It is Sisterhood’s hope that through our Women’s column, you can find a sense of belonging, a place of empathy, of mutual compassion, a home for the Jewish woman’s voice. Life is filled with Light and Shadow, up and downs, faith and disbelief. We hope these words can be a ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds lifting your soul.
The feeling of belonging comes at us like the Viennese Waltz: the glamour of a new place, the graceful couples who seamlessly hold time in their hands and maneuver about each other sweeping from one action to the next without flaw, keeping rhyme and measure in constant balance of the often rapid steps and movements. Anyone can dance, you think. So, it’s your turn. You take a partner’s hand, but realize the timing is too fast, you cannot keep up, so you stumble and fall. Maybe belonging isn’t so easy.
In praising friends who are converting and meeting new members who are exploring their options in the community, I am reminded of the anxiety of “Belonging.” I spoke with a new member whose voice was guarded and who appeared uncomfortable in the space swarming with new faces. We shared mutual anxieties over the language barrier, confusion on the length of the service, fear of the word “Oneg” and what that even meant. We laughed over my initial angst regarding my tattoos that screamed, “Hi. I am NOT a Jew!” Then I was asked, “How did you do it? Find a way to belong?”
The answer came in the form of taking a risk; by getting involved in the community. I found my home in Sisterhood - A woman’s organization at TBI that is united in friendship, compassion, philanthropy, and awareness. In Sisterhood, I discovered an outlet for my inner baker, a home for my philanthropic ideas, a time to explore my spirituality and a tolerant space for my feminist beliefs. I found a piece of myself in my Sisters.
“You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely or isolated from anyone. You belong.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald
© 2014 DNKG Belonging; Originally printed in Kehillah April 2014
