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LonelyJar
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11 Feb 2014, 7:04 am

Shalom. I was born Orthodox, but I don't feel I was successfully raised Orthodox. I always remember daydreaming during my Judaic courses more often than in my secular courses; it's probably because I couldn't personally connect with the teachers. My high school was all about pluralism, but the way the faculty went about teaching courses and whatnot made me feel like they were unintentionally pleasing no one. In college, none of my courses involved religion, and I could almost never make time for attending Jewish clubs because I was struggling just to get good grades in my classes.
I almost always sleep in during Shabbos afternoons, so there's no Shabbos learning for me. I'm terrible at planning a schedule and sticking to it, so I don't go to Jewish education events during the weekdays. Heck, I don't even know Hebrew too well. I feel like I'm in the midst of an existential crisis; I want to become more Jewish, but I don't know how to start.



JacobV
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05 May 2014, 11:14 am

gailryder17 wrote:
This is sort of a group discussion/chat for Jews on the spectrum. Let me introduce myself.

I was diagnosed with autism at 18 months. My family members and I are Ashkenazi Jews, technically Conservative, though we don't practice as much as we used to. We live in Los Angeles.


looks like i'm a little it late to the conversation. I found your description similar so i thought i'd share. I was diagnosed much later in life. My parents were both ashkenazi as well. I don't practice much... what I do is mostly out of habit

I think it is particularly hard for us to cope... the social expectations among our ranks are quite high and acceptance can be even harder to achieve... and don't get me started with dating... being a jewish guy with no social skills + no high-earning job.... there is nothing attractive about that :(



Kraichgauer
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05 May 2014, 12:50 pm

My maternal grandmother's maiden name was obviously of Jewish origin, but as far back as her family could remember, they had been Prussian Lutherans. In all honesty, I see this Jewish branch in my family tree as little more than just a curiosity, and I regard my ethnic/religious identification to be German Lutheran. I'm much more a son of Arminius than I am of Abraham.


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MaxE
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07 May 2014, 7:05 pm

As there is an Autism Spectrum there is also a Jewishness Spectrum. If not convinced, spend a little time at Jew or Not Jew.

Anyway, in my case, I was raised by atheists (my mother actually joined the Methodist Church for social reasons but admitted to me not long before her death at 92 that she never believed any of that stuff).

Anyway, I was always somewhat attracted to Judaism (there may be reasons why aspies would find Judaism an attractive religion) but it would have been an idle interest except that 30 years ago I was engaged to a Jewish woman and decided to convert via the Reformed branch which makes it debatable whether I am in fact Jewish or not.

I could talk about how halachically valid my conversion was but won't. One motivation was that I didn't want to raise my kids in one of those interfaith homes where they light the menorah on a credenza next to the Christmas tree.

The fact is that I have continued to practice Judaism ever since. In fact I have fasted every Yom Kippur (at one point I learned there was a study to determine how many Jews actually practice Judaism and apparently the minimum criterion was fasting on Yom Kippur). I haven't much worried whether other people consider me Jewish however I generally expect they won't because there's usually no reason to think so and I don't feel a need to bring it up.

But I did feel I should post to this thread.



Kraichgauer
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07 May 2014, 7:47 pm

MaxE wrote:
As there is an Autism Spectrum there is also a Jewishness Spectrum. If not convinced, spend a little time at Jew or Not Jew.

Anyway, in my case, I was raised by atheists (my mother actually joined the Methodist Church for social reasons but admitted to me not long before her death at 92 that she never believed any of that stuff).

Anyway, I was always somewhat attracted to Judaism (there may be reasons why aspies would find Judaism an attractive religion) but it would have been an idle interest except that 30 years ago I was engaged to a Jewish woman and decided to convert via the Reformed branch which makes it debatable whether I am in fact Jewish or not.

I could talk about how halachically valid my conversion was but won't. One motivation was that I didn't want to raise my kids in one of those interfaith homes where they light the menorah on a credenza next to the Christmas tree.

The fact is that I have continued to practice Judaism ever since. In fact I have fasted every Yom Kippur (at one point I learned there was a study to determine how many Jews actually practice Judaism and apparently the minimum criterion was fasting on Yom Kippur). I haven't much worried whether other people consider me Jewish however I generally expect they won't because there's usually no reason to think so and I don't feel a need to bring it up.

