A Needle in a Haystack

      In some communities, such as in the Helinistic era of Israel, Jewish communities are surrounded by other cultures. I feel that when this happens, it challenges our judaism. It does this by making us feel compromised about our religion as well as our culture. For example, in small jewish communities that are surrounded by christians, during the christmas season most feel uncomfortable celebrating Hanukkah. Because other religions are perhaps arguably more popular than judaism, like all things, jews feel a pressure to adapt to the social standard. For me, at least, I felt this pressure several times when I was younger. This challenged my jewish identity because I felt as if I lost myself. I felt ashamed of my judaism, and therefore was not me. However after going to jewish camps, as well as joining youth groups such as NFTY, I feel more connected to religion despite being surrounded by other religions and cultures.