Suddenly all is revealed. My need to nurture and feed and - yes, ok, love. I am Jewish. In fact I am a Jewish mother. I always knew, of course that I had Jewish blood - but now I learn that because that blood is on my mother's side, it is all encompassing and total. To surmise, if you are part Jewish via your maternal line, you are in fact Jewish. I love it, because now I understand why I adore seeing people eat lots and frequently, why putting hot water bottles in their beds is a joy ( I can picture their expressions of bliss when they get into bed late, tired and cold, and their toes encounter warmth and cosiness) and why, whenever a guest leaves, I can't really relax until he or she calls or emails to say that he or she is home safe.
And now that everything is falling so beautifully into place, I intend to start learning to cook latkes, I already prepare lox and bagels - it;s just smoked salmon and cream cheese on bagels, isn't it -mmm, heavenly, challah (that gorgeous plaited bread) charoset -a kind of gorgeous cake thing made from chopped apples, nuts, cinammon honey and sweet wine, knish - a dumpling made from mince and potato, and of course baba ganoush - grilled aubergine dip, which I adore - great with pita bread. I can't wait to start feeding huge Jewish meals to my guests. Proper food for thought.
Mazeltov.