How Moving to the U.S. Shaped My Judaism

If you’ve ever moved to a new home, you know how anxiety-ridden the process can be. Now imagine moving to another country and the enormous emotional adjustment that such a move entails. The new sounds, sights, and smells alone would be overwhelming. So you’d think religion would be a comfort, right? As you’ll see in the essays this month, that’s not necessarily the case.

Speaking of big transitions, this will be the last issue of 614. It’s been a blessing to explore with you relevant Jewish topics to women, and you can now read about them on Fresh Ideas from HBI: The HBI Blog. Past issues of 614 will be archived at 614ezine.com/archives. As for me, I’m moving on to my next venture as Executive Director of MEDIAGIRLS, where I’ll continue to explore gender issues through a different lens. As Thanksgiving approaches, I want to give thanks for the years of engaging discussion.

In This Issue

• From Iraq to America, in a Corset

  Why my warm memories of being Jewish in Iraq have, to an extent, washed away. by Cynthia Kaplan Shamash In 1963, I was born in Baghdad to Jewish parents. By the time I was five, Iraqi-Jewish assets were being frozen, Iraqi-Jewish men had begun to lose their jobs, and Iraqi universities would not accept Jewish students. My ...

• Moving to the America of the North

  Why my sense of Jewish community suffered after moving from Chile to Athens, Georgia. by Marjorie Agosin I grew up in South America, in Chile, a country surrounded by the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. My great grandmother Helena Broder and her son Mauricio arrived in the port city of Valparaiso in January of 1939. They ...

• Don’t Forget You’re Persian

  Conversations, reconstructed and imagined, with my Iranian father. by Farideh Goldin HANUKKAH IN IRAN: Conversations with My Father During most of my adult life in Iran, I dreamt of leaving my country of birth, finding a place where the words “Jew” and “woman” were not derogatory terms. My father, however, loved Iran. He never imagined a day that he ...

• Full Circle from Calcutta

  Why my distinct Jewish identity remained an entirely private and family matter after moving to the U.S. by Jael Silliman I am from the Conservative Baghdadi Jewish community of Calcutta. My father’s ancestors were the first Jews to come to Calcutta from Aleppo in the 1790s when the city was the capital of British India. Most of ...

• We Are All in This Sukkah Together

  I will always be a Polish Jew, no matter how fluid my Jewish identity may be. by Katka Reszke As I ran along Charles River during the recent holiday of Sukkot, I came across a rather shabby looking sukkah. It displayed all the signs of having fallen victim to the impressive rainstorm, which had soaked much of ...

• Confession from an Israeli

  In our years in Boston, I discovered, to my surprise, that I have a very hard time feeling solidarity with the local Jewish community. by Tamar Biala Spinoza got the better of me long ago. My Judaism is not based on faith in the Torah as the divinely revealed word of God. Rather, it’s based chiefly on ...