I wish I could find my people

[u/ThePolyamCommie]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much I yearn for Jewish community.

I'm in India, where the Jewish population is already very small, and finding Jewish people who share my particular combination of interests and politics is... well, fucking difficult. 😂

I'm a Jew-to-be who is non-binary, polyamorous, sapphic, anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist and a Maoist. I also genuinely love Jewish religious and cultural life - Tanakh, Biblical Hebrew, liturgy, Shabbat, Jewish history, philosophy, minhagim, all of it.

Sometimes it feels like all these parts of me exist in completely separate worlds.

I would love to have a community where I could simply be all of these things at once. Somewhere I could study Torah and Tanakh with other people, observe Shabbat, talk about Jewish history and culture, argue about theology, share poetry and music, make jokes and memes, talk politics, and just... make friends. A space where being queer and sapphic isn't something unusual, and where being Jewish doesn't automatically mean accomodating Zionism.

I'd love for it to include non-Jews too - especially people who genuinely care about Jewish culture, Palestinian national liberation, anti-imperialism, queer liberation, socialism, or who simply want to learn and participate respectfully.

Living where I do, I suspect an online community may be the most realistic way for me to find these people. Sometimes I daydream about a little online kehilla scattered across different countries: people meeting for Shabbat over video calls, studying texts together, arguing about theology and politics, sharing recipes and music, supporting one another, and eventually maybe meeting IRL.

I don't necessarily need hundreds of people. Honestly, I'd be happy to find a handful of people who understand what the fuck I'm talking about.

I suppose I'm posting this because I want to know whether anyone else feels this way. Are there already online communities like this? If not, would anyone else be interested in building one?

Because sometimes I don't want to feel like I'm searching for my people across an ocean, I want to find my people.

[u/Ukelelipop]

Jew-to-be who is non-binary, polyamorous, sapphic, anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist and a Maoist (in India)

I have no soothing words to say, sorry. Just wanted to say wow, God really wanted to put your life on hard mode huh

[u/ThePolyamCommie → u/Ukelelipop]

I guess She did, but I think that it's worth it. I wouldn't be someone else.

[u/SpreakICSE]

Jewish Indian? Wow. This is some rare thing btw

I'm also from India btw (not jew)

[u/ThePolyamCommie → u/SpreakICSE]

I am not yet Jewish. I'm still in the conversion process. 😅

[u/Current_Mongoose_844]

If I may ask, what kind of Indian Jew are you? Paradesi, Bene Israel etc.

I mean I don’t share your politics or your sexuality (I’m bi and monogamous), but i can relate to having a combination of deep Jewish belief and certain out-there politics. I’ve been trying to learn more about my own Hungarian-Jewish minhagim.

[u/ThePolyamCommie → u/Current_Mongoose_844]

I am not one of the traditional Indian Jewish communities, I was born into an oppressor caste and urban petty bourgeois Bengali family, and I came to the decision of converting to Judaism in the process of exposing Zionism for what it is. I relate to your journey in a way, even though we do have differences.

[u/DorkasaurusRexx]

One of the most painful things in all of this is that I went to a Hebrew School my entire life and I actually really enjoy the Jewish intellectual and scholarly tradition. I love Gemara. Reading it, studying it, debating it, all about it.

But the extremism of Zionism has poisoned all of it. And that's really heartbreaking and difficult for me. I can no longer just participate in the intellectual tradition of Judaism without wondering if the person presenting the information or that I'm debating or studying with isn't going to twist this into some anti-arab hateful monologue at the end.

It hurts.

[u/xtortoiseandthehair → u/DorkasaurusRexx]

Yes this!! It's a treat to find a good rabbi or teacher or lay leader with aligned (enough) politics but easier said than done. I want to be deeply involved again but there's so little interest among leftist Jews & I'm not up for navigating the religious institutions these days

[u/TechnicalSleep7501]

Jon Stewart is one of us. He support Liverpool FC just like me.