I’d be a dreadful subject for the genealogy TV programme,
Who Do You Think You Are. The researchers would only be able to go back three
generations max – after that, all my ancestors sink into a shtetl-style
anonymity. There are no papers, no records – nothing. My mother once told me I
had a great-grandfather called hairy Moishe, and he was said to have chopped
down trees for a living. And that’s it.
In England, having a traceable ancestry has always been
seen as conferring status. You might not
have any money, but if you have blue blood, then you can hold your head up
high. A named ancestor – Lord such and such or squire whoever, really
matters. Most Ashkenazi Jews don’t come
out too well on this scale, I’m afraid.
Recently, I’ve become engrossed in reading history books.
This started with Rabbi’s wonderful Jewish history sermon sequence (still
ongoing!) and broadened to take in Simon Schama, then European and world history
in general. History is partly the story of great men (with some women) and a
ruling elite. Where am I in all of this? With my dubious/non-existent ancestry?
Whenever we read, we like to identify with a character, and feel involved.
Where can someone like me start?
This is the joy of being Jewish. I have no knowledge of
my individual ancestors, but I do know the people of Israel, the Jews, Hebrews –
whatever you wish to call them – are my family. I am part of the Jewish people –
a nobility in itself. When I read history books, I always look for the part the
Jews played – and they always did play a part – sometimes as heroes, sometimes
as victims. They were busy trading, advising, healing people or just getting on
with life. Or perfecting the expressive language of Yiddish which in turn has so
enriched modern day English.
I feel just as good as the person whose family came over
with William the Conqueror. My family goes right back to before the Romans,
before the Greeks, before the Egyptians. This is just as true for Jews by
choice as Jews by birth – we are all part of the same family.
And what a family!
SA
