. . . I am an outsider, a lesbian, a shikse. The Jewish community is not my community. … - Irena Klepfisz

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Quote of the day

The ego encourages you to constantly prove yourself and what you already know. When you are in the presence of someone you feel the need to impress, the ego's automatic response is 'I know. ' The moment you say 'I know,' you are demonstrating that you don't know. You can learn something valuable from everyone, in every situation.

Irena Klepfisz

. . . I am an outsider, a lesbian, a shikse. The Jewish community is not my community. But as a Jew--as a Jew in a Christian, anti-Semitic society--the Jewish community is, and will always remain, my community. Enemy and ally.

Ally, Christian, Community, Enemy, Remain, Shikse

Same Author Quotes

What we grieve for is not the loss of a grand vision, but rather the loss of common things, events and gestures. . . . ordinariness is the most precious thing we struggle for, what the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto fought for. Not noble causes or abstract theories. But the right to go on living with a sense of purpose and a sense of self-worth--an ordinary life.

Ghetto, Grief, Sense, Struggle, Thing, Vision

Poland remains undzer heym, our home, no matter how bitter the memories, how filled with disappointment and betrayal. Amerike iz goles, America is exile, a foreign land in which I speak a foreign tongue. But I will never live in Poland. I do not want to, though I do not see an end to the mourning.

Betrayal, Disappointment, Goles, Heym, Memories, Speak

The aspirations of most people--security, pleasure, leisure, meaningful work, creative and intellectual pursuits--are to be supported. These desires and dreams are not shameful. In supporting them, we are showing solidarity with working people, for whom these are luxuries and not givens.

Dream, Leisure, Luxuries, Luxury, Meaningful, Solidarity

I have never heard of a tradition among Jews that encourages us to support each others' differences. Quite the contrary. What I've always been taught is that Jews forever see each other as bitter enemies whose differences are irreconcilable.

Differences, Forever, Irreconcilable, Support, Tradition

. . . I've stopped wanting to do any work at all. All work is bullshit. Everyone knows that. No matter how many telephones and extensions, no matter how many secretaries, no matter how many names in the rolodex. It's all bullshit.

Bullshit, Everyone, Knows, Matter, Names, Work