I suppose we should have a check-in thread, no?

[asthmaticeog]

Shalom, fellow Children of Abraham! Nice to see this group finally happened. Kudos to Behind the Aegis. I'm interested to see who participates - I know there are probably a bunch of MoTs here on DU who don't necessarily wear it on their sleeves.

So who and what are we all? I'm a secular Jew (atheist, in fact - hope that's cool in here) from a Reform upbringing.

[drdon326]

1. Check in #1

d

[Meshuga]

2. Check in #2 - n/t

n/t

[coffeenap]

3. checking in--not sure WHAT I am anymore...

Grew up standard American reform but added cultural and traditional stuff while in hs. Now, who knows?

[rockymountaindem]

4. Check in #4

Good to be here!

[tishaLA]

5. Hi everybody!

I'm also fairly secular, but I'm Jewish enough to have intense guilt about it. I'm really excited about the group--about discussing both cultural issues and much of the religious stuff I am less familiar with than I would like to be.

[drdon326]

6. Guilt and Jewish ??

hmmmm.....go figure.

[AlienGirl]

7. Checking in! n/t

[sabra]

8. Check Check

Born in Israel, living in the North Burbs of Chicago these days. I too am excited about this new group. Thanks for your efforts!

[Behind the Aegis]

9. HERE I AM!!

I just sent everyone in the original thread an "invitation" to the new group. I didn't send one to DrDon and a few others, because when I woke up, I saw the group already had posts from some of you! So, it was not a slight...figured I didn't need to tell you what you already knew! :)

I am actually an odd mix. I practice multiple ways of spirituality, but my family is Jewish. My father is a lay Rabbi and we kept a mostly Kosher home. My partner is 7th Day Adventist and he keeps better Kosher than me!!!

I am so glad everyone is checking in!!!

[leftynyc]

10. Jewish both religiously and culturally

somewhere in between reform and conservative (feel at home in both).

So glad to have this group and many thanks to Behind the Aegis on making it happen.

[Colorado Blue]

11. Checking in! Born in Denver, living in Chicago, feeling

guilty because I am talking to you guys instead of working:) (oi, another guilty Jewish person?)

Later, and thanks to Behind the Aegis for setting this up!

[newyawker99]

12. I am checking in too.

I am not Jewish but I will be
checking in from time to time.


Congrats for your group! :toast:

[asthmaticeog]

14. WELCOME TO THE JEWISH GROUP NEWYAWKER99!!!

:hi:

God, I've always wanted to do that.

[newyawker99]

38. LOL! Thanks for the welcome!

:hi:

[UncleSepp]

13. *waves from the back of the room*

Currently I'm a member of a meditative Reform synagogue that is very active in interfaith work. For a long time I practiced Asatru, privately though, not as part of a Hof. That doesn't exactly fit any longer, so um... As I joked once before here on DU, that probably makes me the one and onliest Asa-Jew. :-D

[jdots]

15. very reformed Jew

grew up Unitarian/Universalist or (Jewnitarian) went to University of Judism for wedding and became Jewish because my father was born Jewish and mother was born some form of wasp..Naturally things have changed to include father in formula
now but learned alot from the classes and filled in some blanks
Allways felt Jewish in childhood. very disturbed by Jewish neocons and right wing Jews =24% now .this used to be 17% in 2000.

[RaleighNCDem]

16. Hello all!

I grew up in town where there was only a reform temple, but my mom was conservative. If I were to go to a synagogue here, it would be a reform one, but I'm not very religious now except for on holidays. (I'm also shy and am a little afraid to go alone the first time.)

:hi:

[Behind the Aegis]

19. I thought there was a conservative one there

I used to live in Raleigh. My family still lives in NC (I am trying to move to Raleigh). Perhaps I am mistaken, but I thought at one point there was a conservative branch in RDU.

Glad you are here! I may hit you up for job leads!!!

[RaleighNCDem]

20. There is a conservative one in Raleigh.

I'm from a smaller town in NC called Roanoke Rapids. They actually don't even have a temple at all now.

I'm just not sure if I would feel as comfortable in a conservative temple since I grew up in a reform one. Also because I haven't been in a while.

I'd be happy to give you any information I can about jobs if you're moving to Raleigh!

