In relation to the Topic Of The Day, at least on my feed, I have some thoughts about this.
When I first started wanting to reconnect to Judaism and Jewishness I had a *lot* of anxiety and imposter syndrome, and as a result I leaned very heavily on my ancestral connection. https://twitter.com/JustSayXtian/status/1275796587877412864

Even if I messed stuff up, I rationalized to myself, even if I was embarrassed about not knowing the words to bless children, or when to bow and when to raise my toes, or how to read Hebrew, or when to say 'amen' it was okay for me to be there because I was *ethnically Jewish*.

The two things I've been talking about today - that there is no one right way to do Jewish, and that every Jew is ethnically Jewish - are related for me in my personal immersion into my Jewish self.

I think a *lot* of us are self-conscious about our authenticity. A *lot* of us wish we were more secure in our Jewishness than we feel. A *lot* of us are just waiting for someone to pop out from behind a loaf of challah and demand that we prove we're *really* Jewish.

And because of that, it can be comforting to point to a 23&Me report and say 'See?? I'm ETHNICALLY JEWISH, so I belong, here's proof.' And if you don't have that heritage to point to, I bet the pressure to prove your bona fides is super intense.

The problem is, that isn't what an ethnicity is, and that isn't what makes someone authentic. That 23&Me report doesn't prove anything except that if you're having a kid your doctor will probably want to run some extra tests. That isn't what makes someone Jewish.

The good news is, none of us actually have to prove anything. It isn't required. There's no one just waiting for the opportunity to make sure the people who don't make the cut are evicted from the hall of study. But the *fear* of that can make some very toxic environments.

Which is why it's important to me to be unyielding on affirming that all Jewish practice is valid. All Jewish experience is authentically and completely Jewish. All Jews are equally a member of Am Yisrael, the Peoplehood of Jews, which is all an ethnicity is.

There's nothing to prove. You're doing it right. You belong here. No one is going to make you justify it. And if they do, I can assure you that there a TON of your fellow Jews who will take responsibility, each for each, and back you up. You're Jewish, and you're doing great.