Jewish Identity was Very Important to Non-religious Jews, Even During the Holocaust

I will copy part of an actual E-Mail that I received today from my cousin in Israel:

Hi Gary,
Happy Passover! We're still reminiscing over our amazing seder last Passover and how great it was to have everyone here. This year was much quieter. One of [my husband's] friends came, which definitely made it more celebratory. He is the child of Holocaust survivors and during the seder he suddenly remembered his mother telling him years ago that when she was in the camps, the Jewish prisoners figured out it was Passover and decided not to eat any bread. To punish them for this act of Jewish identity, the Nazis said that if they weren't eating bread, then they clearly weren't hungry, so they didn't need any other food either. [Passover lasts 7 days] Despite this, his mother said that it was that important to her, even though she didn't come from a religious background, to not eat bread, and that even though they were starving, she felt much stronger that week.

When I was in Israel, a year ago, I learned that Judaism is a nationality, more than it is a religion. Many Jews in Israel are non-religious, yet their Judaism was very important to them. Jews feel a kinship toward Jews in all nations. This is why Israel is so important to the Jewish people. No matter where you live, if you are Jewish, Israel is your homeland. This is why Zionism is an important part of Israels culture. Jewish people were scattered throughout the world, many Jews lost their religion, but we all retained our Jewish identity. Zionism is an effort to repatriate the scattered Jews of the world in their homeland, Isreal.

Zionism in Israel does not exclude Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians or any other people. Arabs live, work and worship freely amongst the Jews in Israel.

My cousin, who wrote me this E-mail, and her husband are American Born, we grew up together. They moved to Israel 20 years ago to return to their "Homeland" and start their own Jewish family.

Unfortunately, the Identity of Western Jews is being destroyed, not by Arabs, Muslims nor Palestinians, but by intermarriage. Our traditions are being lost in this new generation where today's young American Jews are more concerned with their sexual identity than their Jewish Identity.

I never knew why, but I always considered it very wrong for a Jew to marry a gentile. Now I know why.