Census questions always throw me off.

I don’t think of myself as “white” except in comparison to someone who is categorized by some other skintone. I’m certain that my caucasian skintone has played a big role in my life, but I think of myself as simply Jewish. While American Jewry is predominantly a caucasian population, there are African American, Asian, other “ethnicities” as a growing proportion of the population.

Anyways. I tend to think of myself as a minority in that way. It’s very obvious to me that America is a Christian nation. My nephew from Israel just didn’t get what the big deal is that there’s a NYC street named after Golda Meir; but to me and most Jews who have grown up in America and know Israeli and Jewish history, that’s a big thing.

At my current temp job, about half the employees are Israeli. It’s exciting for me to be around the language and culture again.

What was really exciting for me was when one of them brought in apples and started looking for honey. Apples and honey is a traditional Rosh Hashana treat – it’s to symbolize a sweet new year. I’m used to offices where maybe you get an electric menorah at Chanukah…. at this office, my cultural traditions get to take a forefront. We peeled and cut up the apples, and I poured out some honey from a honey bear, and we invited everyone to come try it. We taught them how to say “Shana Tova U’metukah” (a good and sweet year) before they went back to their cubicles. There were a lot of return trips for seconds and thirds and fourths!