ேநாரா ஸ்வீனி

I’ve never felt much of a connection to religion but if I had to categorize myself, I would say that I’m a cultural Jew. I quit Sunday school in fourth grade, I’ve never had a Bat Mitzvah and I’ve never really been interested in going to synagogue. Nevertheless, I’ve found myself constantly reasserting my Jewish identity ever since I came to India. I teach at a Christian college, and most of the faculty members are Christian. When I first arrived on campus, people were always inviting me to go to church with them. I always politely declined and told them that I was Jewish. Most people responded by saying, “What’s that?” A lot of people I’ve met in India have utterly no awareness that Judaism is a major world religion, even though there used to be a thriving Jewish community in Kerala. I was so perplexed by this at first that I had a hard time explaining what Judaism is. The question that always throws me is “Who is your god?” Okay, my Jewish education was very limited, but as far as I could tell, god was just god, right? Adonoi in Hebrew? Monotheistic religion? This question might be followed by, “Do you have a picture of your god?” or “So you don’t believe in Jesus?” Sometimes I want to yell “Noooo!!” but I have to try to be patient because in some ways, these are perfectly reasonable questions. There are very few Jews in India. At the same time, I couldn’t stand that most people just assumed that since I was American, I had to be a Christian. I even had a long conversation about Judaism with one of my students, but to my dismay she ended the conversation by saying, “But I still think you look like a Christian.” The other frustrating that most people assume that I’m religious. Religion is a pretty huge part of everyday life in India. Saying I’m a cultural Jew wouldn’t make much sense. People are always surprised when I tell them that I don’t pray.

Anyway, all of these conversations inspired me to embark on something of an educational crusade. I decided that I needed to explain what Judaism was to as many people on campus as possible. This is ironic considering how secular I am. I bought both volumes of MAUS and a book about Jewish holidays for the Shansi center. Then, I decided to have a Hanukkah party on campus to set the record straight. Of course, every time I tried to persuade people to come to the party, I had to not only explain what Hanukkah was, but also was Judaism was. You’d be surprised how many times I’ve said these exact words: “Judaism is a major world religion different from Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.”

In the midst of all of this, a rabbi named Mayer Gruber moved in next door to me. Allow me to reiterate that I’m at a WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN COLLEGE where there are very few men and very few people who know what a Jew is. It’s a funny place for a rabbi to suddenly appear. Of course, I was delighted to have someone around who could understand my sense of humor and say the prayers at the Hanukkah party. I soon found out that Mayer is a Conservative rabbi/professor of Biblical studies who lives in Beer Sheba, Israel. He has always dreamed of going to India, so he got in touch with a friend of a friend of the principal of Lady Doak’s husband, who teaches Biblical studies in Bangalore. Mayer also specializes in women’s studies, particularly in relation to the Bible and the Talmud, so it was strangely appropriate for him to be a women’s college after all. He has spent hours in the library reading about women in India, Muslim women poetesses, and Hindu feminists. He couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

I knew I could depend on Mayer to say the prayers at the party and to refresh my memory about the Hanukkah story. However, I still had a bunch of things to get together. I only had one dreidle but luckily the campus carpenter agreed to make duplicates for me for about three dollars. I called my grandma to get her latke recipe and bought about 8 kilograms of potatoes at the market. I spent a whole afternoon chopping onions, peeling potatoes, and frying latkes with the help of my friends Sharon, Christiana, and Kassia. I was anxious to see how many people would come, but as the afternoon progressed, I got too absorbed in cooking to worry. To my surprise, the party was a big success. When I walked up into the activity center, the room was packed with students, as well as the principal and several professors. I told the story of Hanukkah and explained the traditions. I lit the candles while Mayer said the prayers. Everybody ate latkes and applesauce. Then, the students played dreidle, which was a big hit. Amazingly, I was able to find chocolate coins, so the game was more authentic that I thought it would be. I’m still not sure how many of the students understood what Hanukkah was after the party, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. For sure, I haven’t had anyone ask if I pray to Jesus in quite a while.