If you want a different constituency, try a different paradigm
I spoke with a rabbi today about Jewish multiculturalism, from a personal perspective — ie, me essentially being a homeless Jew, what with my feminist sensibilites and hard-core Middle Eastern Jewish identity and practice. The rabbi made a few comments that I have encountered repeatedly before. I wanted to share my thoughts on one of them:
The rabbi addressed the issue of the synagogue being predominantly Ashkenazi, and therefore, catering to an Ashkenazi audience (which in itself is a loaded comment, but I’ll save that for another time). “It just happened that way,” the rabbi said. “We didn’t intend to bring in any specific group.”
Right. But when the point of reference is white European, that’s who you are going to attract. (Well, that plus the assimilated or resigned non-white, non-European types.) It’s simple math. If you want to attract a different demographic, you have to change your way of thinking about, talking about, and practicing Jewish identity, history, cultural norms, and religious traditions.
Loolwa Khazzoom has published two books and has published numerous articles for leading periodicals. Her current focus is on health & wellness writing, with a speciality in complementary and alternative medicine in general and natural pain relief in particular.
