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Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life
Suddenly Jewish: Jews Raised as Gentiles Discover Their Jewish Roots
One woman learned on the eve of her Roman Catholic wedding. One man as he was studying for the priesthood. Madeleine Albright famously learned from the Washington Post when she was named Secretary of State. "What is it like to find out you are not who you thought you were?" asks Barbara Kessel in this compelling volume, based on interviews with over 160 people who were raised as non-Jews only to learn at some point in their lives that they are of Jewish descent. With humor, candor, and deep emotion, Kessel's subjects discuss the emotional upheaval of refashioning their self-image and, for many, coming to terms with deliberate deception on the part of parents and family. Responses to the discovery of a Jewish heritage ranged from outright rejection to wholehearted embrace. For many, Kessel reports, the discovery of Jewish roots confirmed long-held suspicions or even, more mysteriously, conformed to a long-felt attraction toward Judaism. For some crypto-Jews in the southwest United States (descendants of Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition), the only clues to their heritage are certain practices and traditions handed down through the generations, whose significance may be long since lost. In Poland and other parts of eastern Europe, many Jews who were adopted as infants to save them from the Holocaust are now learning of their heritage through the deathbed confessions of their adoptive parents. The varied responses of these disparate people to a similar experience, presented in their own words, offer compelling insights into the nature of self-knowledge. Whether they had always suspected or were taken by surprise, Kessel's respondents report that confirmation of their Jewish heritage affected their sense of self and of their place in the world in profound ways. Fascinating, poignant, and often very funny, Suddenly Jewish speaks to crucial issues of identity, selfhood, and spiritual community.
- GenresJewishNonfictionReligion
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First published April 1, 2000
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March 3, 2011
Over the space of 15 months, Barbara Kessel interviewed the men and women who responded to her advertisement seeking people who had been raised non-Jews but who had discovered Jewish roots. She posted her notices in the New York Times Book Review, on adoption websites, genealogy sites, and the like. Kessel wanted to find out what happens to your sense of self when it turns out your family is not who you thought they were.
When I first spotted this title at Powells City of Books, I felt immediately rooted to the spot (no pun intended). There had been vague references to Jewish ancestry on my mother’s side of the family, but nothing that was discussed in detail. I hadn’t connected this lineage to my own interest in Judaism — reaching back to elementary school — until that very moment. Odd, but that’s just how things work sometimes.
I took a quick look at the book and flipped through its pages, but slipped it back onto the shelf. I was intrigued, but also a bit thunderstruck. I needed some time to sit with this.
Not long after, I was back at the bookstore, where I sat down and read through the introduction and chapter on Crypto Jews. I felt a rush of something — calling it ‘destiny’ sounds much too melodramatic; memory? belonging? — and I knew that the paradigm of my own self-identity was shifting, though that in and of itself is not unusual for me. Still, I put the book back on the shelf, again, and went home.
Borrowing “Suddenly Jewish” from the library felt less binding — if I didn’t buy it, I wasn’t necessarily committed to Judaism, right? It’s a rather slender volume of 127 pages, yet I took weeks to read it. The stories are riveting. Page after page of personal accounts of descendants of survivors of the Inquisition, who had converted to save their lives; of children in Europe who were hidden with Christian families to save them from the Nazis; of people whose parents survived the Holocaust and kept their Jewish heritage secret for years afterwards in an effort to forget; of Jewish-born infants adopted by Christian families, who went hunting for their birth heritage decades later.
It wasn’t long before I was digging into my own roots, tracing the family line back to Breslau (in modern-day Poland) in the late 1600s, when my ancestor, Baruch Judah, left for the American colonies. I assume he made the move to escape the Hapsburgs’ forced conversion of the region back to Catholicism. As near as I can tell, it was my maternal grandmother’s father, Horatio Sharrett — the son of a Jewish mother and a Huguenot father — who was raised in an inter-religious home, but I know nothing of his personal faith. I do know that my grandmother was a devout Christian by the time I knew her, though the cousins on my grandfather’s side always suspected her of having Jewish roots.
