The books, films and songs that shaped our parents’ Jewish identities

“Do you consider yourself an Australian Jew or a Jewish Australian?”

Many will probably remember this oft-asked question and discussion that followed among kids at Jewish schools across Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.

Were you first and foremost a Jewish person who just happened to be born in Australia? Or was your identity tied more closely to the country in which you live, to its culture and its people, with your religion merely a by-product of your parents’ bloodline?

Sport-mad and furiously atheist, I usually stood with the second group, which had similar membership numbers to the first.

But I think that’s changed since October 7.

Like it or not, most of us have become Australian Jews over the last few months. For young, somewhat agnostic or atheist, cultural Jews, many of whom attended a Jewish school, but also including a growing number who didn’t, our Jewish identity has been dragged into the spotlight like never before; the colour of our passport an afterthought.

A small number have now chosen to shun their Jewish identity altogether, while a significant minority has chosen to draw a clear line between their Jewish identity and the Zionism they eschew.  

Others were already deeply immersed in their Judaism and have merely continued on that path.

But for many of us — the ones who attend regular Shabbat dinners, enjoy visiting Israel and continue to maintain Jewish relationships, but care little for anything deeper — it feels like something has changed.