JEWISH
MULTICULTURALISM:
Enhancing Our Awareness, Embracing Our Diversity
When
most of us think of multiculturalism, we think of it *outside* the
Jewish community. The closest it may touch us is through issues
like Black-Jewish relations, Arab-Jewish dialogue, and so on. But
how often do we think of Black Jews or Arab Jews?
Jewish organizations have sponsored numerous conferences and workshops
on diversity, without talking about *Jewish* diversity; have sponsored
numerous discussions on what it means to be a Jew in a multicultural
world, without ever addressing the multicultural world within Judaism.
As Jews, we do not have integrity in addressing multiculturalism,
if we continue to work from the assumption that all Jews are white
and come from a Central/Eastern European background.
As we go story by story through the history and heritage of the
Jewish people, we find that Judaism is rooted deeply in the Middle
East and North Africa: Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, the
Talmud, the first yeshivas, and the Hebrew language all come from
the Middle East and North Africa. Purim tells the story about Iranian
Jews, Passover tells the story about Egyptian Jews, and so on. So
whether your family is from Poland, Syria, Germany, Spain, India,
or Ethiopia, the Middle Eastern and North African Jewish heritage
is a part of your Jewish heritage. But how much do you know about
this part of your Jewish identity?
In the overwhelming majority of American Jewish schools, camps,
synagogues, and community organizations, Judaism has been presented
to us almost exclusively in its Central/Eastern European form, with
little or no mention of other ways of Jewish life. Our lack of education
about non-European Jewish traditions has created the perception
that what is European *is* Jewish and what is Middle Eastern or
North African is merely "other" - a less valid, less important part
of the Jewish experience. At best, Jewish traditions from the Middle
East and North Africa have been presented to us as a curiosity,
as something "exotic," but not as a fundamental, authentic part
of the Jewish experience. As a result, most of us today have little
or no knowledge about our Jewish heritage from the Middle East and
North Africa.
As a result of our lack of education, our community is in serious
danger of losing 2,500 years of our Jewish heritage. Between 1948
and 1950, entire indigenous Middle Eastern and North African Jewish
communities were forced to flee from their homes in what today is
known as the Arab world. As a result, there now is literally *nobody*
under the age of 65 who reached adulthood in the full, traditional
Jewish communities of the region; and the Jewish community has not
been giving us education about this part of our Jewish history and
heritage. This is a lethal combination, and time is running out.
If we do not begin learning these traditions immediately, there
may be nobody left to teach them to our children. For this reason,
it is imperative that as a Jewish community, we begin recording
the languages, songs, prayers, personal stories, and every other
aspect of Jewish life in the Middle East and North Africa, and that
we integrate this knowledge into our community, before it is too
late.
Of course, by learning about the Jewish communities and traditions
from the Middle East and North Africa, we inherently will learn
about the Jewish community from Spain, as well. What is colloquially
known as "Sephardi" Jews in fact encompasses two distinct Jewish
communities: "Mizrahi" (Hebrew for "Eastern") Jews, are Jews who
are indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. They literally
never left the region, in the entire history of the Jewish people.
Sephardi (Hebrew for "Spanish") Jews are descendants of the Jewish
community that lived in Spain and Portugal until the Spanish Inquisition
and expulsion of 1492 and the Portuguese Inquisition and expulsion
shortly thereafter. After that time, the Sephardi community resettled
throughout the Ottoman Empire, which included many countries in
the Middle East and North Africa.
So the Jewish communities from Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, and other
such countries encompass both the Mizrahi and the Sephardi communities.
Of course, the traditions of *both* these communities must be preserved
and passed on. And in learning about these communities, we will
also educate ourselves about Sephardim who settled in Mexico, South
America, and Mediterranean countries such as Greece and Turkey.
We also need to begin recording and integrating the Ethiopian Jewish
traditions before they are lost, as well. With this community, we
have the advantage that it has left Africa only during the past
decade, so the customs, culture, and mannerisms are still very much
a part of even the young generation. We must not let this heritage
approach the danger of extinction; we need to begin learning and
recording information about it right away.