Where does this leave me? Excited, nervous, proud, confused, righteous, speculative…. You name it. I look back on my previous travels in the Middle East and realize I now might not be received as hospitably in some areas. In Egypt, I absolutely had to visit the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, though I couldn’t really explain why I was drawn there. I remember the times as a child that I knew in my heart I wasn’t a ‘real Christian,’ but didn’t dare tell anyone. In grade school, when we were being taught to be more ‘multi-cultural,’ I was the class dreidel champion and asked my mother if we could make popovers alongside the Christmas cookies.
Some branches of Judaism recognize me as a ‘reclaimed Jew,’ while others might charitably consider me just another ‘wannabe.’ But I have been making inquiries at synagogues in my area, and have been reconsidering some of the assumptions I’ve made about myself in my life. In the meantime, I’m keeping weekly shabbat with my dog and cats. The cats aren’t so much interested, but the dog has developed a taste for challah and has learned to stick close to me as soon as I start lighting candles.
When I think to myself, “I am a Jew,” I want to cry — tears of relief, of fear, of homecoming. This is far from the end of my personal spiritual journey, but I feel as though I’ve just reached into my pocket and pulled out an ancient map I didn’t know I’d been carrying with me all along.
When I first spotted this title at Powells City of Books, I felt immediately rooted to the spot (no pun intended). There had been vague references to Jewish ancestry on my mother’s side of the family, but nothing that was discussed in detail. I hadn’t connected this lineage to my own interest in Judaism — reaching back to elementary school — until that very moment. Odd, but that’s just how things work sometimes.
I took a quick look at the book and flipped through its pages, but slipped it back onto the shelf. I was intrigued, but also a bit thunderstruck. I needed some time to sit with this.
Not long after, I was back at the bookstore, where I sat down and read through the introduction and chapter on Crypto Jews. I felt a rush of something — calling it ‘destiny’ sounds much too melodramatic; memory? belonging? — and I knew that the paradigm of my own self-identity was shifting, though that in and of itself is not unusual for me. Still, I put the book back on the shelf, again, and went home.
Borrowing “Suddenly Jewish” from the library felt less binding — if I didn’t buy it, I wasn’t necessarily committed to Judaism, right? It’s a rather slender volume of 127 pages, yet I took weeks to read it. The stories are riveting. Page after page of personal accounts of descendants of survivors of the Inquisition, who had converted to save their lives; of children in Europe who were hidden with Christian families to save them from the Nazis; of people whose parents survived the Holocaust and kept their Jewish heritage secret for years afterwards in an effort to forget; of Jewish-born infants adopted by Christian families, who went hunting for their birth heritage decades later.
It wasn’t long before I was digging into my own roots, tracing the family line back to Breslau (in modern-day Poland) in the late 1600s, when my ancestor, Baruch Judah, left for the American colonies. I assume he made the move to escape the Hapsburgs’ forced conversion of the region back to Catholicism. As near as I can tell, it was my maternal grandmother’s father, Horatio Sharrett — the son of a Jewish mother and a Huguenot father — who was raised in an inter-religious home, but I know nothing of his personal faith. I do know that my grandmother was a devout Christian by the time I knew her, though the cousins on my grandfather’s side always suspected her of having Jewish roots.
Where does this leave me? Excited, nervous, proud, confused, righteous, speculative…. You name it. I look back on my previous travels in the Middle East and realize I now might not be received as hospitably in some areas. In Egypt, I absolutely had to visit the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, though I couldn’t really explain why I was drawn there. I remember the times as a child that I knew in my heart I wasn’t a ‘real Christian,’ but didn’t dare tell anyone. In grade school, when we were being taught to be more ‘multi-cultural,’ I was the class dreidel champion and asked my mother if we could make popovers alongside the Christmas cookies.
