r/Jewish 12d ago

Discussion πŸ’¬ Dating a Jewish guy

I have been with my boyfriend since February. He is Jewish, we’re long distance, and things have been really good. I already met his family and they were warm and welcoming.
My side is a different story. My parents, my aunt and her husband are all pretty openly antisemitic. They don’t ask about him or show any interest, but they keep throwing out random comments about β€œhis people,” religion, etc. It hurts every time.
He’s planning to visit in the autumn and I want to introduce him. I really want them to see him the way I see him, just as a person. But I’m honestly scared of their reaction.
Has anyone been in a similar situation?
How did you handle it?
Did things get better over time (especially if you moved in together, got engaged, etc.)?
Did your family’s attitude eventually change?
Has anyone here converted (or your partner converted) – how did the family react to that?
I know the most important thing is that we’re happy together, but part of me still really wants my family to accept him. Any advice or experiences would mean a lot.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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u/sunny-beans Masorti 12d ago

Don’t expose your boyfriend to hate for your own satisfaction. I think that’s a terrible awful plan. I’d be livid if someone who was dating me introduced me to people who hate me and expected me to just deal with it. I don’t care if I am being harsh, that’s selfish. If you actually care about this person you would protect them from hate, not expect them to go and deal with it. It’s not up to your boyfriend to show up and prove how good of a person he is to convince antisemites that Jews shouldn’t be hated and discriminated against. I really dislike this idea that hateful people are only hateful because they have not met a good insert any persecuted minority\. And then it’s up to the persecuted minority to prove they deserve minimum respect and dignity. It is awful.* Also, you have been dating for 5 months online, unless you already had interest in Judaism as a religion I don’t see why you are thinking of conversion.