On Being Half-Jewish, Andrew Moss, HalfJew.com
You can't be half Jewish, they say. You're either Jewish or you're not Jewish. There's no in between. Or is there? In a fascinating article on the webzine HalfJew.com, Andrew Moss, the son of a German-Jewish father and a British gentile mother, meditates on what it means to have half-Jewish ancestry. Moss tells his own story of growing up half-Jewish in England and America, and offers a biting commentary on identity politics today. To those who refuse to acknowledge that one can be a half Jew he writes: 'Where I stand is firmly in the area in between--the middle ground, the border zone, the no-mans land. 'I, like you, am of mixed blood, but unlike you, I claim it... We are living in a treacherous moment: something is happening. Is it driven by 'respect for other cultures' (whatever that means), or by the fearful anxiety to choose up sides? I live in the middle, in a strip of territory that meanders like the Green Line between the white working class and the old, straggling walls of the ghetto.'
--Leif Utne
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