die Religionclasse - judaism 101
it's official. my european classmates know nothing about jews. i took the leftover charoset and massive amount of matzah to class today. my teacher asked if this was food for "jewish easter breakfast". i'm sure i gave her a funny look. jews don't have easter, i said. but it's a feast in the spring, and i suppose you could eat it for breakfast. i explained that there was a lot of wine in it.
after that, the danish girl next to me said she didn't think jews had christmas either. they have "different words for them" - easter and christmas. i said that it wasn't just a different word, and that passover and hanukkah, in fact all of judaism, had nothing to do with jesus. she said she knew that. jews had the same view of christ as catholics. now there's a theological question i don't want to deal with in german.
another classmate said that passover was the same holiday, just that jews have a different calendar so it was different than easter. i attempted to steer the conversation elsewhere.
anticipating some unfamiliarity with judaism, i had prepared a little speech, in german, about the israelites and the seder meal, but it all seemed pointless after hearing these comments.
finally, 2 and 1/2 hours into class, the russian girl who doesn't ever understand what's going on because she thinks german is stupid, looked up, saw the matzah and asked "wer ist jüdisch?" who is jewish?
they all pointed to me. i closed my eyes and nodded my head. it didn't seem worth going into.
she looked at me and smiled. "mich auch," me too, she said.
you've got to be kidding. i've been fielding some very strange questions about "jewish easter" and attempting to explain an entire culture by myself and you've been spacing out dreaming of your next cigarette?!
i learned a little something beyond german in class today. 1) it's probably not up to me to enlighten the europeans to the (not-so) finer points of judaism, and 2) not every jew in berlin is incredibly tuned into the discussion judaism, or their surroundings.
after that, the danish girl next to me said she didn't think jews had christmas either. they have "different words for them" - easter and christmas. i said that it wasn't just a different word, and that passover and hanukkah, in fact all of judaism, had nothing to do with jesus. she said she knew that. jews had the same view of christ as catholics. now there's a theological question i don't want to deal with in german.
another classmate said that passover was the same holiday, just that jews have a different calendar so it was different than easter. i attempted to steer the conversation elsewhere.
anticipating some unfamiliarity with judaism, i had prepared a little speech, in german, about the israelites and the seder meal, but it all seemed pointless after hearing these comments.
finally, 2 and 1/2 hours into class, the russian girl who doesn't ever understand what's going on because she thinks german is stupid, looked up, saw the matzah and asked "wer ist jüdisch?" who is jewish?
they all pointed to me. i closed my eyes and nodded my head. it didn't seem worth going into.
she looked at me and smiled. "mich auch," me too, she said.
you've got to be kidding. i've been fielding some very strange questions about "jewish easter" and attempting to explain an entire culture by myself and you've been spacing out dreaming of your next cigarette?!
i learned a little something beyond german in class today. 1) it's probably not up to me to enlighten the europeans to the (not-so) finer points of judaism, and 2) not every jew in berlin is incredibly tuned into the discussion judaism, or their surroundings.
posted by jordan at
4:08 PM
2 Comments:
Wow. Just wow. I think you handled the whole situation very well.
By
Alice, at April 13, 2006 6:18 PM
Kyle here! Long time listener, first time caller. This sounds like that classic David Sedaris story about explaining Easter in his French class..."He make the good things, and on the Easter we be sad because somebody make him dead today." I think religion may not mix well with language classes.
By
Anonymous, at April 14, 2006 9:57 PM
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