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?