Some branches of Judaism recognize me as a ‘reclaimed Jew,’ while others might charitably consider me just another ‘wannabe.’ But I have been making inquiries at synagogues in my area, and have been reconsidering some of the assumptions I’ve made about myself in my life. In the meantime, I’m keeping weekly shabbat with my dog and cats. The cats aren’t so much interested, but the dog has developed a taste for challah and has learned to stick close to me as soon as I start lighting candles.
When I think to myself, “I am a Jew,” I want to cry — tears of relief, of fear, of homecoming. This is far from the end of my personal spiritual journey, but I feel as though I’ve just reached into my pocket and pulled out an ancient map I didn’t know I’d been carrying with me all along.
April 8, 2017
Suddenly Jewish
Madeline Albright brought this issue into focus when she announced and figured out that she was not really the Cheistian she was raised to be but rather someone with Jewish roots. Many a so called Gentiles have grown up in the non Jewish world have an unexplainable pull towards things that are Jewish. Thes people ,aye drawn to Judaism, have Jewish friend or just plain be drawn to Jewish environments. The discovery that they have Jewish blood coursing through their vein can say me times come as a major shock or as an aha kind of moment that explains things. These hidden Jews are present in Converso or Anusim communities, hidden children, holocaust survivors and adoptees.
In 1492 Spain issued an edict commanding all Jews to flee, die or convert to Catholicism. Even after the Jews converted them were still persecuted. Many perished rather than convert, while others fled. Many who on the heels of Columbus to America were conversos or Anusim. Outwardly they were Catholic but secretly they were Jews. I vent with their Catholic ruse the inquisition was hot on their heels. To maintain their ruse they would become member of the clergy, publicly eat pork. Inside their house they would Light Shabbat candles, sweep the floor a certain way, even maintain underground synagogues. They tried to maintain the practice of marrying among themselves.
The next group is the hidden Jews. Abraham Foxman , director of the ADL, was one such child that fully illustrates this concept. To ensure his survival during the holocaust his parent gave him to a nanny. For the first five years of his life he was raised catholic l. After the Holocaust was over the parent tried to retrieve him but by that point the nanny had become attached to him and would not let him go. The parents got him back but it was several years before he shed all his Catholic practices. There are many like him who grew up unaware of the year their Jewish heritage.
Others are children of Holocaust survivors, who upon arriving from the blood stained sands of Europe drooped all ties to their former religion. Why suffer persecution again? Why subject your children to such stigma? Many nominally converted to other religions, some actively became even atheists. The children are often times upset becaus they may have swallowed some antisemitic beliefs. Other kind of always knew it sometimes there is resentment for having their Judaism kept hidden away from them and many times it will provoke a quest into the realm of Jewish thought and life.
The adoptees are the final category. There is the story of someone who grew up with a staunch Mormon background. This individual knew they were different because of their dark complexion. This discovery would later fuel a quest to explore the Judaic world. Another young woman was adopted into a conservative Jewish family. Her real parents were a Palestinians father and an Irish mother. Reuniting caused friction to be sure and it propelled her to immerse herself more deeply into the Palestinian world.
The book is short yet it covers lots of ground. Mostly comprised of interviews and so subjects relating their story. Very enjoyable and very informative. Wish there were more like it.
Madeline Albright brought this issue into focus when she announced and figured out that she was not really the Cheistian she was raised to be but rather someone with Jewish roots. Many a so called Gentiles have grown up in the non Jewish world have an unexplainable pull towards things that are Jewish. Thes people ,aye drawn to Judaism, have Jewish friend or just plain be drawn to Jewish environments. The discovery that they have Jewish blood coursing through their vein can say me times come as a major shock or as an aha kind of moment that explains things. These hidden Jews are present in Converso or Anusim communities, hidden children, holocaust survivors and adoptees.