On the immediate level, what can we do about this issue, especially
if we do not have the first idea about non-European Jewish history
and heritage? The first and simplest step is to bring a level of
consciousness to our own personal Jewish lives: Become aware of
what comes to our minds when we think about Jewish prayer, Jewish
food, music, or dance, and Jewish history. It is pretty safe to
assume that what we will think about will be Ashkenazi (Central/Eastern
European).
Let us nurture our curiosity about what else is out there: What
traditional Jewish food can we eat for Purim, for example, in addition
to Hamintashin? What traditional songs can we sing on Shabbat and
the holidays, in addition to the ones we already know? For holidays
such as Hanukkah, we constantly make up new English songs to sing,
because we do not know enough of the traditional Hebrew ones. Unfortunately,
most of us do not even realize that there *are* more traditional
Hebrew ones to be learned.
Because Ashkenazi traditions have been presented to us as *the universal
Jewish heritage, * most of us have not even been aware that anything
traditional exists outside of the confines of what we have learned.
Every school we have gone to, every camp we have attended, every
book we have picked up has taught us the *same* traditional songs,
has not even mentioned there *are* more traditional songs to be
learned.
Because of how Judaism has been presented to us, we have not even
known to ask the question, "What else is there that you have not
told me?" Begin to ask. This is step one. Let us ask the questions
out loud, to bring consciousness to other people - especially Jewish
leaders. We can do our part in raising consciousness in our community,
by identifying that there is a problem, that there are many things
outside our own experience we need to know. When we go to a Jewish
event, we can ask thought-provoking questions: What part of the
world is this kiddush from? Does anyone here know the traditional
kiddush from India...*Why not?* Does anyone here know the Shabbat
services from Ethiopia? The Purim traditions from Iran...*Why not?*
The second step is to familiarize ourselves with the histories,
social justice issues, and cultural and religious traditions of
Jews from the Middle East, Africa, Central/South America, Central/East
Asia, and Southern Europe. Following are a few organizations that
can help us in this endeavor:
Kulanu (http://www.ubalt.edu/www/kulanu) is a national organization
that does research on and provides assistance for Jews around the
world. Members sponsor open trips to visit and support Jewish communities
in countries such as Brazil, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
Their quarterly newsletter keeps Jewish multicultural activists
in touch with each other and provides the latest news on international
Jewish communities.
The American Sephardic Federation (212-366-7223) provides a listing
of synagogues throughout the United States that follow the Sephardi
and Mizrahi traditions. With this information, individuals can attend
Mizrahi/Sephardi services, talk to the rabbis there, and meet people
who can teach about various aspects of the Mizrahi/Sephardi history
and heritage.
The New Israel Fund (http://www.nif.org/home) is an American organization
that sponsors progressive projects in Israel, including several
groups that work for the rights of African and Middle Eastern Israelis.
Two such organizations are HILA and Kedma. HILA does advocacy work
on behalf of families in "development towns" and has a branch dedicated
to the needs of Ethiopian immigrants. HILA sponsored the first feminist
conference for Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jewish women. Kedma
is a cutting-edge Israeli school that incorporates Mizrahi, Sephardi,
and Ethiopian Jewish identity into the curricula.
Those of us who are involved in any level of Jewish leadership can
contact individuals from these organizations. For example, if we
arrange a Black/Jewish dialogue, we can contact Kulanu to invite
Jewish speakers from Ethiopia or Uganda. If we organize a Shabbaton,
we can invite a rabbi from one of the Mizrahi/Sephardi synagogues
to lead the Saturday morning prayers in the Persian tradition. If
we organize a discussion on current events in Israel, we can invite
a representative from the New Israel Fund to speak about challenges
facing Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Israelis.
Even if we ourselves know only about Central/Eastern European Jewish
heritage and traditions, even if we can only work as individuals,
we nonetheless can help make our community more reflective of Jewish
diversity.
What do we as a community need to do? First, Jewish schools, synagogues,
and community organizations need to raise consciousness by providing
the forum and financial support for individuals to discuss the subject
of Jewish multiculturalism and to create programs that encompass
non-European Jewish heritage.
