An itch that must be scratched, the grit in the oyster, a constant feeling that something should be somehow different...describing what being Jewish feels like to me is to search through metaphors and never be entirely satisfied with any of them. And that is entirely appropriate, as for me being Jewish is never to be entirely satisfied, always to be pushing on towards an endlessly deferred goal. Theologically and sociologically, Jews like me always fall short. Our constant failure is our greatest success, the source of our limitless yearning and wandering. I love my inadequate Jewishness.
Keith Kahn-Harris is a sociologist
