Writing this week was more difficult for me than in previous weeks because I felt rushed whenever I sat down to learn more about the religion and the feeling that there was so little time only added to the frustration. I’ve been reading up on Jewish history and I had the depressing thought that, despite the title of the books, this history would never truly be about ‘my people.’ I started to wonder about heritage and whether, even once I was fully accepted into the Jewish community, I would ever be able to consider it to be my heritage too. The thought occurred to me that I had no idea which realization was worse — the fact that I was brought up in a household that had no religion or that my French heritage was full of a history involving religious oppression.

My friend tried to cheer me up by telling me that it doesn’t work that way. She told me that the history is important only to the extent that I understand how the history connects to the religion itself. Since history is part of the religion, it will become a piece of my heritage. I realized that, once again, I was over-analyzing the situation and the information that I was reading. My heritage consists of all the things that I believe in and history will become a part of me simply because of my devotion to the religion itself. When I celebrate Chanukah this year and listen to the history of the holiday and stories of the Jewish people from my friend’s father, I will try to remember that it all boils down to belief. Always, at the core of a religion is the concept that, if one can truly believe in all the religion has to offer, they will be connected to every aspect of that religion, regardless of ones’ heritage.