Second, our community needs to sponsor individuals to seek out and
record all the information about Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian
Jewish heritage before it is lost. For example, our community should
sponsor a video project where individuals take hundreds of hours
of videotape footage of the oldest generation - the ones who reached
adulthood before leaving their countries of origin; the ones who
witnessed what their communities used to be like before they were
forced to flee from their homes.
For this project, we should follow these people around in their
everyday settings with the video cameras on: Follow the women around
the kitchens while they cook traditional Jewish cuisine from Brazil
and Lebanon, and get it on film. Hang out at the Yemenite and Ethiopian
synagogues during the week, and get the traditional prayers recorded
on video and audio tape. Sit down with members of the Iranian and
Chinese Jewish communities, and record all their stories.
Once we have everything down on record, we can relax; we can take
our time. We will have the information we need to transmit the heritage
to our future generations.
The third step our community needs to take is to make information
about Jewish multiculturalism easily accessible. Our community needs
to create a resource and curriculum guide that will provide a quick,
easy and inexpensive way for Jewish leaders, teachers, and others
to incorporate Jewish diversity into their programs. Creation of
this guide is actually the most crucial step in enhancing our awareness
and embracing our diversity because it will enable our community
leaders and lay people to directly learn and teach about Jewish
diversity.
The resource section of the guide should list Mizrahi, Sephardi,
and Ethiopian Jewish historians, rabbis, writers, activists, cooks,
musicians, dancers, and artists living in the US and abroad. It
should include an annotated bibliography referring readers to books,
periodicals, cassettes, and videos on Jewish multiculturalism; samples
of Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jewish folk tales, recipes,
prayers and songs with accompanying cassettes, holiday games, arts
and crafts projects that replicate Jewish ceremonial objects, and
famous rabbinical teachings. The curriculum section of the guide
should include step-by-step descriptions of how to utilize all this
information and how to create successful programs and curricula.
[Author's 2001 Update: Since the publication of this article, I
launched the Jewish
Multicultural Curriculum Project, which teaches children
about Jews from every corner of the globe. For information, please
visit the web site, linked just above. Please also note we are desperately
in need of funding to put the raw materials into a step-by-step
curriculum and resource guide that can be used by educators and
leaders of all backgrounds, regardless of previous experience. If
you can help, please contact
me .]
But there is more: We need to create Jewish multicultural centers,
places people can go to learn about Jewish diversity. And these
places should be accessible to everyone - Jews from every ethnic
background, religious denomination, political persuasion, and sexual
orientation, as well as non-Jews from all walks of life. These multicultural
centers should:
1. Provide the Jewish community with educational resources and programs
about Jewish life and traditions in non-European countries by housing
books, videos, and music recordings on the history, religious and
cultural traditions, and human rights struggles of Jews from non-European
countries.
2. Offer Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jews a non-denominational,
all-inclusive place to go to connect with their heritage through
religious and cultural events.
3. Provide sensitivity training seminars for Jewish community leaders
that increase awareness of and value for Jewish diversity, and promote
understanding and alliance between Jews of all backgrounds.
4. Publish a local resource guide, offer a speakers bureau, and
host ongoing classes and monthly events on Jewish multiculturalism.
5. Serve as a bridge between the Jewish community and non-Jewish
communities of color, connecting us through our common African,
Chicano/Latino, Asian, and Middle Eastern heritages.
By taking these steps and all of those discussed above, our community
can retrieve and preserve 3,000 years of Jewish heritage from around
the world, before it is lost forever. And through raising our own
consciousness and the consciousness of those around us, we can do
our part in ensuring that we and our leaders take these steps.
Our great sage Hillel once made a poignant three-part statement,
which is especially fitting for the issue of Jewish multiculturalism:
"If I am not for myself, who is for me?" That is, if we do not embrace
diversity in our own Jewish family, how can we address it in the
world beyond? "If I am only for myself, what am I?" If we connect
to our Jewish sisters and brothers from around the world, we will
open a bridge to all people from which we can approach different
ethnicities with a deeper sense of connection, understanding, and
support. "If not now, when?" If we do not act now, there will be
no other chance.