[Behind the Aegis]

23. I know where that is!

I used to work for ECU, so I lived in NC for several years. I can understand not wanting to "pop in" to a conservative, if you were raised in a reform setting, but it wouldn't be that bad. :)

I couldn't help it...I checked your profile and see you are female. If you are heterosexual (I am not, so I just presume, bad, I know), I have a SINGLE Jewish brother, who will soon be a doctor!! Of course, you could already be married or in a relationship, but...a JEWISH DOCTOR! LOL! :) AND..he is a HUGE LIBERAL Democrat! Just thought I'd throw it out there! :)

BTW, I am applying to several schools in the area (I work in higher education), but if you think something really good is out there in Human Resources, PM me!

Again, welcome to the group! :hug:

[RaleighNCDem]

26. My brother is a student at ECU right now.

I went to NCSU. That's what brought me to Raleigh. I love it here. I don't know of anything in HR off the top of my head, but I'll keep my ears open. Is that what you do in higher education? I'm about to go back to school to be an academic librarian.

A Jewish Doctor!! My mother would be so happy! :silly:

I'm always up for meeting new people, especially other liberal Jews.

P.S. - I am heterosexual. :)

[Behind the Aegis]

27. Small world!

My brothers (actually I have two there) are in medical school at ECU. One of them went to NCSU and got a master's degree there three years ago. One is going to be a doctor, the other a medical technician. My mom would be so happy with a "nice, Jewish girl." My partner is not Jewish, and my soon to-be sister-in-law, is also not Jewish.

I work in the administration part of higher education. I have been in the field for over 9 years. I may not stay in it, but I am still looking. I have been out of work for 21 months now, and it is a real pain. Thankfully, my partner has a good job and he supports us both.

We will have to chat in PM. It is always good to have other liberal friends! :)

[RaleighNCDem]

29. Agreed!

:D

[Amaya]

17. Hello

I'm a secular Jew also. My mother is Irish/Catholic and my father was Jewish. I was raised both. I went to Shabbat on Friday evenings and Mass on Sunday mornings... strange but true. Honestly, I wasn't a confused child :)

Anyway, now I study Buddhism, really. I'm not a Buddhist, but I do find it fascinating.

Hope I'm not too odd

Hi all :hi:

[RaleighNCDem]

22. You're not odd at all. My mother is Jewish, and my father is Baptist.

How's that for odd?

:D

[ultraist]

18. Congrats on the new group!

I voted for the group and I'm looking forward to reading the comments. I am not Jewish but wish to learn more about the Jewish community. Aside from learning bits from a few Jewish friends, I'm embarrassed to admit, that I'm miserably uninformed on Jewish issues and the culture. So I will likely lurk more than anything.

Thanks to all who are contributing here!

:hi:

btw, I'm not Christian nor am I religious

[Sgent]

21. Checking in

A little background...

Grew up in a secular family, and was a paternal Jew. My grandmother used to take me to shul when she was in town (and later when she lived here), but I never had all that much exposure. My dad was bar mitzvohed in a conservative shul.

Since reaching my adulthood, I have undergone Bah Teshuva and a conversion, so I'm now officially more religious than my parents :).

I attend a "reformative" shul regularly.

[ikojo]

24. Shalom to all!!!

Yahooo! There's a Yiddishe board!!!

I consider myself Conservareformadox...I take the best of all that Judaism has to offer!

[IndianaGreen]

25. Shalom!

Checking in! Kudos to Behind the Aegis for getting the group up. It is nice to find a place we can call our own, and I hope it becomes an positive experience for all of us.

:-)

[elshiva]

28. Hello from North Central Maryland!

I am a Half Jew. Yes, my dad is a Jew and my mom is an Episcopalian, but I celebrate most of the Jewish holidays.
Personally, I think we SHOULD welcome atheists (especially secular Jews) and anyone else who is respectful of the Jewish religion.
Shalom everyone! Thank you for this group.

[Behind the Aegis]

31. Hello to you!

Hey, I am for ANYONE coming to this group to play, as long as they play nice! :) The one thing I have always liked about Jews, at least in my experience, is that the thirst for knowledge is always appreciated.

So, come one, come all! :)

[elshiva]

32. THANK YOU!

I do appreciate niceness.

[asthmaticeog]

37. Hi, elshiva!

So, uh, what happened to your spectacularly pic-laden sig line?

