By Natalie Jacobs, Executive Editor

Heena Pranav

Now imagine having valuable life lessons ingrained in your head since you were a child. You’ve grown up learning principles that many people learn the hard way when they’re adults.

This is how senior Heena Pranav leads her life in order to honor her Hindu culture.

“My culture is important to me because it’s a part of who I am. I consider myself religious, and my parents have taught me to keep my religion and culture a priority. It gives me discipline and focus; two values that will help me in life,” Heena said.
In traditional Indian culture, there are arranged marriages. In the United States, the tradition has become less common.

Now, marriage is more of a match making process based on the compatibility between two families and their children.

“When I try to explain the concept of arranged marriages, people are like ‘Oh my gosh, how can people do that? Are you going to get one?’ But in today’s world, it’s more like match making, and no one is forcing you to marry someone specific.
I like the whole concept of match making because I’ll be able to keep my culture, language, and religion within the family for generations to come, and, at the same time, I have a decent amount of input in the process,” she said.

Parents strongly prefer that their children do not date in high school in fear that they may fall for someone who is not of their specific religion.

Like Heena, many Indian teens living in the United States struggle to balance their cultural life with typical American life.

“There are temptations, I mean it’s American society where dating in high school is a norm. I’m the only one out of my friends who isn’t allowed to date, so there’s an obstacle there. But over time I’ve learned to balance the two cultures, so it doesn’t affect me as much,” she said.
In addition to the social restrictions of Indian culture, there are also food restrictions. Most Indians abstain from eating meat because Indians believe in the sanctity of life. Like their religious text says, they have “respect for all living things.”

“I used to feel really different about being a vegetarian because my friends would always ask me how I could not eat meat. I felt out of place. Like most kids, I used to want to fit in with everyone. I wanted to be able to do what everyone else did. But over time, I began to appreciate the fact that I was different. I was different because of my culture that I’ve since learned to embrace. I understand why I am a vegetarian and what other people think is no longer important to me,” she said.
Overall, Heena no longer feels that her culture really puts “restrictions” on her life.

“I’ve learned that there are still many ways to have fun without going against my culture. There is very little that I believe I’m restricted to. I have many Indian friends who go through the same things I do, so it makes it a whole lot easier,” she said.
 

Abby Rohan

Imagine what it would be like to have a day of mandatory rest and relaxation every week. On that day, you cannot occupy yourself with driving, running errands, or doing homework. You can hang out with friends and family who live nearby, as long as you are not doing work.
This is the life that junior Abby Rohan lives as a modern Orthodox Jew. Her family observes every Sabbath (sundown Friday until sundown Saturday) as a religious day of rest.

In the Jewish religion, there are 39 categories of activities typically associated with the building of the Tabernacle, when the Jews lived in the desert for 40 years after their liberation from Egypt. Modern Orthodox Jews are prohibited from performing these activities on the Sabbath.
These laws have been interpreted over time to keep up with technology and other things that were not an issue hundreds of years ago.

Activities such as watching television, driving, listening to music, and working on the computer are regarded as creative work; therefore, they are not permitted on the Sabbath.
“Sometimes, I get very frustrated by the restrictions on Sabbath. Most of the time, it’s not a big deal, though, and I actually enjoy not watching TV, playing on the computer, running errands, and hearing the phone ring constantly. Now that I’m older and naturally inclined to question my beliefs and practices, I realize that I do it because I love and appreciate it,” Abby said.
In several ways, Abby’s adherence to modern Orthodox Judaism affects her academic life. She must do all of her homework on Saturdays after sundown and on Sundays.

“It is a challenge to do all my homework on Saturday night or Sunday, because then I don’t really have time to do much else. But I manage to do all my work and still do well in school. It was extremely hard for me to get everything done for school around the time of the High Holidays. I missed a total of six days of school and had to keep up and do all the work on other days because of the restrictions on the holidays,” she said.
During the winter sports season, she cannot participate in basketball practices and games on Friday evenings and Saturdays. She cannot be with her school friends on Fridays, but she can be on Saturday night.

“I hang out with people on Saturday nights and when I have time on Sunday, and my Jewish practices don’t directly affect anything else in ‘typical’ American culture. There is definitely no struggle between the cultures. Today, I think everyone is bombarded with ‘typical’ American culture, yet there is always room for more involvement in religion and its values,” she said.
Although society calls the prohibited activities “restrictions,” Abby does not feel that they really are restrictions at all.

“Overall, I don’t really feel restricted because I enjoy what I’m doing. My dad always reminds me that it is not common for a family to sit together for long meals and visit with no bothersome TV, phones, or electronics. Being able to relax is kind of nice. Last year, our class had to do persuasive argument, and I argued why people should take a break during the week, and for me, this is the Sabbath,” she said.