©1995 by Loolwa Khazzoom. No portion of this article may be reprinted
without author's permission. This article was published in Tikkun
Magazine (July/August 1997)
| JEWISH
MULTICULTURALISM: Enhancing Our Awareness, Embracing Our Diversity |
| When
most of us think of multiculturalism, we think of it *outside* the
Jewish community. The closest it may touch us is through issues
like Black-Jewish relations, Arab-Jewish dialogue, and so on. But
how often do we think of Black Jews or Arab Jews? Jewish organizations have sponsored numerous conferences and workshops on diversity, without talking about *Jewish* diversity; have sponsored numerous discussions on what it means to be a Jew in a multicultural world, without ever addressing the multicultural world within Judaism. As Jews, we do not have integrity in addressing multiculturalism, if we continue to work from the assumption that all Jews are white and come from a Central/Eastern European background. As we go story by story through the history and heritage of the Jewish people, we find that Judaism is rooted deeply in the Middle East and North Africa: Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, the Talmud, the first yeshivas, and the Hebrew language all come from the Middle East and North Africa. Purim tells the story about Iranian Jews, Passover tells the story about Egyptian Jews, and so on. So whether your family is from Poland, Syria, Germany, Spain, India, or Ethiopia, the Middle Eastern and North African Jewish heritage is a part of your Jewish heritage. But how much do you know about this part of your Jewish identity? In the overwhelming majority of American Jewish schools, camps, synagogues, and community organizations, Judaism has been presented to us almost exclusively in its Central/Eastern European form, with little or no mention of other ways of Jewish life. Our lack of education about non-European Jewish traditions has created the perception that what is European *is* Jewish and what is Middle Eastern or North African is merely "other" - a less valid, less important part of the Jewish experience. At best, Jewish traditions from the Middle East and North Africa have been presented to us as a curiosity, as something "exotic," but not as a fundamental, authentic part of the Jewish experience. As a result, most of us today have little or no knowledge about our Jewish heritage from the Middle East and North Africa. As a result of our lack of education, our community is in serious danger of losing 2,500 years of our Jewish heritage. Between 1948 and 1950, entire indigenous Middle Eastern and North African Jewish communities were forced to flee from their homes in what today is known as the Arab world. As a result, there now is literally *nobody* under the age of 65 who reached adulthood in the full, traditional Jewish communities of the region; and the Jewish community has not been giving us education about this part of our Jewish history and heritage. This is a lethal combination, and time is running out. If we do not begin learning these traditions immediately, there may be nobody left to teach them to our children. For this reason, it is imperative that as a Jewish community, we begin recording the languages, songs, prayers, personal stories, and every other aspect of Jewish life in the Middle East and North Africa, and that we integrate this knowledge into our community, before it is too late. Of course, by learning about the Jewish communities and traditions from the Middle East and North Africa, we inherently will learn about the Jewish community from Spain, as well. What is colloquially known as "Sephardi" Jews in fact encompasses two distinct Jewish communities: "Mizrahi" (Hebrew for "Eastern") Jews, are Jews who are indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. They literally never left the region, in the entire history of the Jewish people. Sephardi (Hebrew for "Spanish") Jews are descendants of the Jewish community that lived in Spain and Portugal until the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion of 1492 and the Portuguese Inquisition and expulsion shortly thereafter. After that time, the Sephardi community resettled throughout the Ottoman Empire, which included many countries in the Middle East and North Africa. So the Jewish communities from Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, and other such countries encompass both the Mizrahi and the Sephardi communities. Of course, the traditions of *both* these communities must be preserved and passed on. And in learning about these communities, we will also educate ourselves about Sephardim who settled in Mexico, South America, and Mediterranean countries such as Greece and Turkey. We also need to begin recording and integrating the Ethiopian Jewish traditions before they are lost, as well. With this community, we have the advantage that it has left Africa only during the past decade, so the customs, culture, and mannerisms are still very much a part of even the young generation. We must not let this heritage approach the danger of extinction; we need to begin learning and recording information about it right away. On the immediate level, what can we