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On a ski lift, I chose Jewish visibility

Updated: Mar 29

Lately, I’ve found myself living in two parallel worlds. There’s the "everyday" reality of work, family, and hobbies—and then there’s my life as a Jewish woman in a post-October 7 world. Like many of us, I’ve often caught myself "calibrating" my identity, wondering exactly how much of my Jewish self is "safe" to share in casual conversation.



I wrote this piece because a recent trip to the Swiss Alps completely changed my perspective on that hesitation.


Here is an excerpt from my article "On a ski lift, I chose Jewish visibility":


I often feel like I live in multiple realities. Most of us do. As a Jewish woman in the diaspora, I can move through daily life talking about kids, work, meals, tennis, vacations, and avoid mentioning my Jewish identity altogether. But since October 7, that separation feels harder to maintain. I’ve come to believe that both realities, ordinary life and Jewish life, have to be held at the same time. I live in a progressive suburb outside New York City, where social causes trend quickly and opinions form faster. Over the past two years, many people I know have come to see Jewish connection to Israel not as ancestral or spiritual, but as political and oppressive. That shift has changed how I move through conversations. A new question now quietly shadows introductions and small talk: How Jewish should I be right now?




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