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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