do about this issue, especially if we do not have the first idea about non-European Jewish history and heritage? The first and simplest step is to bring a level of consciousness to our own personal Jewish lives: Become aware of what comes to our minds when we think about Jewish prayer, Jewish food, music, or dance, and Jewish history. It is pretty safe to assume that what we will think about will be Ashkenazi (Central/Eastern European). Let us nurture our curiosity about what else is out there: What traditional Jewish food can we eat for Purim, for example, in addition to Hamintashin? What traditional songs can we sing on Shabbat and the holidays, in addition to the ones we already know? For holidays such as Hanukkah, we constantly make up new English songs to sing, because we do not know enough of the traditional Hebrew ones. Unfortunately, most of us do not even realize that there *are* more traditional Hebrew ones to be learned. Because Ashkenazi traditions have been presented to us as *the universal Jewish heritage, * most of us have not even been aware that anything traditional exists outside of the confines of what we have learned. Every school we have gone to, every camp we have attended, every book we have picked up has taught us the *same* traditional songs, has not even mentioned there *are* more traditional songs to be learned. Because of how Judaism has been presented to us, we have not even known to ask the question, "What else is there that you have not told me?" Begin to ask. This is step one. Let us ask the questions out loud, to bring consciousness to other people - especially Jewish leaders. We can do our part in raising consciousness in our community, by identifying that there is a problem, that there are many things outside our own experience we need to know. When we go to a Jewish event, we can ask thought-provoking questions: What part of the world is this kiddush from? Does anyone here know the traditional kiddush from India...*Why not?* Does anyone here know the Shabbat services from Ethiopia? The Purim traditions from Iran...*Why not?* The second step is to familiarize ourselves with the histories, social justice issues, and cultural and religious traditions of Jews from the Middle East, Africa, Central/South America, Central/East Asia, and Southern Europe. Following are a few organizations that can help us in this endeavor: Kulanu (http://www.ubalt.edu/www/kulanu) is a national organization that does research on and provides assistance for Jews around the world. Members sponsor open trips to visit and support Jewish communities in countries such as Brazil, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Their quarterly newsletter keeps Jewish multicultural activists in touch with each other and provides the latest news on international Jewish communities. The American Sephardic Federation (212-366-7223) provides a listing of synagogues throughout the United States that follow the Sephardi and Mizrahi traditions. With this information, individuals can attend Mizrahi/Sephardi services, talk to the rabbis there, and meet people who can teach about various aspects of the Mizrahi/Sephardi history and heritage. The New Israel Fund (http://www.nif.org/home) is an American organization that sponsors progressive projects in Israel, including several groups that work for the rights of African and Middle Eastern Israelis. Two such organizations are HILA and Kedma. HILA does advocacy work on behalf of families in "development towns" and has a branch dedicated to the needs of Ethiopian immigrants. HILA sponsored the first feminist conference for Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jewish women. Kedma is a cutting-edge Israeli school that incorporates Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jewish identity into the curricula. Those of us who are involved in any level of Jewish leadership can contact individuals from these organizations. For example, if we arrange a Black/Jewish dialogue, we can contact Kulanu to invite Jewish speakers from Ethiopia or Uganda. If we organize a Shabbaton, we can invite a rabbi from one of the Mizrahi/Sephardi synagogues to lead the Saturday morning prayers in the Persian tradition. If we organize a discussion on current events in Israel, we can invite a representative from the New Israel Fund to speak about challenges facing Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Israelis. Even if we ourselves know only about Central/Eastern European Jewish heritage and traditions, even if we can only work as individuals, we nonetheless can help make our community more reflective of Jewish diversity. What do we as a community need to do? First, Jewish schools, synagogues, and community organizations need to raise consciousness by providing the forum and financial support for individuals to discuss the subject of Jewish multiculturalism and to create programs that encompass non-European Jewish heritage. Second, our community needs to sponsor individuals to seek out and record all the information about Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jewish heritage before it is lost. For example, our community should sponsor a video project