Long story short, I found out my great-great grandma on my mother’s side was Jewish. She fled Germany before WW2 and many of her family members–including her mother–died in the holocaust. As you can imagine, this was a bit of a shock for me. I’ve always viewed the holocaust from an outsiders perspective, but knowing it was my ancestors fills me with emotions I have trouble explaining. I am now grieving people I didn’t know existed a month ago.
A rabbi I spoke to told me I am Jewish since my matrilineal line is unbroken. (At least up until my great-great-great-great grandma, which is what I was able to trace.) It is my understanding that different denominations of Judaism may view my Jewish status differently, but everyone I’ve asked so far seems to agree that matrilineal descent=Jewish.
My family doesn’t seem to care about any of this. I try to tell them about our family’s past and they brush me off. Yes, only one branch of my family is of Jewish descent, but I still think it’s important to explore that part of my identity. They just tell me it’s in the past.
I have many Jewish 3rd and 4th cousins living in my city who are descendants of my great-great grandma’s siblings. I am wondering if I should reach out to them to see if they have any information on my family’s background, but I don’t want to weird them out, if that makes any sense.
Nothing in my life has changed since I discovered I’m Jewish, but it still came as a bit of a shock.
Has anyone else here been in a similar situation?
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Source: Reditt