In 1492 Spain issued an edict commanding all Jews to flee, die or convert to Catholicism. Even after the Jews converted them were still persecuted. Many perished rather than convert, while others fled. Many who on the heels of Columbus to America were conversos or Anusim. Outwardly they were Catholic but secretly they were Jews. I vent with their Catholic ruse the inquisition was hot on their heels. To maintain their ruse they would become member of the clergy, publicly eat pork. Inside their house they would Light Shabbat candles, sweep the floor a certain way, even maintain underground synagogues. They tried to maintain the practice of marrying among themselves.
The next group is the hidden Jews. Abraham Foxman , director of the ADL, was one such child that fully illustrates this concept. To ensure his survival during the holocaust his parent gave him to a nanny. For the first five years of his life he was raised catholic l. After the Holocaust was over the parent tried to retrieve him but by that point the nanny had become attached to him and would not let him go. The parents got him back but it was several years before he shed all his Catholic practices. There are many like him who grew up unaware of the year their Jewish heritage.
Others are children of Holocaust survivors, who upon arriving from the blood stained sands of Europe drooped all ties to their former religion. Why suffer persecution again? Why subject your children to such stigma? Many nominally converted to other religions, some actively became even atheists. The children are often times upset becaus they may have swallowed some antisemitic beliefs. Other kind of always knew it sometimes there is resentment for having their Judaism kept hidden away from them and many times it will provoke a quest into the realm of Jewish thought and life.
The adoptees are the final category. There is the story of someone who grew up with a staunch Mormon background. This individual knew they were different because of their dark complexion. This discovery would later fuel a quest to explore the Judaic world. Another young woman was adopted into a conservative Jewish family. Her real parents were a Palestinians father and an Irish mother. Reuniting caused friction to be sure and it propelled her to immerse herself more deeply into the Palestinian world.
The book is short yet it covers lots of ground. Mostly comprised of interviews and so subjects relating their story. Very enjoyable and very informative. Wish there were more like it.
April 14, 2016
Barbara Kessel's Suddenly Jewish: Jews Raised as Gentiles Discover the Their Jewish Roots is a fascinating account of people who responded to Kessel's ads asking, "For a book on identity, I would like to interview individuals raised as non-Jews who discovered they are of Jewish descent." Over 160 respondents contributed to the outcome of this volume, which, in spite of its small stature on the shelf, is intensely gripping, thought provoking, and eye opening. At only 127 pages, I thought it would be a quick, easy read. Not so on either account. Instead, Suddenly Jewish is a spellbindingly emotional read.
To have one's identity reconstructed by a suddenly revealed secret can be shocking. Indeed, many of the interviewees suspected the hidden truth, but others were blindsided by this new information. Kessel shares all: divulging the heartbreaking events that led to hiding, explaining details of the subsequent discovery, and finally reporting the reactions. Reactions are, of course, varied and inconsistent. While some wholly embraced the information, others found it to be of no value. Some became practicing Jews; others remained as they were.
Combining these stories in their original voices with psychological and personal commentary, Kessel weaves a tiny tome of timeless personal events set in historical happenings into a volume that brings tears and laughter to the reader. The narratives are riveting: some are from the time of the Spanish Inquisition and some from the time of the Nazis' Holocaust. Stories of infants saved by adoption, children torn from parents and taken in by Christians, whole families who converted to escape the threat of death that came for fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. These are losses that shouldn't have happened in those ways: death camps, murders in the name of the state, escapes that broke up families. Horrific events. Devastating memories. Families wanted to forget.
Joyous homecomings, too, are found within these pages: mothers and fathers reclaiming children, genealogical searches revealing unknown relatives, discoveries imparting the whys behind one's interest and leanings toward Judaism. Finding that missing piece of identity allowed many peace of mind, completion, fulfillment of an elusive element missing from their lives. Finding completion in the secrets withheld.
