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Be’chol Lashon Newsletter: November 2008
Funnye, 56, has dedicated his life to chiseling away at the conventional, but increasingly inaccurate, conception of who is a Jew.
Web extra video: A Chicago TV station visits Temple Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation Jewish Agency Adopts Conversion Resolutions The Jewish Agency Assembly adopted resolutions calling on the Israeli government to establish an independent authority on Jewish conversions and special courts of Jewish law to "allow the conversion process to move forward." Read on...
While Bible and Torah Codes divine the future using complex computer algorithms, and works like The Da Vinci Code and Holy Blood, Holy Grail derive pictorial ciphers to poke holes in the past, de-ciphering a rare triangular Kabbalistic signet now reveals the secret identity of the celebrated maritime adventurer best known to America. Israel National Radio producer Ephraim Eliyahu presents a historical journey back to 15th Century Spain to uncover the amazing history of the man they call Columbus. Read on...
Diane Tobin, who converted through a Conservative beit din (rabbinical court) in 1982, agrees. “We as a people have an internalized oppression we need to overcome,” says Tobin, the founder of Be’chol Lashon (In Every Tongue), a San Francisco–based organization that advocates for racial and ethnic inclusiveness in Jewish life. “We fear the stranger. We’re suspicious. Others have rejected us, so we want to reject. We turn away the convert three times before conversion. It’s unnecessary.”Read on...
For Carolivia Herron, an African American Jewish convert and a retired Harvard University professor of Comparative Literature and African American Studies, documenting Ethiopian Jewry's oral history is a significant part of her personal journey home to the Jewish people and Israel. "I have no biological connection to them [Ethiopian Jews], but my heart is with them," confides Herron. Read on...
Alysa Stanton was born into a Pentecostal family. Her mother played the piano at church and her sister became a choir director. But Stanton was looking for more. More than two decades ago, she found it in Judaism and converted. Her family doesn't "understand it all, but they are proud...Some of that pride is because Stanton is about to become the first female African-American rabbi in the United States and, in fact the world. Read on...
Bahrain is softly encouraging the U.S.-led push for democratization in the Middle East as the means toward stabilization. Its rulers have made their treatment of the tiny Jewish community in Bahrain a showcase of how to achieve peaceful pluralism. King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa met last week in New York with about 50 Bahraini Jews who had immigrated to the United States, and did something almost unheard of in the Arab world: he invited them home. Read on...
Are Jews who immigrated to Israel from Libya about to receive a large sum of money from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi? The World Organization of Libyan Jews plans to ask Gaddafi for some of the funds his country is slated to receive from Italy in compensation for the period when Libya was under Italian rule. Read on...
A black French Jew is making his case for the creation of the first black synagogue in France. "Judaism isn’t about the color of your skin," Guerson Nduwa said in an interview with the JTA. "But we feel excluded in synagogues, because they ask us why we’re there and to show our identification card. If you’re blond with blue eyes, that doesn’t happen," he said. He believes his initiative will be met with positive results. Read on... Indian Jews Struggle to Fit in in Israel J Kiryat Arba looks like any other middle-class Israeli neighbourhood. Row of identical houses face manicured lawns, and kids ride around on bikes. If it wasn't for the armoured vehicles patrolling the streets, you wouldn't guess you were in a Jewish settlement in the heart of West Bank. Click here to listen to the story
Iranian-American emcee Yashar Zadeh, who goes by the rap name of Yak Ballz and his Israeli-American cohort, Rami Even-Esh, whose rap name is Kosha Dillz, are two rappers making a name for themselves through their conscious lyrics and their efforts at battling stereotypes. Read on...
But what exactly does it mean to be a Cool Jew? That’s the million-dollar question for the established (read: older, moneyed) Jewish community. When community leaders ask, "How do you promote Jewish continuity?" and "How do you encourage Jewish engagement?" and most often, "How do you involve the next generation?" what they are really asking is: What speaks to people about Judaism? Read on...
Be'chol Lashon is seeking participants for a study to be conducted in 2008-2009 by Helen Kim, PhD and Noah Leavitt. The research will be published in a book that will examine the racial, ethnic, and religious identities of Asian-Jewish couples, individuals, and families. To be part of the survey, click here. For questions, please call our office, at 415-386-2604 or email. LGBTQ Survey in Bay Area Be'chol Lashon Chanukah Celebration Celebrate Jewish Diversity! Sunday, December 21, 1-4pm For more information, click here. Super 8: Hub Hanukkah Party Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School
Click here for more information
Ruach Chayim Family Chanukah Shabbat Service
Indian Jewish Congregation of USA
December 28, 2008, 5pm There is no charge, but seats are limited and RSVP's requested. Please contact Lael Daniel 516-735-2162 or Lael@JewsofIndia.org THANK YOU
We welcome your participation in the Be’chol Lashon Newsletter! Please send us information about events in your community or articles of interest that relate to Jewish diversity. E-mail newsletter submissions to Esther Fishman, Esther@JewishResearch.org. Submissions are subject to editing for content, clarity and style. Special thanks to all the contributors who make the newsletter interesting and informative. |
Asian-Jewish Survey
Sunday, December 21, 6pm
Join the Open House
Be’chol Lashon and Beth Chayim Chadashim Present a Latke and Lighting Chanukah in Los Angeles
Indian Jewish Hanukkah Celebration