NYTimes From a Chinese Orphanage to a Jewish Rite of Passage

simonsun · Post by **simonsun** » 2007-03-09 1:55

“Being Chinese and Jewish is normal for me. Thinking about being Chinese and Jewish is a little strange.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/nyreg ... ref=slogin

simonsun · Post by **simonsun** » 2007-03-09 1:56

would her parents protest when the new adoption law takes effect in china?

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2007-03-09 8:12

That is so weird. Not just the Jewish and Chinese part, but also the lesbian mother AND religiously Jewish part. Oh well, none of these seem fundamentally contradictory.

tiffany · Post by **tiffany** » 2007-03-09 8:35

she was adopted in a time of, more or less, innocence. Not an unlucky girl.

karen · Post by **karen** » 2007-03-09 8:58

I saw that video yesterday, and wow, what a beautiful kid! She is so poised and calm for a 13-year-old. So, if that household allows her to be the kid she is, then jewish or not, it doesn't matter.

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2007-03-09 9:02

Karen, that sounds like a ringing endorsement for a 2-woman household... In other words, if "the maternal instinct" as believed by the world including men is real and great, then 2 mothers must be better than 1.

karen · Post by **karen** » 2007-03-09 10:06

I wasn't endorsing 2-women households. It's more like what a pity for her birth parents. They gave up a baby that has grown up beautifully, and they don't know that.

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2007-03-09 10:11

there were about 1,300 Chinese children adopted into American families from 1991 to 1994, another 17,000 in the second half of the ’90s, and 44,000 since then, according to the State Department.

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2007-03-09 10:22

karen wrote:I wasn't endorsing 2-women households. It's more like what a pity for her birth parents. They gave up a baby that has grown up beautifully, and they don't know that.

I know. I was being facetiious.

Do you really think she could have grown up as beautifully in a household that did not want her?

karen · Post by **karen** » 2007-03-09 11:05

Yeah, you are right. That's the whole point of adoption - to give unwanted children a chance by putting them in the arms of people who want them. Nevertheless, to think some woman gave her up 13 years and never knowing what has become of her, that's sad.
Oh, I am in a sentimental mood today.

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2007-03-09 11:34

It's that clock! Tick, tick, tick...

karen · Post by **karen** » 2007-03-09 11:40

Oh, shush!

simonsun · Post by **simonsun** » 2007-03-09 12:39

karen wrote:Yeah, you are right. That's the whole point of adoption - to give unwanted children a chance by putting them in the arms of people who want them. Nevertheless, to think some woman gave her up 13 years and never knowing what has become of her, that's sad.
Oh, I am in a sentimental mood today.

What about sperm doners or egg doners?

I once saw a piece of ad on schools newspapaer seeking caucasion egg doners. "at least 5'7"", good looking, atheletic, no diabetes or whatever disease history in family". There's another requirement "MINIMUM SAT SCORE XXX, or equivalent..."

汝南 · Post by 汝南 » 2007-03-09 19:40

Is homosexuality allowed in Judaism?

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2007-03-09 21:07

No idea.

Talk about unexpected juxtapositions, I'm reminded of the wife of an ex-colleague. He's white, she's Vietnamese. She came to Alabama as a refugee when she was very young. So now this slender and petite little Asian woman speaks with a Southern accent. Charming to the extreme.

Knowing · Post by **Knowing** » 2007-03-09 21:14

I guess as long as they manage to produce a lot of kids it is not against Judaism? I always feel the center of Judaism, just like Jun's opinion on human life, is that "reproduction is the ultimate goal and only real meaning of life". Might just be my pure igorance.

汝南 · Post by 汝南 » 2007-03-10 18:57

K, I assume adoption is not a means of reproduction? Homosexuality is by nature not reproductive, and that's part of the reason why different churches--be it Christian or Islamic--are against it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_vie ... osexuality

Guess it might the Reconstructionist Judaism they belong to.

I wonder anybody here has read Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land? It is about a Chinese American girl who lives in a Jewish neighbourhood and converts to Judaism as a result.

simonsun · Post by **simonsun** » 2007-03-10 20:27

But it doesn't go as:

A woman shall not lie with another woman...

So I guess lesbians are OK