‘Wasted page’

I have made no bones about intensely disliking the Noshes column in The Jewish Standard.

It really does not matter in the least as to the Jewishness of the Hollywood crowd at all. Who cares and why?

In my humble opinion (not rabbinic law or authorization) a Jew is an individual born into the Jewish faith who identifies strongly with his roots as a Jew in different ways. It has little to do with the lineage of the father or the mother of such a person. Identification with the Jewish people is number one.

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After this, I would say that someone who is proud to be called a Jew is a Jew – not one who hides under the guise of “I am not very Jewish” or “I am spiritual but not religious.” Both of these statements indicate confusion as to who this individual believes he or she is. It is the curse of shame of some for being Jews.

Thirdly I consider the desire to see the State of Israel (more than the continent of Africa, the European cities, another Carnival Cruise, or a trip to Peru to see Machu Picchu) one of the most telling portions of what a Jew is and represents. It should not be necessary to tell our people how important it is to see with one’s own eyes what this place called Israel really is, to spend time, to see, to learn – to contribute to the economy by simply staying there.

As far as I know, very few of those that are mentioned weekly on what I consider a wasted page in the Standard have anything in the way of belief in Judaism, pride in Judaism, or any desire to identify with the Jewish people. Perhaps Woody Allen, the self-hating one, and others use their “lineage” as a means to an end, simply as a source of jokes. Maybe Barbra Streisand cannot help that huge nose of hers but I do not know of a trip to Israel she has made to contribute to fund-raising for the Jewish state. The others, please leave them to their lovely assimilated lives and their feelings of not being “very Jewish,” for in truth, who wants to know what or who they are?

I am fairly sure they do not care very much. I don’t.