Not a one-way street.
I lied. More posts.
Tonight at dinner, my father shared his opinion. That if you were really raised an Orthodox Jew, you couldn’t help but feel that any other form of Judaism was fraudulent. Since I am really a Reform/Reconstructionist (atheist) Jew[1], it irritates me that my father (raised Orthodox) considers my entire family’s religion fake. (He claimed to be talking about my aunt’s sister-in-law, but he was clearly talking about himself.)
It *does* go both ways. You can be brought up conservative and truly honestly go to ultra-orthodox, or you can be brought up orthodox and truly honestly go somewhere more liberal, and not feel fake. But I’ll never convince him of that.
[1] Is this contradictory? In any case, it’s what I’d call myself.
August 23rd, 2003 at 12:00 am
BODY:
This isn’t really about an argument with my father. Or not entirely. I think it’s in part frustration with much of the more conservative sides of the religion.
I talked to him more about it today in the car. It was only sometimes frustrating.
I get along well with my father, though.
August 28th, 2003 at 1:49 pm
BODY:
Umm. I know nothing of Judaism. But your tone sounds familiar.
At the same time, I can’t really address it. Been a long time since I dealt with father-figures.