Can your identity be tied to a symbol?
We often use symbols, iconic representations, objects, or flags.
In my father’s family, a Star of David pendant is the standard gift to a newborn boy. An infant girl receives a pendant with the Hebrew word ‘chai’ (meaning life). The girl’s gift expresses the wish that she will grow up to become a mother, creating a new life. I remember asking why boys received the star of David (or, to use the literal translation from the Hebrew, the shield of David). The standard answer was ‘because’, followed by silence.
I have always worn that pendant. I would take it off occasionally, like when I was competing, but I think I wore it 90% of the time in my life. When I was a teenager, over twenty years after the Holocaust, it was a way to say, “Look at me, I am Jewish. I don’t have to hide it! Yes, we are still here”.
I have decided to keep my Substack free. However, if you decide to support my work, you can ‘buy me a coffee’ a one-off tip by clicking on this link, or you could buy one of my books (the Amazon link is in the caption of the image at the end of this post) or keep reading my posts, it is entirely up to you.
My parents had a different attitude. They went through World War II in Italy and joined the resistance in the Autumn of 1943. They had to hide that they were Jewish to survive. My mother was involved in a group that was helping people find their way south across Italy. They would ultimately cross the front line and reach the part of Italy already liberated by the allied armies (Her story and my maternal grandmother’s story is the fact that inspired the fiction in “The Dressmaker’s Parcels”, the first novel I published). They did not like that I tried to keep the second button of my shirt undone. I was trying to follow the fashion while proudly sharing my identity with the world.
In those days, my late father used to tease me, telling me I wanted to follow the fashion and show a huge crucifix wearing a shirt unbuttoned two-thirds of the way to the navel. I disproved that rumour every time (by not keeping my shirts unbuttoned two-thirds of the way to the navel! 😇).
My parents could not forget the sign Nazi Germany forced Jews to wear, even when they were in the camps. A yellow star of David with “Jude” (Jew in German) written on it. When I was a teenager in the late sixties and very early seventies, I kept telling them I knew that wearing it and showing it would have identified me as Jewish. It would also send the message ‘They tried to destroy us, but we are still here’
What do I have to prove now? I lead a traditional Jewish life. I am a regular worshipper at my synagogue, and I have four Jewish children. And yet, wearing my Magen David has become part of my identity.
Most of the time, it is hidden under my clothes. So it is a personal statement. It mirrors the essence of diaspora Jews. We look like the people around us, but we are not like them. We are not really outsiders, except we are.
My late father was a perfect example of this duality. He was a proselytising atheist, but a firm believer in family traditions. He followed specific pillars of Jewish life out of a strong sense of cultural identity, with no connection to religion. The only thing he used to do that could remotely be considered religious was coming to synagogue at the end of Yom Kippur, simply to be there to be the ‘conduit’ for the blessing to his family. He would never have expected a religious son in his wildest dreams, and yet he insisted that Friday nights were family time. He also upheld family traditions. This mixture of religion, cultural identity, and family tradition defines the diaspora Jew, the eternal minority.
These days, I do not flaunt it. In a world full of Jew-Hatred, I do not always want the conversation about Israel. It is very difficult to have a conversation about facts, facts that can have different interpretations, but are still facts. Nowadays, it is difficult to differentiate between facts and propaganda, too often the lie shouted too often by too many people becomes accepted as fact and it becomes difficult to have a serious conversation when people only know the slogan.
Venetian Gold out on July 22nd
The third novella in the series “Rachele Modiano Mendes, the early years” will be out on July 22nd. It will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstone, and Kindle Unlimited.
Is Self Publishing for you? Are you an author-publisher?
The book “Strictly Self Publishing” is moving forward more slowly than I expected, maybe because it is not my main focus. Meanwhile, if you are interested in figuring out if Self-Publishing is for you, send an e-mail to meettheauthor@stagni.net to receive the free pdf.
I have decided to keep my Substack free. However, if you decide to support my work, you can ‘buy me a coffee’ a one-off tip by clicking on this link, or you could buy one of my books (the link is in the caption of the last image below) or keep reading my posts, it is entirely up to you.
N.B. I was not aware that Booklinker required registration. I thought it was a universal link for my books. Please accept my apologies. I hope to find another universal linker that does not require registration.
