I didn't know I was Jewish until I encountered anti-Semitism at the age of 10, when my best friend told me I couldn't come to their house because I was a Jew.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was nearly a teen-ager before I stopped assuming that everyone I met was Jewish.
Having grown up in a Catholic family, while I felt like I was never conscious of any blatant anti-Semitism, I was aware of a slightly insidious, us-versus-them mentality. A lot of my best friends and early girlfriends were Jewish, and I encountered what was more of a suburban small-mindedness, of people needing to defend their tribe.
I've always felt robbed of something by people not knowing I was a Jew.
I was one of two Jewish kids in my school. We were probably one of two Jewish families in our town.
I do strongly identify with being Jewish. I was raised Orthodox and had a childhood complicated by the fact that my father was deeply religious and my mother was not.
I never paid much attention to being Jewish when I was a kid. In fact, I'd say my religion was more surfing than Judaism - that's what I spent most of my time doing.
I never felt like a good Jew. My mother was not Jewish, and that makes me a non-Jew according to Jewish religious law.
I'm Jewish. Went to a Jewish school.
I really don't even think of myself as being Jewish except when I'm in Germany.
I had always known that I was Jewish - we celebrated the holidays, we went to a synagogue - but I had never known that I was supposed to feel ashamed about it.