![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2019\/05\/Rena-Gordonson-on-her-wedding-day-_-I-have-come-to-understand-that-I-can-be-my-own-kind-of-Jew._.jpg\")
<\/a>Rena Gordonson on her wedding day – _ I have come to understand that I can be my own kind of Jew._<\/p><\/div>\n
Rena Gordonson\u2019s childhood wasn\u2019t perfect. Few are. But it was, in many ways, idyllic. Rena grew up in the New York City area. Being Jewish meant being a proud part of a respected community. It wasn\u2019t until she was in her thirties that she had her first negative experience. Riding in a taxi with a group of non-Jewish women, one of them suggested Rena handle the money. \u201cBecause I\u2019m a Jew. Can you imagine? And in New York City,\u201d Rena recalls.<\/p>\n
A few years later, the issue came up again. \u201cI was dating someone from French Canada. He\u2026stated that Jews have all the money. He didn\u2019t think there was anything wrong with what he had said.\u201d A French-Canadian woman couldn\u2019t understand why Rena and her family didn\u2019t celebrate Christmas. Rena believes those experiences were born out of ignorance. That they were due to a lack of exposure to Jewish culture. What has happened since the campaign and election of Donald Trump feels quite different.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a rude awakening. The incidents of antisemitism have risen so quickly,\u201d Rena says. \u201cI have naively never been afraid to be Jewish. But these days I am.\u201d She admits that the growing white nationalism and the surge in hate crimes have changed the choices she makes. \u201cI choose not to go to Jewish events because I\u2019m afraid. I ask about security at the events. I worry about these things now.\u201d But for Rena there is another aspect which is just as troubling. \u201cI worry about the people who cannot see that anti-immigrant, racist, and homophobic views are the same as antisemitism.\u201d She says that this behavior isn\u2019t just an issue among those who belong to groups in the majority. \u201cI see this confusion within the Jewish community, too,\u201d Rena concedes.<\/p>\n
Being tone-deaf about the issues affecting communities other than your own is not uncommon. John Bender, a Jewish man living in Maine, has it noticed as well. John says the school where he teaches has also seen changes since the election. There has been a rise in hostility toward historically oppressed groups. In response, signs were hung around the school. The signs originally posted at Afropunk, an arts festival produced by black artists, read:<\/p>\n
NO SEXISM
\nNO RACISM<\/p>\n
NO ABLEISM<\/p>\n
NO AGEISM<\/p>\n
NO HOMOPHOBIA<\/p>\n
NO FATPHOBIA<\/p>\n
NO TRANSPHOBIA<\/p>\n
NO HATEFULENESS<\/p>\n
John says he was surprised to see that antisemitism wasn\u2019t on the list. He feels this shows how isolated communities can be from one another: even when those communities are all experiencing America as a more dangerous place, now.<\/p>\n
The truth is, America is<\/strong> a more dangerous place for many people now. The FBI reports that hate crimes are on the rise for a third year in a row. Living in fear, however, is not a choice Rena Gordonson is willing to live with. \u201cI was driving myself crazy with worry and fear after the Pittsburgh shooting,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I am realizing and putting into practice that I can live in fear or I can live in love. And my living in fear does not help the world in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI was very blessed to grow up in a predominantly Jewish town where I never felt out of place for being a Jew.\u201d Rena Gordonson\u2019s childhood wasn\u2019t perfect. Few are. But it was, in many ways, idyllic. Rena grew up in the New York City area. Being Jewish meant being a proud part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8466,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5925\/revisions\/8466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}