I am seven; I look around the room at my synagogue wondering why no one looks like me. All the girls have that beautiful, straight, long golden brown hair that I always dream about and see in the movies, but that is not me. A few months later, I am celebrating Chinese New year with friends and family. I look around and take comfort in the fact that everyone looks like me here. I think to myself, I fit in here, this is the place for me. However, my feelings of comfort are short lived. Moments later my friends begin talking about what Santa Claus brought them for Christmas, and I become lost again. Christmas? What about Hanukkah?
I am Chinese and I am Jewish. When I was born, I was taken to an orphanage by my birth parents in China, but I will never know why. Luckily, little less than a year later, my adoptive parents — who I call just my parents — came and brought me into their loving family. When I was very young, I did not really understand the concept of adoption and what it meant. I was just told these people are my parents, and I needed to love them as they loved me. Having a background with such different cultures made my childhood and cultural experiences very unique. My
…show more content…
According to Jewish law, I am Jewish because my mother is Jewish, but I am also adopted, so does that mean I am not Jewish because I am not biologically related to my mom? Pondering over this idea for a long time, I eventually reached a conclusion that my definition of what it means to be Jewish could be different from someone else's. I believe that to be Jewish, one must practice Jewish ways and traditions; it does not matter whether or not you are born into a Jewish family. Therefore I consider myself Jewish, not because I was raised into a Jewish family, but due to my