A bit of a long story but my Grandfather left my Mum when she was a young child. We've always wondered what happened to him, we know he was a POW in WW2 for many years and suffered from PTSD so we think this had a big part to play in the family break down. We've always wondered what happened to him and have been searching to find the answers. Slowly we are getting somewhere and managed to reconnect with a cousin who told us a lot about our family we didn't know. It turns out my Grandfather was Jewish, his mum came from an orthodox Jewish family and emigrated to the UK. My Great Grandmother married a non Jew and her parents discommunicated her and so (I guess) because of the hurt and rejection raised her children (my Grandfather) as non Jewish but with a knowledge that they were Jewish by blood and descent.
Tbh I'm pretty fascinated by it all. It's all very new to me and it feels like we've discovered a room in our house that we didn't know existed. There are a lot of mixed feelings that come along with finding out about our long lost family, excitement to find out more, joy at finding a cousin my mum hadn't seen in 60+ years but also with a tinge of rejection after hearing all that happened. I'm not sure what to make of it all and while I'm very interested to find out more about Jewish culture, part of me thinks what's the point, it didn't want us. Is this the right way to think? Should we just put it aside and accept its not our culture since we are not Jewish? Or is it something we should look into as it's in our blood? I'm sorry if this is a pointless post, I'm just trying to make sense of it all...