Via Eszter Hargittai (and please ignore the attached discussion--what is wrong with some people?), I learn that today is the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the first Jews in the New World. (In New Amsterdam, anyway.) Jonathan Edelstein, the Head Heeb, is sponsoring a blogburst for Arrival Day.
I'd never heard of this day before, but I think it's a fantastic idea. I've always thought of myself as not just a Jew but an American Jew. I mean, not just a Jew and an American, but a Jew from a place where I can be fully Jewish and fully a member of this nation, without aspiring to make the nation Jewish.* A melting pot, if you will. Here we can be a people without being a nation, and that's something important to be celebrated.
And that I hope will be celebrated in the future--where's the damn party?
For more profound reflections, I agree with pretty much everything Rachel Barenblat (the Velveteen Rabbi) says here.
*I don't mean to suggest that that couldn't be achieved anywhere else--I've never lived in any other country, so I don't know.
Posted by Matt Weiner at September 7, 2004 02:05 PMNice thoughts. And I agree, WHERE is the party??:-)
Posted by: eszter at September 7, 2004 02:08 PMI suppose we have 365 days to plan for next year's party... (realistically I should count from the time when I know where I'll be living next year, or maybe when I, um, arrive.)
Posted by: Matt Weiner at September 7, 2004 02:14 PMThanks for the kind words and the link!
Posted by: Rachel at September 7, 2004 03:09 PM