[Lithos]

30. Saying Hi!

I'm not Jewish, but will be checking in from time to time to say hi!

BTW, Congratulations on the new group!

L-

[fortyfeetunder]

33. Shalom, y'all

I am not Jewish (baptized Episcopalian). However, when I studied for my confirmation, which is 31 years ago tomorrow, my priest insisted we understand Judaism as the roots for modern day Christianity. So I've sought to understand the faith since then.

Though the interesting thing is several years ago, I discovered in my grandma's cookbook collection was an American Jewish cookbook, written 1940's. She was a kosher cook for Jewish familes in I believe NJ and NY did catering.

Guess that makes me a fan?

[Ellen Forradalom]

34. I'm a member of the friendly gentile auxiliary

Married to a Jewish man; we are bringing up our son Jewish (he is in kindergarten at a Jewish day school. I am learning Hebrew and attending Introduction to Judaism class at our synagogue.

[FourStarDemocrat]

35. Hello everyone!

Thanks for starting this group! Looking forward to chatting with you all. I'm a long time dem from NY (Long Island), teacher and (exhausted) mother of two boys.

Edited to add that I'm a member of a Reformed congregation. I'm not very religious, but have strong family/cultural ties to Judiasm.

[Maiden England]

36. *waves* Hi to all

Me, I'm your average oddball case of Jewish Identity. Grew up Orthodox, in the UK, even went to a Jewish school. Heck I even did a year on a Kibbutz in Israel. Lapsed, (some would say big time...) married a Baptist, emigrated to the US. Live in backwoods, Louisiana, with very little Jewish community.

I toy quite often with the notion of seeking out what paultry community we have here - allegedly they have a reform synagogue which hold services once a month, but I keep chickening out. Oi Vey, the guilt (LOL). This is the most Jewish contact I've had in about 10 years, its a start.

Glad to be here.

[SharonRB]

39. Checking in, a little late (on Jewish time!)

I was raised Orthodox -- my maternal grandfather was an Orthodox rabbi in New York (he had a shul in the Bronx before they moved to Atlantic Beach in the early 70s, I think). My father came from a very unobservant, but very Zionistic family.

Now I'm very unobservant. My husband is Jewish in name only; he never cared much about religion. My brother and sister are both more religious than my parents and both live in Israel and each have six kids. I have one daughter, almost 28. I live in the Detroit suburbs (Huntington Woods).

Nice to have this group. You can usually find me from 8-9 pm over at the KOEB in the 2004 Election Results forum.

[Jamastiene]

40. I'm just curious

Grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household and want no part of them. I'll try to keep this short, but I've always wanted to meet the people I've been warned about. I live in an area where if someone gets short changed $.03 at the grocery store, they swear up and down it's all because of the Jews. Could someone explain to me why they believe that? They've never answered me in any coherent way. I don't get it and therefore I don't fit in. I've never even met but maybe a couple of Jewish people here and from my experiences so far I haven't a clue where the hate groups get their hate. So what gives? I came here to find out. I don't get it still. Maybe, some of you would be willing to help me by coming up with a FAQ section or referring me to one directly. I'm clueless.

[Colorado Blue]

44. This is a very large topic, complicated. I will try to answer,

but in a new thread, as soon as I have had times to organize my thoughts. The "Check-in" thread is probably not the best place, as the topic would get buried here.

Thanks for dropping in, and for your interest in Judaism!

Best,
CB

[Suziq]

41. Checking in From New Jersey

:hi:

I was raised as a conservative Jew. In my old age (I am 52), my sister and I try to celebrate the holidays with our families, especially Passover - we always loved Seders.

I try to remember to light yhzerit (don't know who to spell it) candles on the anniversaries of my parents deaths and on Yom Kippur. My mother would be proud!




:hippie:

[Violet_Crumble]

42. Popping in to say hi...

Especially to Behind the Aegis and Indiana Green, who I already know and respect from other places at DU. I'll probably be here a fair bit picking the brains of those who are religiously minded when I do some religious studies next semester. Good luck with the group, and may it flourish and be spared the bitterness and anger that's polluted some other groups in the past...

Cheers...

Violet...

[Behind the Aegis]

43. Welcome

There is a member here who is already taking a class and has been a FONT of information. She is teaching some of us Jews a thing or two...look for her!