Your Background/History/Family

[General X]

I'd like to know the history of your families, the country of origin, ashkenazi or sephardic, your religion, and any other information about that 'kind of stuff'. I'll start off.
My mother was born in America. My dad was born in Israel, and immigrated to the US when he was 12 years old. He grew up on a Kibbutz, where rockets were often launched from Lebanon and Syria. He had to go into shelters to get, well, shelter.
My grandmother was born in Iraq, and she came to the US in 1956 to escape the Arabs, who were becoming very extreme. Luckily that was before Saddam Hussein. I've never seen either of my grandfathers. One drowned in a river in Iraq, the other was a miserable man who died in a coma in his house in Florida. My maternal grandfather was extremelywealthy, and was a huge real-estate owner with thousands of acres of lands. The Arab government confiscated this land and he was poor, his work gone to waste. So yes, my family has lived in the tyranny of the Arabs in Iraq. This would obviously make me Sephardic. My ancestry traces back to Babylonia, on the Euprates and Tigris river. I was born in America.
Now for you

[christian]

Just a curiousity,
I heard many iraq jews go to china, during the silk road era.
Please look at this website.

http://www.sino-judaic.org/

In china, the muslim carries a contempt for jews. We call them white cap" muslim". The Black cap refers to a jews.

For some reason, the muslim carry their hatre with them in China.
They carry their hatre with jews before the establishment of Israel. They hate jews since israelis dispersed between nations.

This is the fact.

[bakuda]

I'm ashkenazi. Both parents from Poland.... from Lublin and Vilno. Still have family in Szczecin. Grandpa owns a fishing boat and a honey business. Have cousins all over the world.... what else can i say? I was born and live in Chicago. I'm 19.

[McSceptic]

Hey! I was in Szezecin last week. Interesting place, tho they're not very keen on Germans.

I'm Irish-Italian on my father's side, Scots-Orcadian on my mother's. Religions include Catholic, Protestant and Golf. No Jewish connection at all, unfortunately.

[sharonbn]

I am 34 Jew living in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Both my parents were born here in Israel.

From my mother's side: Her father and mother are from Russia. They came to Israel in 1921 as Zionists and settled in a village near Haifa (that was later to become a suburb of the city.) My grandfather was one of the founders of "Agudat Hashomer" (guardian association) with Alexander Zaid. He was killed in the war of independence, leading a supply convoy to Jerusalem.

From my father’s side: His parents are from Poland. (that would make me Ashkenazi They met and married here in Israel. My grandfather, being a Zionist teenager, left home in 1929, crossed the German border on foot, and applied and received certificate to immigrate to British-ruled Israel. He became a member of “Gdood Ha’avoda” (The work regiment), a group of young Jews dedicated to the development of infrastructure in Jewish towns and settlements. Later on, he became an owner of a not-so-successful construction company. All of my grandfather’s family: father, mother and eight brothers and sisters perished in the holocaust.

My father is a retired architect His last post was City Engineer of Jerusalem. My mother is a retired teacher. She was a teacher and manager of an “Ulpan”, school of Hebrew for new immigrants.

I was born six weeks before the six-days war (day after tomorrow, 20/4, is my birthday!) in Haifa. After the war, my parents moved to Jerusalem, where I spent a pleasant childhood.
I remember back in the early 80’s when I was in high school my friends and I used to go on Friday nights into the old city, stroll the empty dark allies, finally stopping on an all-night bakery, inhaling the sweet smell of Hashish that the owner smoked from his Nargilla, tasting his pastry.
On Saturdays the family would go to a small Arabic workers-restaurant in the eastern city. There was no menu. The chef would invite you into the kitchen, where you could glimpse at the food being cooked in large pots. You would then point to the pieces of lamb/beef/chicken you want.
I doubt if Israeli Jews will have such experiences in the future...

I have one older brother, married with 3 children. He is a private investigator. We’re both very fond of computer games...

I served for 7 years in the computer center of the Israeli air force, after which I remained in Tel Aviv. I now work for a software company. I consider myself an Atheist Zionist left-wing liberal Jew. Recently I became a proud father to a beautiful, blond, blue-eyed baby girl. The mother and I are not married, we were romantically involved some 10 years ago and remained good friends ever since.

