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You have a smattering of different 'lineages' in your ancestry. I do too, Polish, Russian, Romanian, etc. But while many of those for you became diluted/murky over time (as my 'nationality' lineage did) the enduring 'lineage' for me is 'Jew'. I know I am one, because I was told early on in my life, just as my parents were told early in theirs.
I want to 'read into my heritage' for the sake of interest - I am interested in how such a lineage links to practising a faith, aspects of 'race' such as having certain distinguishing physical features (Based on looks and mannerisms certain people are easily identifiable as Jewish), or both.
I guess the interest lies in the probability that Judaism, if not practised, will become so diluted in future generations as to be as relevant as your lineage (by this I mean, have become such a mish-mash so as to 'not mean shit').
I guess I'm saying I disagree that being a non-practicing Jew 'doesn't mean shit' at this point in time?
I don't think we're at that point yet though, aside from Orthodox communities where things are more cut and dried there are still many people who would idenitify themselves as Jewish, but we're close to a point where it gets murky. A few generations ago (4) my ancestors came to England from Eastern Europe, which would have been the situation for many Jews of my generation. Jewish communities were stronger then, but now, not so. This makes now an interesting time to be a 'Jew', and question what it means before it does actually become irrelevant IMO.
That was just a stream of consciousness really, but I hope there was some sense in there
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