where individuals take hundreds of hours of videotape footage of the oldest generation - the ones who reached adulthood before leaving their countries of origin; the ones who witnessed what their communities used to be like before they were forced to flee from their homes. For this project, we should follow these people around in their everyday settings with the video cameras on: Follow the women around the kitchens while they cook traditional Jewish cuisine from Brazil and Lebanon, and get it on film. Hang out at the Yemenite and Ethiopian synagogues during the week, and get the traditional prayers recorded on video and audio tape. Sit down with members of the Iranian and Chinese Jewish communities, and record all their stories. Once we have everything down on record, we can relax; we can take our time. We will have the information we need to transmit the heritage to our future generations. The third step our community needs to take is to make information about Jewish multiculturalism easily accessible. Our community needs to create a resource and curriculum guide that will provide a quick, easy and inexpensive way for Jewish leaders, teachers, and others to incorporate Jewish diversity into their programs. Creation of this guide is actually the most crucial step in enhancing our awareness and embracing our diversity because it will enable our community leaders and lay people to directly learn and teach about Jewish diversity. The resource section of the guide should list Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jewish historians, rabbis, writers, activists, cooks, musicians, dancers, and artists living in the US and abroad. It should include an annotated bibliography referring readers to books, periodicals, cassettes, and videos on Jewish multiculturalism; samples of Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jewish folk tales, recipes, prayers and songs with accompanying cassettes, holiday games, arts and crafts projects that replicate Jewish ceremonial objects, and famous rabbinical teachings. The curriculum section of the guide should include step-by-step descriptions of how to utilize all this information and how to create successful programs and curricula. [Author's 2001 Update: Since the publication of this article, I launched the Jewish Multicultural Curriculum Project, which teaches children about Jews from every corner of the globe. For information, please visit the web site, linked just above. Please also note we are desperately in need of funding to put the raw materials into a step-by-step curriculum and resource guide that can be used by educators and leaders of all backgrounds, regardless of previous experience. If you can help, please contact me .] But there is more: We need to create Jewish multicultural centers, places people can go to learn about Jewish diversity. And these places should be accessible to everyone - Jews from every ethnic background, religious denomination, political persuasion, and sexual orientation, as well as non-Jews from all walks of life. These multicultural centers should: 1. Provide the Jewish community with educational resources and programs about Jewish life and traditions in non-European countries by housing books, videos, and music recordings on the history, religious and cultural traditions, and human rights struggles of Jews from non-European countries. 2. Offer Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ethiopian Jews a non-denominational, all-inclusive place to go to connect with their heritage through religious and cultural events. 3. Provide sensitivity training seminars for Jewish community leaders that increase awareness of and value for Jewish diversity, and promote understanding and alliance between Jews of all backgrounds. 4. Publish a local resource guide, offer a speakers bureau, and host ongoing classes and monthly events on Jewish multiculturalism. 5. Serve as a bridge between the Jewish community and non-Jewish communities of color, connecting us through our common African, Chicano/Latino, Asian, and Middle Eastern heritages. By taking these steps and all of those discussed above, our community can retrieve and preserve 3,000 years of Jewish heritage from around the world, before it is lost forever. And through raising our own consciousness and the consciousness of those around us, we can do our part in ensuring that we and our leaders take these steps. Our great sage Hillel once made a poignant three-part statement, which is especially fitting for the issue of Jewish multiculturalism: "If I am not for myself, who is for me?" That is, if we do not embrace diversity in our own Jewish family, how can we address it in the world beyond? "If I am only for myself, what am I?" If we connect to our Jewish sisters and brothers from around the world, we will open a bridge to all people from which we can approach different ethnicities with a deeper sense of connection, understanding, and support. "If not now, when?" If we do not act now, there will be no other chance. ©1995 by Loolwa Khazzoom. No portion of this article may be reprinted without author's permission. This article was published in Tikkun Magazine (July/August 1997) |