Dear Jew in the City,
I am 16 and have recently become more observant. I was born conservative, and through volunteering with the Special Needs program at my Chabad and eventually studying and becoming very close with my rebbetzin, I have come to love Judaism and decided to follow it more closely.
The hardest part of it, though, is the rejection I am getting from the weirdest places. My grandmother, who is Jewish herself, told me I should marry a regular Jewish boy, not an orthodox one, and that I should stop hanging around the Chabadniks. My lifeskills teacher, who ironically enough, is supposed to be teaching us about equality, said that the rule that a man shall not lie with a man as he lies with a woman is irrelevant because "the same chapter of the bible says we can't eat shellfish-- so "ya'll going to hell, and we can't shave our beards-- ya'll going to hell". When I was complaining about this to my best friend in the whole world who is a gender-queer young adult with female anatomy, she got defensive and pulled the "women are unclean when they menstruate" card and said that being LGBTQI is much harder than being Jewish. I then proceeded to remind her of the Holocaust, the Inquisition and Pogroms, and she said she didn't want to play the "who is more oppressed game."
This was just today.
I love Judaism. I love my Grandma and my Lifeskills teacher and my best friend, but they won't listen when I explain how different Judaism is than they think. I EVEN SHOWED THEM YOUR VIDEOS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.
How do I continue my relationships while still being as observant as I want? How can I nurture my friendships without going insane?
Sincerely,
JL of Studio City
Continue reading Why Is Everyone Turning Against Me Now That I’m Becoming More (Jewishly) Observant?
Dear Jew in the City,
