Donn O'Meara



Donn O'Meara (July 30, 1924 - September 8, 2004) was an author, linguist and anthropologist. His most well known book, Living Jewish was published in 1972.

Early life and education
Son of noted American author Walter O'Meara and Esther (née Arnold) O'Meara, Donn's mixed, Irish and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage would prove a formative aspect of his life. O'Meara grew up in Minnesota and then lived in New York City as a teen. By the mid-1940s O'Meara had become fluent in several languages, eventually learning Spanish, French, Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, German, Japanese and Hebrew.

While attending Bard College, O'Meara recognized that he was Jewish due to being born of a Jewish mother. He spent the summer of 1942 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He arrived back at school in the fall able to speak Galitzianer Yiddish.

Marriage and World War II
Prior to being drafted into World War II, O'Meara married a woman from Nicaragua named Cecilia Pereira. During the war worked in London, England for the OSS. O'Meara and Cecilia returned to Bard College after the war. They would parent five children together: Gabriel, Suzana, Miriam, Daniel and Dina.

Professional life
O'Meara supported himself primarily through work in the advertising and public relations field in Caracas, New York and Rio de Janeiro.

Living Jewish
While in Caracas, in 1972, O'Meara wrote Living Jewish which was published in 1978 in New York and London. For the book, O'Meara assumed the pseudonym, "Michael Asheri" explaining, "Who would buy a book like that by somebody named 'O'Meara'?" The book became a seminal guide to living as a religious Jew in the 1970s. It is divided into nine major sections not including the Preface, glossary and index.

Preface

 * Transliteration of Hebrews Words

Section 1: The Jewish People

 * 1. Who Is a Jew? Cohen, Levi and Israel
 * 2. Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Others
 * 3. Offshoots of the Jews
 * 4. The Languages of the Jews

Section 2: The Jewish Religion

 * 5. One God and the Chosen People
 * 6. What Is the Torah?

Section 3: The Jewish Life Cycle

 * 7. Birth and Names
 * 8. Circumcision
 * 9. Pidyon ha Ben – Redemption of the Firstborn Son
 * 10. Bar Mitzvah
 * 11. Engagement and Marriage
 * 12. The Marriage Ceremony and the Jewish Concept of Marriage
 * 13. Divorce and Chalitza
 * 14. Menstrual Uncleanness and the Mikva

Section 4: Illness, Medicine, Death, Burial and Mourning

 * 15. Illness, Contraception, Abortion, Euthanasia and Suicide
 * 16. Death
 * 17. Burial
 * 18. Mourning, Shiva, Kaddish, Yahrtzeit and Yizkor

Section 5: Daily Jewish Life

 * 19. Morning, Afternoon and Evening
 * 20. The Jewish Home – the Mezuza
 * 21. Kashrut – the Dietary Laws
 * 22. The Reasons Behind the Dietary Laws
 * 23. Sabbath
 * 24. Jewish Clothing and Personal Appearance
 * 25. The Books of the Jews

Section 6: Prayer, Private and Communal

 * 26. Private Prayer, Blessings and the Grace After Meals
 * 27. Communal Prayer: the Synagogue, the Congregation and the Weekday Prayers
 * 28. Sabbath Services in the Synagogue and the Priestly Blessing

Section 7: The Holidays

 * Introduction: Holidays, Major and Minor
 * The High Holidays
 * 29. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
 * 30. Sukkot
 * 31. Hoshana Rabba, Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah
 * 32. Passover, Sefirat Ha-Omer and Lag B'Omer
 * 33. Shavuot
 * The Minor Holidays
 * 34. Chanukah
 * 35. Purim
 * 36. Tu B'Shvat, Rosh Chodesh and the Special Sabbaths
 * 37. Fasts (Ta'anit)

Section 8: Just for Jews

 * 38. The Jewish Calendar
 * 39. Eretz Israel
 * 40. Saints and Sinners
 * 41. The Afterlife, the Messiah and the Soul
 * 42. The Kabbalah
 * 43. Education and Rabbinical Ordination
 * 44. Orthodox, Conservative and Reform
 * 45. Conversion to Judaism
 * 46. Apostasy
 * 47. A Jewish Miscellany

Section 9: Seen Through Jewish Eyes

 * 48. The Gentiles
 * 49. Enemies of the Jewish People
 * 50. Friends of the Jews
 * 51. Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs
 * 52. Charity
 * 53. Sex
 * 54. Science and Evolution
 * Appendices
 * I.  Suitable Names for Jewish Children
 * II. Jewish Calendar, 5661 to 5760 (1900 to 2000 C.E.)
 * III. Civil Dates of Jewish Holidays, 1975-1999
 * IV. Commonly Used Blessings in Transliteration
 * Glossary
 * Index

Move To Israel
In 1977, the O'Mearas moved to Israel where they settled in Petah Tikva. At that time Cecilia changed her name to "Zippora". O'Meara then began work for the Israel Military Industries Corporation until his retirement in the 1990s.

In Literature
In Moose: Chapters From My Life (the posthumously published, 2013 autobiography of Academy Award winning songwriter, Robert B. Sherman) the author devotes a chapter to his time shared with his friend at Bard College. Sherman credits O'Meara with giving him the nickname, "Moose" which is also the title of the autobiography.