A. B. Yehoshua Quotes

I was brought up a Jew but, you know, that way of being Jewish - the New York way. We were stomach Jews; we were Jewish-joke Jews. We were bagel Jews. We didn't go to synagogue. I'm frightened of synagogue to this day.

I grew up in a secular suburban Jewish household where we only observed the religion on very specific times like a funeral or a Bar Mitzvah.

While I am very much Jewish 'identified,' I'm not a very religious person.

As a matter of fact, part of being Jewish is the whole question of what it is to be a Jew.

I believe in Judaism, I was raised a Jew, I'm happy to be one - or proud to be one.

I consider myself more of a cultural Jew; I'm not religious in any way.

I grew up in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis. Our idea of Judaism was no bar mitzvahs and a Christmas tree that had a skirt at the bottom embroidered with the names of my grandparents.

I'm not super, super religious. If this is okay to say, I'm more culturally Jewish.

I love being Jewish, but I think that our generation is the first generation that crossed that line between being a cultural versus a practicing Jew.

There's no such thing as being a cultural Jew. You're religious or you're not.

We are committed to raising our children as Jews. I knew that it had to start with me at a greater level, at a deeper level, if it was going to be a meaningful example to them.

I grew up in the classic American-Jewish suburbia, which has a whole different sense of what it means to be Jewish than anywhere else in the world.

My six handbooks to Jewish life and lifecycle events mostly followed the trajectory of my adult Jewish life.

If you are trying to raise a child to be a Jew, then you have to create a sense of Jewish identity. You really weaken that sense of identity if you celebrate two religions.

I was the kind of Jew who'd be in a bar, somebody would say it's Yom Kippur, and I'd go, 'Really?'

We have our own values; we build our own special, our JEWISH life - and we are proud, so very proud.

I've had a bris, was Bar Mitzvahed and, on occasion, have referred to a temple as a shul. I've never denied it, nor have I disguised it. I am, indeed, a Jew.

I think that being Jewish is in some ways unique because there's this conflation of race, culture and religion.

When my children were born, I made the choice I wanted them to be raised as Jews and to have a Jewish education.

I've liked being Jewish in America - there's a secular version of Jewishness there that's more about bagels and jokes than going to synagogues.

I think that every Saturday, we ought to say, 'My father's a Jew, my mother was a Jew, and I'm a Jew,' with great pride.

My whole life has a Jewish flavour.

I grew up happily immersed in Jewish culture and community.

Spiritually, I'm Jewish.

I'm a good Jewish boy from Edison, New Jersey, so I went and saw 'Fiddler on the Roof' because you have to: that's part of your bar mitzvah experience.