Kung Fu Jew here, this is my personal blog and chatterbox.
This site began in 2005 as a “peace yeshiva” to be half in Israel, half in the West Bank, where religious and spiritual Jews could connect with their faith and peoplehood while volunteering with Palestinians. When Hamas got elected just a few months into 2006, the project was postponed and ultimately scrapped. The site became my HTML playground and quickly a blog.
I was accidentally raised with a disregard for borders: I’m from 14 homes, twelve cities, and eight states. This constantly roving life meant my Jewish education was scattered and haphazard: my family considers themselves Conservative, aspires to orthodoxy, practices closer to Reform, and our favorite rabbi was a Reconstructionist. My blood roots emphasize landlessness and multiple heritages: my Jewish grandpa from Poland moved to Costa Rica and married a native Costa Rican before moving to LA. My other grandparents trace their lineage back seven generations in California to Conquistador Del Castillo, owner of left half of the San Juaquin Valley, California. I’ve got non-standard yichus.
Being a misfit was something to get teased about in high school, but now it’s the root of my pride. I earned the graduating “best exemplifying Catholic values” award at my Catholic university, to the abject horror of my mother. I wear tzitzit but no kippah. I don’t answer my phone on Shabbat but I check my email. I talk to God. I believe in Moshiach. The presence of too many Jews makes me long for a Catholic. I live in New York City but I refuse to call myself a New Yorker. I pine for the my last home of Seattle in the Pacific Northwest but can’t stand to settle down yet. I study kung fu as a path to nonviolence.
All this makes me an especially unusual Jew and an even more unusual Jewish communal employee. If I had a personal mission statement, it might include something about pushing people to consider the limits on what they normally ignore.
Judaism “without borders” is a multifaceted pun that leaves me smirking with multiple secret meanings and summarizes my feelings on a dozen issues. It implies that Jewish faith is better off without the religious denominations. It means that Judaism should be free from Zionism — because a political interest can only restrict faith’s otherwise universal and unbounded principles. It begs us to remember that there is one authority above all others, be they political, clerical, philosophical: the Infinite One. It says no topic is taboo. It means that the limits are all in your head, if only you would wake up.
If you’d like to reach me, the form below is the best way to do so. Thanks for your interest. I do this because I think it’s fun.
Peace out,
KFJ