[General X]

I like computer games as well. Especially RTS such as
Empire Earth
Starcraft Series
Warcraft Series
Total Annihilation
Age of Empires
Age of Empires: Rise of Rome
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
BattleRealms
soon to be...
Warcraft III
Age of Mythology
or possibly...
Rise of Nations

oops got a little off topic there

Interesting family history too. So I guess there are no sephardim to accompany me here? I feel left out

[takeo]

hi,
I'm living in Paris, born hre, and both my parents are atheist Ashkenazi Jews from Russia. My mother comes from Kharkov in the Ukrain and my father from Sverdlovsk in the Ural mountains.
My grandparents came from Moldova on mother's side and still speak some Romanian, my mother still speaks some Yiddish as well and had a religious education. They were evacuated in WWII but survived.
My grandfather on father's side died fighting the nazi's in the north of Russia, near lake ladoga, both were highranking in the cpsu.
My parents both went to France in the 60's to work for the russian university, later on they married here and decided to stay, I studied history and now work for a company.

[Mediocrates]

2nd generation American of mixed Belarussian, Polish, Irish, Italian, German ancestry. 3 grandparents born outside the US. Northern expat transplant to the American South East Baptist Bible Belt. Come from a long line of labor union organizing socialist progressives, activist lawyers, chemists and government employed scientists. Republicans think I'm a communist and communists think I'm a traitor. Mathematician and economist by training. Work at computer security. Becoming increasingly frustrated with Conservative Judaism. You can never be too radicalized in defense of Israel.

[Moon]

I live in Portugal (the coffin-shaped country next to Spain)

My father converted to Judaism. I think he did it after know that before the Inquisition the Portuguese population was 60% Jewish and he was likely to be descendent for his name. He also was very fond of the Jewish culture. His parents were somewhere between catholics and communists.

My mother converted to Judaism mainly for love (I believe). Her family was extremely extremely catholic, so it was a bit of scandalous.

In 1984 my parents made me. When I was 5 we made Aliya. They had a hard time finding a steady job as jornalists. Massive Russian immigration begins. Impossible to find a job. Gulf War. Financial problems. 1991 we go back to Portugal. The unhappy part of my childhood begins. Later I decide not to tell I'm a Jew nor Israeli. My parents are explointed at work. They start an endless process of divorce. I get used to change house all the time. My mom seems less Jewish everyday.

In 2001 I finally visit Israel (only now due to my age). My mother goes mad.

Well... Now in 2002 I'll see if I can return to Israel, to study and know Israel. If the country doesn't disapoints me, I'll go to the army, get a life, be a Jew among Jews instead of a lonesome Jew, get married, get divorced, get married again, have kids, get divorced and get old. I don't intend to get divorced but I'm used to see that as normal...

I hope I can restore my happiness or at least some of it.

[thrud]

My father's parents immigrated to the US during the Great Depression from Sterling, Scotland. My mother's parents immigrated from Edinburgh, Scotland right before WWII.

My father's family went to Detroit and mom's to Salt Lake City. My dad went to college at BYU in Provo, Ut and met my mom there. I am a Latter-day Saint (LDS or Mormon as some people say -- Mormon was a word invented by the people who hate us) died in the wool, true (BYU) blue, through and through.

My wife is also LDS and from South Korea. We have three children. I have been living in South Korea for about six and a half years (not continuously -- I came here the first time in 1986).

I have been interested in Israel all my life and hope to travel there soon (my wife is afraid to go right now). My dad learned to speak Yiddish and modern Hebrew while in the US ARMY as well as Farsi, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, French, and German. I speak English, very bad English, a smattering of British, and Korean (extremely easy to read, harder than hell to speak). My dad pushed an interest in Israel on all his children (eight -- a medium sized LDS family) and wished that I had the brains to pick up modern Hebrew like three of my younger brothers.

I am a bit more militant than my family and outspoken in my opinions and as I have a proclivity for profanity, I am kind of the Black sheep.

I hate everything I see in the news regarding Israel and the Palestinians, but I am not stuck helplessly in the middle. I decided long ago that the Palestinian infrastructure and people as a whole are not interested in being neighbors (good or bad), they are more interested in the eradication of a people. Genocide should be a rallying cry for every person.

[ibrodsky]

Moon:

I am curious to know how things are for a Jew in Portugal, and whether the media is biased against Israel.

