Published: 1 July 2025
Last updated: 3 July 2025
Perhaps I was just a naive, idealistic girl, or perhaps I simply tried to see the best in everyone, but I used to think that intercultural friendships were easy and they were the height of a post-segregationist world, in which everyone could get along, if only they learnt to respect each other's cultural differences and faith (or lack thereof) backgrounds.
This seemed like the reasonable, logical thing to do, after all.
However, I was gravely mistaken. As my connections with the outside world grew, my connection with my Jewish identity faded, resulting in me neglecting core parts of my personal values, just for the sake of being accepted by my non-Jewish peers.
And so, I commenced my journey on the trail of conditional friendships. Conditional in the sense that unless I assimilated and acculturated myself in such a way that I could still identify as Jewish and be tokenised in that way, I would still be a tolerable sort of Jewish friend. But, if I were to step one foot out of line, have an incorrect opinion, be too culturally invested or involved in my own heritage, then this would be a major problem – as I would later discover.
I was the person willing to befriend people from across the political aisle, people who opposed the very existence of the Jewish state.
Comments2
Heidi Rielly3 July at 12:16 pm
Insightful and powerful. Continue to share your life experiences, I learn and grow with you.
Yael3 July at 05:27 am
Spot on!