Let me start by saying I am not a jew. I don’t even believe in god, never have. My mom is a crazy person. When I was, I don't know, 11,12, maybe 10, my mother befriended a jew at her work. By this time her native american phase was waning (that will be another post maybe in future). She needed something new to cling onto. My mom and dad decided to befriend this jews parents who were my parents age. My mother and father forced the family to go to synagogue a few times. The first time I went, after the service I went outside and sat on the fence in the dark. (Jew service is on Friday nights). It was symbolic of my feelings towards being forced into this. Now a little background. My family never went to church, ever. But did celebrate christmas and easter. Both of them had expressed before their belief in god but not jesus. Never claimed a specific religion. After going to a few services. My mother decided she wanted to convert to judaism and forced the whole family to do. Well, I think I was the only one not willing. You see my whole dang family has issues. The conversion ceremony was extremely awkward. I had to swim naked in the 7ft or 8ft deep pool and read some hebrew while treading water. But it was actually in hebrew letters, so someone who didn't know hebrew could read it. I had to do this in front of the female rabbii (a stranger), my mom, and sister. I don't believe in god and I don't believe in any religious voodoo. I dont not consider myself jewish. Everyone else in family embraced it like they were jewish their whole life. Even as a preteen I was disgusted by their actions. My sister who is a year younger told everyone she was jewish, it was a small community so everybody fucking knew. That stupid bitch even went to school wearing a yamaka for a while. It was because of her I had to explain to way too many people my family is jewish but I am not. Then kids would be like “but if your family is jewish you are”. Basically I was labeled a jew from middle school on throughout high school. It was fucking embarrassing. Of course it was a rural community so we were the only “jewish” family. I got asked a million questions every holiday season that I didn't have answers to because I didn't care to learn about the religion. Let me clear, no one hated me for being jewish. But it was brought up alot during holidays and I fucking hated it. For instance, Because of my loud mouth sister, our latin teacher (we were in the same latin class) found hannuka songs in latin for us to sing. I wanted to die in my seat. Now that I am separated from people I went to school with and my family, it is no longer an issue. I could go on and on. It's just a rant. I hate my family if you couldn't tell. I haven't talked to them in years.