Read this New York Times article about a Chinese girl adopted 13 years ago by two American women, who is having a bat mitzvah now. The video showed her studying the Torah for the ceremony and if it wasn't for her straight black hair and Chinese features, she could be just another Jewish girl.
I am happy that she was rescued from an orphanage, but can't help feeling like she's missing out on Chinese culture. Who am I to judge though, is it better for her to be raised Chinese even if she had a lot less material comfort and love? Her two moms seem really devoted to her and they're giving her the nurturing she wouldn't get if she was left behind in an orphanage.
I wonder what will happen when she goes to college, a time when a lot of self-discovery and identity-formation takes place, would she become even more "white" or go to the other extreme and become militantly Asian? Who would she date? White, black, Latino, or Asian guys? Jewish or non-Jewish? She would be judged no matter what choice she makes.
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Comments: 3
i know a kindergarden teacher here who has adopted two chinese kids and raised them jewish , also know a woman whose japanese mother converted..
well as a jewish person i could not be happier that the circle is enlarged whether she feels she misses out on the chinese culture is unclear but as the chinese people have so many people and the jews so few, why not even the score?
as a jewish person who had been raised jewish i still struggle with my identity, i think all of us do not matter if we are asian or african or jewish..
as long as someone cares for you that is all that matters as far as i can see
i never had a bat mitzva, my mother does not like religion and probobly would prefer chinese so there