Over the last 15 years I have become aware that I am Jewish. It began with tuning into a genealogy programme on the ABC....the guest was asked whether Weiss and or Muller were Jewish names. The reply was an emphatic "Yes". I nearly fell out of bed. My father was an unapologetic practitioner of racism and bigotry and considered Hitler to be a great guy. He lived, married my mother, had 7 children by her, was divorced by her and died unaware that she was Jewish.
I had read "My name is Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok in my early 20's and felt a deep sense of connection. Now I know why. It also explains why when I get drunk I want to dance in circles.
Conversely I have always been ambivalent about Israel. I know that there are plenty of Jews who happen to feel the same way. In my early teens I read Mein Kampf and self identified as a Nazi. So you can see that the journey to my acceptance of being Jewish has been meandering to say the least.
Last Friday I was in Elsternwick, a suburb with a large observant Jewish population having lunch with the lovely Selina. We stopped at a Chemist Warehouse to buy some things. The owner, a man in his 70's began talking to me. I mentioned the rumour that my mothers-mothers family were Weis & Muller, which I understood to be Jewish names. The man emphatically confirmed that they were indeed Jewish surnames.
So how does this affect me, Russell Dunne, as a person?
The immediate affect is zero. I'm not about to start observing Kosher and that yarmulke that has been in my laptop bag for the last 4 years is going to stay there.
What I am finding is that there is a growing curiosity about where things fit in. I've done some family research on my fathers side of the family. Now it is time that I researched my mothers side of the family. I understand that Weis is an attempt at Anglicising the German-Jewish Weiss. I want to discover when, where and why the Jewish connection was severed.
My mother self identified as Christian and was horrified when I mentioned to her about 12 years ago that there was a very real chance that she was in fact Jewish. Likewise with my elder sister who found the idea of being Jewish more challenging than the fact that the brother between us in age had raped his own daughter repeatedly for 10 years.
I will buy a menora, put it on my altar and try to light a candle on Friday nights. Because for the moment I'm vegetarian keeping Kosher should be easy for me...should I decide to observe it.