But I did feel I should post to this thread.


You are who or what you believe yourself to be. If you believe yourself to be a Jew, regardless of birth, then you are a Jew.
There are of course limits to this rule - if you believe yourself to be Superman, and you jump off a skyscraper, chances are, in the remainder of your life, you'll realize that you are in fact not Superman.


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EphraimB
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01 Jan 2016, 3:53 pm

I'm Jewish and I have High Functioning Autism


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ASPartOfMe
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01 Jan 2016, 5:19 pm

Paraphrasing Adam Sandler
ASPartOfMe Jewish

Raised conservative
I true Aspie klutz fashion had a wicked shiner at my Bar Mitzvah, I lost a fight a to the 2nd klutziest guy in school the week before

Davening is repeated repetitive motions


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Deltaville
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01 Jan 2016, 5:22 pm

I am half-Jewish.


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09 Jan 2016, 8:20 pm

I'm Jewish (though Chabad would fight with my credentials) and an aspie.

I remember insisting on doing my whole Bat Mitzvah a) at age 12 and b) in Hebrew, even though my family wasn't religious enough to care. Memorizing the Haftorah was probably one of the most fun challenges my memory had.


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EphraimB
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09 Jan 2016, 11:55 pm

Deltaville wrote:
I am half-Jewish.

There's no such thing as half-Jewish. You're either Jewish or not Jewish.


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Deltaville
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10 Jan 2016, 12:29 am

EphraimB wrote:
Deltaville wrote:
I am half-Jewish.

There's no such thing as half-Jewish. You're either Jewish or not Jewish.


One of my parents are Jewish. Simple as that.


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naturalplastic
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10 Jan 2016, 8:30 am

EphraimB wrote:
Deltaville wrote:
I am half-Jewish.

There's no such thing as half-Jewish. You're either Jewish or not Jewish.


Not necessarily.

To Gentiles if either of your parents were Jewish, and the other was not then you're "half Jewish".
To Jews if your Mom was Jewish, and your dad was not, then you're !00 percent Jewish. But if your Dad is Jewish and your mom is not then your "half Jewish".

Kinda like President Obama. In most of the World he is considered "half Black", but in the Jim Crow South there was no such concept as "half Black". If you were one part in sixteen Black, and 15 sixteenth White you were "Black" in the American south. So a guy who achieves the Oval office in an American context who is 8/16th African is "our first Black president".



kraftiekortie
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10 Jan 2016, 8:52 am

My mother is Jewish, so I'm Jewish.

I was raised with some vague belief in God--but I didn't go to synagogue nor church--only in summer camp!

I'm an agnostic/atheist, though I sometimes consider myself to be Jewish "culturally."



Summer_Twilight
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10 Jan 2016, 9:24 am

I started keeping the torah 4 years ago and observing the laws and feasts.

You could say that I am spiritually Jewish but I haven't converted so you can call me torah observant.



EphraimB
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10 Jan 2016, 9:46 am

naturalplastic wrote:
EphraimB wrote:
Deltaville wrote:
I am half-Jewish.

There's no such thing as half-Jewish. You're either Jewish or not Jewish.


Not necessarily.

To Gentiles if either of your parents were Jewish, and the other was not then you're "half Jewish".
To Jews if your Mom was Jewish, and your dad was not, then you're !00 percent Jewish. But if your Dad is Jewish and your mom is not then your "half Jewish".

Kinda like President Obama. In most of the World he is considered "half Black", but in the Jim Crow South there was no such concept as "half Black". If you were one part in sixteen Black, and 15 sixteenth White you were "Black" in the American south. So a guy who achieves the Oval office in an American context who is 8/16th African is "our first Black president".


In the Jewish belief, if your mother is Jewish and your father is not, then you're Jewish. If your father is Jewish and your mother is not, then you're not Jewish.


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My neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 70 of 200
I'm very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)

My personality type: INTJ-T


kraftiekortie
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10 Jan 2016, 9:58 am

I would say Obama counts as our first black President. To his credit, he has not emphasized that fact too much.

Yes, I would follow Judaism's conception of the meaning of Jewishness.