JEWISHLIFEJOURNEYS
Abraham, Great-Great Grandma Mary, & Me By Vered Harris
I
can trace my family lineage to 1700s Europe. All of my ancestors were Jewish. Some were secular, not synagogue-goers. Some were religious, and would not understand a woman rabbi. But my ancestry really dates back 4000 years ago, when Abraham had an idea he passed along to his son Isaac, and his son Jacob, and his son Joseph, and so on down the line until my GreatGreat Grandma Mary, whose observance looked almost nothing like Abraham and Sarah’s, passed it down to her daughter Great Grandma Rose, after whom I am named, who stopped keeping kosher in her generation, who passed it down to my Grandpa Bernie, who was born in the United States and led our family seders, who passed it down to my mother, who lit candles for the Sabbath and gave us a present on each night of Hanukkah, who passed it down to me, who, along with my husband, am passing it down to our daughters, who may not know the rituals of 100 or 1,500 years ago, but who do know that because we are Jews we must speak and act out against violence, hunger, and injustice in the world. I represent the continuing development of Judaism. This I believe: My essence is not as an individual, autonomous human being living an isolated existence. My essence is a soul fashioned as a part of God’s creative expression. My soul is woven from the threads of the stories of all the people who came before me. I am a thread in the tapestry of the Jewish people, and the Jewish people is a panel in the tapestry of humanity. How we treat each other affects the vibrancy of this tapestry. So Judaism teaches me to treat you with kindness and respect. Sometimes I fail. Then it teaches me how to repent and seek forRabbi Vered Harris is spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City, OK.
giveness. When I live according to Judaism, I live as a better neighbor and citizen and friend and relative and stranger. The Judaism I observe continues to grow. It does not look like Abraham and Sarah’s. It does CONTINUING THE JEWISH JOURNEY. DIANE AND I (L.) ON MASADA not look like the DURING CONGREGATION BETH TORAH’S TRIP TO ISRAEL, DECEMBER 2005. religion of the INSET: PORTRAIT OF ME AT OR HADASH, HAIFA. rabbis of the first many religious traditions who guide our century or the Golden Age of Spain or the Enlightment. It does not look like world towards peace. My Judaism also changes when my the Judaism of Great-Great Grandma students learn something new. In 2005, Mary, who shaved her head and wore Diane, a congregant and fluent Spana wig according to the Hungarian ish speaker, came to me wanting to Orthodox practice of her day. It does learn to read Hebrew. She found the not look like the Judaism of my mother, task daunting, but through much effort, who eats pork and shellfish and travels learned some rudimentary Hebrew. to Israel once a year to see my sister I also taught her nuances of Israeli culand her children. My Judaism expands and contracts. ture as we toured Israel on a congregational trip, and she enthusiastically It changes when I learn something delved into the culture, using her newly new. When I first began living a conacquired Hebrew speaking and reading sciously Jewish life, for instance, the skills to order food and ask about official label of “kosher” was imporitems in local shops. Later, with my tant to me. But after almost 20 years encouragement, she embarked on as a vegetarian, when I decided to a medical mission to Guatemala as a begin eating meat again, I considered translator. I saw these two experiences not only traditional but also spiritual as interrelated—first she’d engaged teachings about kashrut—concluding with a new language as a first-timer in that I could not personally consider Israel; then she’d ventured abroad the slaughter of animals pumped full on a challenging assignment as a volof chemicals and treated cruelly unteer without a medical background. throughout their lives as “kosher,” All of this helped me buoy the courage regardless of how “humanely” they I myself needed to volunteer with were slaughtered. American Jewish World Service in My Judaism changes when my Muchucuxcah, a small village in teachers learn something new and I am Mexico, where I knew neither the lanchallenged to redefine my own thought guage nor the culture. Our group of and practice. Now I am reading Eboo Patel’s Acts of Faith, a reminder that my rabbis helped build fish tanks to serve as sustainable agricultural systems teachers are not limited to the Jewish in people’s backyards. We also spoke people, but encompass luminaries from reform judaism
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