. I don't (and sometimes can't) do some of the more strict religious observances, but I have sat with Jewish friends of mine for Shabbat, discussing all sorts of things and cracking jokes by candlelight. I have attended temple for the first time in my own memory, and it was beautiful. I have deep, rich discussions about Jewish culture and scripture and how they inter-relate even in the absence of absolute faith in God. I've even started learning Yiddish, the nearly-dead language of the Jewish diaspora in Europe, a language some of my ancestors spoke.

It's been a deeply satisfying experience. Even without a definite faith, even as I continue to call myself agnostic since I am unsure exactly what my fluctuating faith in a higher power might be defined as, connecting with such a rich and colorful culture through the lens of faith is something I will never regret.