To start, I will admit that I had a heavily interfaith upbringing. My dad was raised Episcopalian, but when studying for his confirmation, he saw how heavily Jewish the Christian religion really is. He decided that if he were to get married and have any kids, he'd find a Jewish woman and raise his kids to be Jewish. Well, my mom was Jewish by blood, but her parents were Atheists. However, they were not going to tell that to her grandmother. Whens she grew up and became a feminist in the '70s, she befriended several Pagans. My godfather is a prominent figure in the local Pagan community, but he also had an interfaith upbringing, occasionally goes to church, and was also quite active at a synagogue. In addition to that, my grandfather was the organist for an Episcopal church, and the family that babysat me for years was heavily Catholic.
When I turned 13, I had a bar mitzvah by choice. It was, in fact, my godfather who we considered to be the rabbi. My parents had joined a temple, but there was a requirement to be part of it for two years before having a bar mitzvah, and I wanted it to happen while I turned 13. Because of that, I had it at home.
Eight years later, something happened that lead me to setting foot inside of a Lutheran Church two blocks from my house. I started going to church every Sunday, as well as during the holidays. Within the year, I became part of the administrative team for a Christian Facebook. I did that for five years, and shortly after that, I became a staff member at my church. Although I prefer identifying as a Protestant instead of a Lutheran, I am glad to be part of the ELCA.
Having said all of that, it has been difficult reconciling that with my Jewish identity. Christianity is deeply rooted in Judaism. Not only is the so-called "Old" Testament a collection of Jewish writings. Not only was Jesus Jewish. Nearly all of the writings of the New Testament are Jewish. However, over the past 2,000 years, both religions have worked to separate themselves from each other. Even with overlapping stories, the calendars and holidays are different. It has been difficult figuring out how I can reconcile the two.
Something that has been wonderful during this struggle is that more than a year ago, I became close friends with a Jewish convert to Buddhism. That friend has similar struggles. They are deeply proud of their Jewish heritage, but they have become passionately Buddhist. There are different ways they've been working to reconcile the two, but we have similar stories.
Something else that helped was seeing films of Indonesian Muslims observing the pre-Abrahamic practices of their country from beforehand. One of them said that Islam is their religion, and the pre-Abrahamic practices are tradition. When asked which they preferred, they said they like them both.
I have a deeply complex background, and it will probably be a lifetime struggle to reconcile the two. However, at the moment, the way I've come to reconcile the two is that I see Christianity more as the religion I practice, while Judaism is the tradition of my family heritage that I observe.
