Even before I traveled to Germany, when I had just started learning the German language, I remember lots of awkward moments with older relatives and family friends. There were pauses or uncomfortable looks when I mentioned I was studying German. No one directly told me I shouldn't study the language, but there still seemed to be this anger and bitterness about Germany.
All of this discomfort stemmed from my Jewish background. I was raised in a Reform Jewish family. My father grew up Catholic, though he hasn't been to church in decades and has always felt a deep admiration for Judaism, and though he never converted, he agreed to raise my sister and me Jewish. My mother grew up in a secular Ashkenazi Jewish household. My mother's upbringing was culturally Jewish, but neither of her parents was religious. My mother only really began connecting with Judaism as a religion in college. She cared deeply about ensuring my sister and I grew up with a closer connection to Judaism and the Jewish world than she did, which is why she sent both of us to Hebrew School and made sure we had Bat Mitzvahs.
