Current mood:	full
Current music:	green tambourine
Entry tags:	atheism, israel, modern orthodoxy, racism

yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I meant to write for IBARW and do an expose about Modern Orthodox racism, but I found myself pitifully short of anecdotal evidence and would have been forced to write something like "...sometimes Modern Orthodox Jews are racist, and it's bad." Nonetheless, be assured, dear readers, sometimes Modern Orthodox Jews are racist. And it's bad. And I believe it has more than a little to do with the fact that the Jewish community is extremely sheltered and homogenous--for purposeful, faith reasons--and that children in Modern Orthodox schools, by and large, do not have a multiethnic peer group until college [unless they attend a religious college such as Yeshiva University, in which case their peer group is largely homogenous, white, Jewish and affluent even then].

This isolation allows Modern Orthodox teens to feel safe expressing racist sentiment to their peers, and while they are often challenged this is not always the case. While I understand the faith need of Modern Orthodox schools to isolate their children in order to give them a proper Jewish education, I do find it somewhat deplorable that, by and large, the only contact Modern Orthodox schoolchildren have with other races is in the form of small talk with the janitorial staff. Despite the (for the most part) liberal values disseminated in Modern Orthodox institutions, they nonetheless become something of a breeding ground for racism--a racism that often mirrors sentiments expressed by adults in the community, a community that is fairly rife with xenophobia.I surmise that a good measure of this xenophobia is a survival tactic, disseminated in order to prevent intermarriage (the scourge of the Jewish community--dilution of the blood!); however, I do believe that intermarriage can be prevented in other, more moral ways--and if it cannot be, then perhaps the community ought to seriously reexamine itself [of course, I am a self-professed atheist whose chances of staying in the community are slim to nil--so perhaps I'm not the best authority to consult. Still, a community that can only remain coherent with the aid of xenophobic sentiment seems to be lacking something in my eyes.]

In other news...I can't believe I'm leaving to Israel on Sunday, but the roomful of clothing I labeled yesterday seems to provide some hard evidence... A number of my friends have already left to their particular Israeli institutions. In short, a whirlwind of change is gusting through my life, scarce heralded. (OK, that's a lie. But still, I'm kind of freaked out.)

It's certainly going to be an interesting situation--an atheist heathen like me, learning Torah all day. But nonetheless, I'm excited to be given such an opportunity to explore my heritage. And to be immersed in the Hebrew language and Israeli culture (the place I'm going is an Israeli institution with a tiiiiiiiny and totally integrated American program). And to be living independent of my parents for the first time. In a country where I am the legal drinking age.