Kessel handles each anecdote with grace and dignity. Every life stands in its own right, each way of internalizing his/her history is respected, honored in the telling. Kessel's work appeals to the heart, and it should be carefully, thoughtfully absorbed a few pages at a time.
To have one's identity reconstructed by a suddenly revealed secret can be shocking. Indeed, many of the interviewees suspected the hidden truth, but others were blindsided by this new information. Kessel shares all: divulging the heartbreaking events that led to hiding, explaining details of the subsequent discovery, and finally reporting the reactions. Reactions are, of course, varied and inconsistent. While some wholly embraced the information, others found it to be of no value. Some became practicing Jews; others remained as they were.
Combining these stories in their original voices with psychological and personal commentary, Kessel weaves a tiny tome of timeless personal events set in historical happenings into a volume that brings tears and laughter to the reader. The narratives are riveting: some are from the time of the Spanish Inquisition and some from the time of the Nazis' Holocaust. Stories of infants saved by adoption, children torn from parents and taken in by Christians, whole families who converted to escape the threat of death that came for fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. These are losses that shouldn't have happened in those ways: death camps, murders in the name of the state, escapes that broke up families. Horrific events. Devastating memories. Families wanted to forget.
Joyous homecomings, too, are found within these pages: mothers and fathers reclaiming children, genealogical searches revealing unknown relatives, discoveries imparting the whys behind one's interest and leanings toward Judaism. Finding that missing piece of identity allowed many peace of mind, completion, fulfillment of an elusive element missing from their lives. Finding completion in the secrets withheld.
Kessel handles each anecdote with grace and dignity. Every life stands in its own right, each way of internalizing his/her history is respected, honored in the telling. Kessel's work appeals to the heart, and it should be carefully, thoughtfully absorbed a few pages at a time.
March 15, 2014
This book presents the experiences of a wide variety of people who discover their Jewishness after being raised as non-jews. It covers crypto-jews descended from spanish and portuguese survivors of the inquisition, all forms of disconnect that are related to the Holocaust, adptees, and a variety of other situations in which familial jewish history is forgotten or repressed. I found the discussion of the cognition of jewish identity among people raised as christians to be most interesting and relevant.
December 19, 2009
Excellent book. My only wish is that it included people like myself who were "hidden" Jews from centuries ago. But still - wonderful read.
March 20, 2010
This was pretty much exactly what it touted itself to be. Very interesting!! Mostly summaries of interviews the author conducted.
September 13, 2016
Suddenly Jewish explores the lives of a variety of families for various reasons who have buried their Jewishness, only to have it resurface later through their descendants. Some felt as though a missing link had been given to them when they realized they had Jewish relatives. Others were conflicted. Kessel shared stories from Crypto Jews, those descended from the Spanish inquisition, Holocast survivers who had to hide their Jewish background or were hidden by their parents and even adoptees.
This was a most interesting study.
This was a most interesting study.
May 20, 2015
i connect
December 7, 2019
An extremely serious, intense book of what it is like for Crypto-Jews (mostly Sephardic Jews who are descendants of Spanish Jews who fled from the Inquisition five hundred years ago), Hidden Children, those raised by non-Jews after their parents perished during the Holocaust, Children of Survivors, many whose parents denied their Jewish identity following the trauma they experienced during the Holocaust, and Adoptees. Author Barbara Kessel conducted numerous interviews and spoke with psychologists on the impact of one's roots and identity kept secret by parents and then the often resulting turmoil individuals experienced when they find out the truth and realize they were lied to by loved ones. There were so many different stories, some difficult to follow, but there was one underlying message: for most people, one's identity and family history is integral to their emotional well-being. Everyone wants to feel they belong to a community and identify with a religion or a culture. Kessel writes in many instances of people relating more to Jewish people before even finding out they were Jewish themselves or had Jewish lineage, which raises the question of whether people's traits are influenced more by heredity or environment. An engaging read.
November 28, 2018
Enlightening
It’s a basic sociological survey based on interviews of a sizable sample of people. It’s similar to Raymond Moody’s Life After Life. He interviewed people with NDE’s and found common experiences.