[Moon]

The Portuguese media is definately biased against Israel. Some examples: Whenever there was a suicide bombing, the focus was in what would be "the Jewish army retaliation". When Annan said that "Israel should end its illegal ocupation and the Palestinians should stop its morally repugnant acts of suicide bombings", the media only quoted on what Israel should do. It was made public an article by a Palestinian shrink explaining the justification of suicide bombings. Jornalists always take advantage of the nature of Israel as being a democratic state and use the opposition statements.

Here comes the best part: Not only the media is against Israel, as it has the nerve of publishing anti-Semite texts in which the Jewish religion is so disrespected it even uses the name of G-d over and over.

How are things for a Jew in Portugal?

Jose Saramago (a very old man), who won a literature nobel prize, said that "the terroritories are no different from concentration camps". He broke my father's heart.

From a Portuguese dictionnary of recent edition:
Jew - (... the actual definition...), bad man, annoying man
Jew (feminine form) - (...), bad, dishonoured women or girl

In my 4th grade school book there was a story about a Jewish conspiracy on murdering Jesus. Note that 96% of the population is catholic.

There's no "official" hate or mistrust on the Jewish people, but this is deeply buried in people's minds. Yesterday I told someone I was a Jew and she said "You're a Jew? Uau! Concentration camps were cool ... dispite the killings of course ahaha."

My parents were exploited at work because they're Jews.

At school, before I stopped saying I was Jewish, most of the time I said or did something wrong, "Oh, you're a Jew..." No one standed by me.

So today I'm a continuous depressed person, with lack of self-estim, with few little friends who can't wait to go to Israel. I'm certain I'll not find a Paradise but it's a place I can definately call home.

More Jews live here and I believe that those who like Portugal never visited Israel. I could make a deeper and more serious analysis, but only this makes me enough sad.

[ibrodsky]

Moon, thanks for sharing that. I had hoped things were a little better, because long ago Portugal opened its borders to Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. But this was ended, with reportedly some regret in Portugal, when Spain offered to link royal families through marriage.

I'm sure it is very tough for you living in Portugal, and that you will be much happier in Israel.

I live in the US. Though Jews are fully accepted here, I must admit that I have experienced a strange sense of relief when visiting Israel. It's nice to be somewhere where you are not always wondering in the back of your mind whether you are dealing with someone who hates Jews.

I am roughly 50, and I can remember several incidents like this in my life here. Including situations in which people made blatantly anti-semitic remarks to me, obviously not knowing I am Jewish. (Actually, in two cases I think they were just stupid rather than hateful remarks.)

Good luck to you, Moon.

[JustPat]

It is facinating to see the heritage and interests of you all. As for me ...
My father's family came to the US as settlers in the Virginia colony and were freedom fighters and farmers. They were and have always been hard working working class people. There is not a Jew among them.

My mother's family is much more interesting. Her father's family were Irish laborers and farmers who came here during the potatoe blight. Her mother's father was a Jewish doctor who escaped to the US by "converting" to Catholicism which he abandoned (along with his American bride) after having several children. Her mother was a blue blood from Irish Catholic descent and raised the children as Catholics. It's funny though, somewhere deep inside Jewish blood cries out for Israel and her people.

Myself, I was raised Roman Catholic, was persuaded by the Baptists to forsake "the Heresy", was challenged by Pentecostals to find the reality of a relationship with G-d in place of religion, and was brought to the place of being "family" by Herman Weisberg. I remember Herman asking my name, couldn't have been more Irish. His only comment, "There's a lot of good Jews in Ireland." I am thankful for his open heart and encouraging word.

My home is the US, my heart is with the Jewish people.

[elke]

Hi,

I was born in Odessa, Ukraine, but lived in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In 1980, my family emigrated. Our original plans were to come to Israel, but due to high unemployment in my father's field (I was 14 at the time), we came to the US.

In 1982 and 1983 I went to Israel on various programs, and loved it. I wanted to stay, but since I was very young and stupid at the time, I decided to listen to my parents and return to the US.

I really like US, my husband is American, and my 3 children don't speak Russian (but I am teaching them - and myself - Hebrew). I live in New Jersey and work in New York City.

I hope to someday live in Israel.

That's about it....