So to here, the author interviews many people from different backgrounds and situations who find out that they are Jewish or connected in a familial way to Judaism.
She identifies common trends, threads, undercurrents, and commonalities shared in their reactions. Then she applies some studies or psychological theories to those trends attempting to explain why people react the way that they do to sudden change or restructure of their identity.
Then in a dramatic turn at the end of the book the author discovers something about herself in the reverse. What it would be like to find out that she wasn’t Jewish...
It’s a basic sociological survey based on interviews of a sizable sample of people. It’s similar to Raymond Moody’s Life After Life. He interviewed people with NDE’s and found common experiences.
So to here, the author interviews many people from different backgrounds and situations who find out that they are Jewish or connected in a familial way to Judaism.
She identifies common trends, threads, undercurrents, and commonalities shared in their reactions. Then she applies some studies or psychological theories to those trends attempting to explain why people react the way that they do to sudden change or restructure of their identity.
Then in a dramatic turn at the end of the book the author discovers something about herself in the reverse. What it would be like to find out that she wasn’t Jewish...
October 4, 2018
I found the stories of each individual to be interesting. But it felt disconnected and dis-continuous. I got confused between the individuals quoted as the author sent back to someone mentioned earlier. The psychological backing for the theories left me confused as well. It almost read like a text book and that was not what I wanted.
While I can agree with some of the theories, and would love to know more about the individuals quoted in the book, I would recommend a lot of editing to make this more readable. That is why I just rated it a 3, even though I was interested in the book all the way through.
While I can agree with some of the theories, and would love to know more about the individuals quoted in the book, I would recommend a lot of editing to make this more readable. That is why I just rated it a 3, even though I was interested in the book all the way through.
May 4, 2023
Perhaps I am being unfair to this book by asking it to be something it was never intended to be - but I read it with the expectation it might include at least some reference to circumstances like my own and...it didn't. I discovered in my early twenties that my paternal grandfather was an Ashkenazi Jew who had been disowned by his family for marrying my Episcopalian grandmother. They never relented. I was hoping that in addition to happy-talk about the joys of being suddenly Jewish, the author had also sought out stories of rejection such as I encountered in my family history and addressed the issue of why it might be important enough to justify the pain it caused. This is not that book.
December 31, 2023
4.7. This thin book is a great primer for those interested in learning the psychology and the experiences of those who find out they are suddenly Jewish. They find out "suddenly" because they were adopted, or are descendants of Jews from the Inquisition or descendants from Jews who experienced the Holocaust and chose to retreat from that identity.
Many of those interviewed in this book already intuited they were Jewish or felt more comfortable with their Jewish friends or in a synagogue before they found out and the final section of the book tries to explain this phenomena. I found great secondary sources from this book and learned more about the history of the Jewish people.
Many of those interviewed in this book already intuited they were Jewish or felt more comfortable with their Jewish friends or in a synagogue before they found out and the final section of the book tries to explain this phenomena. I found great secondary sources from this book and learned more about the history of the Jewish people.
January 23, 2022
I found this book by chance immediately after reading Sarah's Key. The last new character in that book was a Jewish man who hadn't been told about his roots and this book helped explain his reaction when he found out. A fascinating look at the reaction of those who escaped the Holocaust by being hidden or raised by other people and the children of survivors when their ethnic identity was discovered.
May 31, 2020
Heritage are affected by genetic inheritance.Is it good to know where you belong?
September 15, 2020
Really interesting narratives from those who find out they're Jewish later in life. I didn't really understand the thesis, if there was one, but I enjoyed the narratives.
September 1, 2022
Fascinating book! What happens when you find out what you thought you are, your not. Well written. I enjoyed this book.
April 25, 2025
Interesting - but superficial.
December 9, 2019
It wasn't the fun, feel-good read I had expected.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews