Aliza Hausman is a Dominican-American Latina and Orthodox Jewish convert (Jewminicana for short!), freelancer writer, blogger and speaker. This is her blog chronicling her thoughts on being Hispanic/Latino and Jewish as well as focusing on issues and news related to identity, Judaism, Jews of color, race, conversion, culture, diversity, muliticulturalism, writing, reading, films, news and much, much more….
The OU finally put up a piece that I sold to them about a year ago. It will probably piss off some potato kugel aficionados and for that, I apologize. I'd probably be upset if someone wrote "plantains (yuck!)." Perhaps, I should have talked up my life of good gelfite fish and matzah ball soup?
In any case, here's my little rant on being a Jewminicana in a world where people try to force me to eat kugel and other "Jewish" foods.
There were so many beautiful entries to my "Jewish Faces I Love This Hanukkah" contest that I started to wish I could give a copy of "I Love Jewish Faces" by Debra B. Darvick to each and every one. I even had to get help judging because there were so many good entries! But finally, without further delay, here are the winners talking about the Jewish faces they loved this Hanukkah! A special thanks to all of you who shared photos of your loved ones.
Winner #1: Leah M.:
"The Jewish face I love is telling me about amazing things that she is findi
ng on the internet. The owner of the face is excited to go home to see her grandparents later this month. She is bubbling about her classes today, what she wants for dinner and how she'd like to know if she can practice driving if she can use the car. The Jewish face spoke the words she wroe at her Bat Mitzvah ceremony almost three years ago - words about maintaining the synagogue - her haftarah, her
dream. This Jewish face of my daughter is now singing, talking and smiling. She hasn't stopped talking since she started when she was a tiny Jewish face.
When I look at the many little faces in the classes at the Jewish Preschool where I work, I sometimes imagine what they'll be like when they are older faces. They are light, they are dark, they are sweet and they are sassy. They are Jewish and they are 'Not' and not one of them cares for Pharoah. I love Jewish faces!"
Winner #2: Ruby:
The Jewish face I love is my daughter, Dvorah Carmen.
Her eyes are a window to her emotions and soul. When she's happy, they are the brightest blue, like two sapphires glittering mischievously from behind her hair. When she's angry, they become a dark grey, like the Caribbean that encircles the islands of o
ur ancestors in a thunderstorm. I look into her eyes and can see choppy, stormy waves rolling in behind.
I love her eyes because they are uniquely hers, not resembling my brown, or her daddy's skylit blue. Her eyes tell the story of my family, people who came in all colors of the earth, a blend of European, Native, and African. They tell of her father's family, of a child whose eyes rebel against the stereotype of his Eastern European roots, and resemble the Germany of his great grandparents.
Her eyes are her own, saying "I am who I am, my eyes do not fit the stereotype of the brown eyed Ashkenazi, or the brown of olive skinned Carribean peopl
es. My eyes are mine, and will tell its own stories.
I look at her eyes, and see the future of the Jewish people, radiant and diverse, glowing.
I love Jewish faces."
Winner #3: Heidi H.
"The Jewish faces I love are so similar to each other that babysitters in the park call them "the clones" though they're almost four years apart. They have brown eyes that are shaped like mine, though the color matches their father's eyes (mine are green). Those eyes light up when I walk in the door, warming my heart every time.
Though I was not born Jewish, they have no doubt that they were, and the Jewish faces I love are proud to sing Hebrew songs and blessings, and they know at this time of year which holiday is theirs and which is not, and they're fine with it. One of my little Jewish faces said a couple of weeks ago, "Mommy, what holidays do Christians have? Because it seems like we have more. You have to tell me, because I was born Jewish, so *I* don't know." I thought that was great.
The Jewish faces I love started out so tiny, and now they're getting big very fast. Their skin is a little olive, their cheeks are so smooth, their hair is soft -- dark brown for the older one (who also shows signs of developing a unibrow), light brown for the youn
ger. Their faces show every emotion, often changing dramatically from moment to moment.
I have a lot to write and not a lot of energy to write it all. I think I'm finally almost starting to feel normal again after nearly two weeks of battling a cold/flu that wreaked havoc on my body, a body that already has to fight daily against fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
I had high hopes to inundate you with tons of cool Chanukkah posts and responses to all the conversion news that's cropping up. But instead, I've been spending a lot of time curled up in bed, sick and thinking about where I am in life.
For the past year and a half, I've made it my mission to get something up here on the blog on a daily basis. It's literally a full-time job and a daunting one. Because even when I'm not generating a lot of deep, thoughtful posts, I'm swimming in Jewish content that piles up in my inbox that I want to share with you.
Always, I'm fighting my body to get this blog done. Any time I spend on the computer is excruciating and hard on my body. And I don't think people realize that. I don't think I realize it and there have been too many times where I chose my blog over my body and I don't think I can do that anymore.
Blogging has really changed for me since freelance writing and speaking have become jobs for me. But I think what really changed my blog most was that I stopped being anonymous and friends, family and even my rabbi began starting conversations with this disclaimer: "By the way, this is off the record."
Despite always being an open person, I've had to become much more careful about what I share on my blog and I realize there are weeks where I don't share anything personal on my blog and like this past week, focus on content I find elsewhere that would interest readers who don't spend as much time culling Jewish resources as I do. So, in a funny way, the blog isn't always a memoir of a Jewminicana but a blog of "what a Jewminicana reads."
This blog has given me so many opportunities and connected me to so many awesome Jews, and even non-Jews, all over the world. One of the things that has kept me inspired when I have had troubles acclimating in the Jewish community has been you, not just my readers but a community I built for myself when I felt like I didn't have one and I wasn't sure where I fit.
But I think I have to take a step back. I've already taken a step back from freelance writing, from writing my book and I think its time to take a step back from blogging. I think if I'm going to continue doing it, I have to get back to a point where it wasn't a job, where it wasn't a deadline looming over my head but a place where I came to share my thoughts on my journey to live my life as the best Jewminicana I can be.
In the next few weeks, I'll be trying to fully recover from my cold/flu/nastiness and try to get a handle on the rest of my life. If I wade through my inbox, I might get a chance to comment on the latest conversion news but I think my first priority is going to be making sure I get some rest, some fluids and some exercise.
Thank you, my faithful readers, for making this an awesome and rewarding blog!
Oh my! Saturday Night Live always manages to be funny (okay, only sometimes), weird and disturbing all rolled into one. And they've done it again with "Christmas Time for the Jews song."
Christmas time is hard when you're a Jew, especially when you're the only Jew lost in a sea of Christmas carols, Christmas trees and Christmas movies. So how did comedian and writer Ophira Eisenberg deal with Christmas in Calgary? Stay tuned for the funny punchline where Santa "comes out."
"The Immigration and Absorption Ministry is in need of about 2,000 Orthodox families interested in "adopting" prospective converts to Judaism. About six months ago the ministry began advertising to enlist Orthodox families interested in accompanying immigrants on the path to conversion to Judaism. But there is still a serious dearth.
The potential converts are immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not Jewishaccording to Orthodox halacha. Families are expected to volunteer to serve as role models for the converts as they prepare themselves for conversion under the aegis of the National Conversion Authority.
The ministry is targeting a very specific segment of the population that is both Orthodox, and that identifies with the goal of encouraging non-Jews to convert. The haredi population, which opposes attempts to encourage mass conversion and the secular population, which does not lead a religious lifestyle and cannot, therefore, aid the prospective convert, are not viable options.”
“We don't need to wait for the British Supreme Court's decision regarding "M" to understand that secular positive law and Jewish law may collide, and when they do, Dina d'Malchuta Dina, the law of the land is the law. JFS has already complied with the appellate court and will do what the Supreme Court allows it to do, no matter what the Talmud says. Some Jews may cheer. Some may jeer. But all British Jews will comply, and it will not be the first time that secular law, in upholding its own inner standards, will define for practical purposes who is a Jew.”
Daniel M. Gold reviews Yisrael Campbell’s off-Broadway show, “Circumcise Me”:
“The biggest source of humor is the rivalry Mr. Campbell encounters among the different streams of Judaism. Think of the old Jewish man on a desert island who shows his rescuer the synagogues he built — the one he attends and “the one I wouldn’t go into” — and you get the idea.
Mr. Campbell nudges at the foibles of religion generally. After becoming Jewish and living in Los Angeles, he marries an Egyptian woman whose father insists that he convert to Islam. He declines: “If I belong to all three major religions in one calendar year, people are going to doubt my sincerity.””
“Fearing other court rulings, state-funded Jewish schools across the UK have set up a points system to determine faith-based, non-ethnic, non-racial determinations of Jewish identity, reports the Guardian. For example, the schools established a points system in which a child earns admission points for synagogue attendance; with lesser points for synagogue study or tutorials; or working or volunteering with a Jewish organization.”
“The matter-of-fact manner in which Maxim Serdhiukov recounts how Ashkelon's rabbi in August refused to register him and his converted fiancee for marriage betrays little emotion. But signs of his indignation are nonetheless present. "This country has a Knesset and it has laws, and if some punk rabbi decides to take the law into his own hands, then I will not remain silent about it," says the 24-year-old Serdhiukov, who was born in Latvia to Jewish parents who immigrated to Israel in 1993.
Serdhiukov says that Ashkelon's rabbi, Yosef Haim Bloi, told him that he would not register Serdhiukov and his Russian-born fiancee, Eline Roiz, because his office does not handle converts to Judaism. He says Bloi didn't care that the chief rabbinate approved her conversion while she was in the army. Then, a woman from the rabbi's office called Serdhiukov to further explain to him that he was "not the problem, but that the problem was with Eline."”
“My boyfriend was sitting with me at my Reform temple, listening as the rabbi recounted our predicament to make sure he understood the situation.
“Joe, by asking Brianna to convert into Conservative Judaism, it is denying the fact that she is Jewish to begin with,” my rabbi said.
Not only was Joe questioning my Jewish identity, but we were debating whether or not it would be necessary for me to visit the mikveh.
My boyfriend, whom I met online, comes from a very traditional Sephardic Conservadox background. He feels that my family heritage has a “questionable” past, and to his mind a conversion was necessary before we could continue with our relationship. A small pool of water stood between me and my future with Joe.”
“A local nonprofit assisting Jewish converts is for the first time planning to take the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to court for not preventing the retroactive annulment of conversions, Anglo File has learned. The organization's founder asserts "back room" talks convinced him such outside pressure would give rabbinate leaders the impetus to address the issue on its own."
"In an unusual departure from the ultra-Orthodox stance, Israel's Ashkenazi chief rabbi has declared that anyone holding a conversion certificate issued by the State of Israel can register to be married in his place of residence. Yona Metzger's declaration, contained in a letter to the Knesset's Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, comes on the heels of converts' complaints that local rabbis were refusing to recognize them as Jews according to Jewish law and to register them for marriage."
Latinas, according to one Israeli man married to one, are “so nice, so calm, respectful.”
No one who has ever met me would describe me as "calm." I definitely don't come from a family of "calm" Latinas.
"They love to have fun a lot."
Pretty bland. You could say this about a lot of people, not just SOME Latinas. Personally, I don't like fun at all!!!! Bah-humbug this thing called fun! Eye roll.
What do Israelis and Latinas have in common? “We’re very much like an open book. What you see is what you get."
Oh. Okay, actually I commented once that what some American friends called Israeli rudeness seemed very similar to Latina-American bluntness. But trust me, my other Latina family members are anything but an "open book." And I'm sure there are Israelis who aren't rude or open...right? Raise your hands!
"The men interviewed describe their [Latina] wives catering — without any complaints — to their needs and desires for a good meal."
SIGH. Don't tell my husband he got the raw deal on Latina wives. In my house, it's the Jewish husband serving up a good meal.
"However, Sonia says she still feels like an outsider among Yoav’s Israeli friends, especially the women. She says there’s a sense among Israeli women that Latinas are stealing their men."
Damn, now that's a new one!
Sonia adds: "Now that he’s been able to be completely open to me to tell me that it’s important to him, I understand that and I don’t mind raising Jewish children."
Don't mind? Oy. Lady, don't sound so excited all at once!
Okay, now I have to go count up all the Israeli stereotypes. This article gave me just a slight headache. But what the article is trying to discuss is an issue in the American Jewish community and I guess, the Israeli Jewish community. Though I don't have any statistics on hand (the article does), there do seem, at least to me, to be a lot of Israeli men in America intermarrying with non-Jewish women and in some cases, Latinas who are ready and willing to convert and make Jewtino babies. And what do I think of this? Well, Jewish babies, whether slightly Latino or not, rock!
TITLE: Journeys to Judaism: Jews by Choice Tell Their Stories DATE: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 TIME: 7-9PM PLACE: Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20001, 202.408.3100
For those who choose to become Jews, every journey is different. Students in the conversion class at Tifereth Israel Congregration have traveled together for many months. In this special presentation, Anna Wojas and several other members of that class share their stories and celebrate their first December holiday season as Jews in America.
ADMISSION: The cost is $15 for members of the JSC, $20 for non-members.
Between a cold/flu since Tuesday and my regular old fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, I am laid up in bed whiny, sniffly, sneezy and quite dopey. Hopefully, I'll find something meaningful to say about Chanukkah before it's over. In the meantime, I'm going to have to swipe cool stuff from other websites and bring them to you! Hope your Chanukkah is less whiny, sniffly, sneezy and dopey than mine!
Is there really such a thing as a "Jewish" American princess or is it just an American princess problem? I was recently pondering this when someone was remarking on how all the Jewish guys at a single event had "computer jobs." "Such a stereotype!" Eye rolling ensued. So I asked, "Doesn't the fact that they're in computers mean they have, uh, good jobs that pay well?" "Yeah, but it's so nerdy." I guess I've got low standards. I was just grateful when my boyfriends had jobs.
The many, many kosher Asian restaurants in New York City is a testament to the Jewish obsession with Chinese food (and now sushi). In Jews and Chinese Food: Love Affair", an entertaining talk based on her book, "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles", New York Times Metro reporter Jennifer 8. Lee dissects the longtime love affair between Jews and Chinese cuisine, touching upon pastrami egg rolls, Hanukkah fortune cookies and bagels in Beijing. Lee sheds light on the myths of Chinese food in the U.S. and explains how it has become all-American. Includes a Kosher Buffet Dinner! Date & Time: Sun, Dec 20, 2009, 7:00pm Location: New York City, 92nd Street Y, Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street
Carmen Van Kerchove over at the Racialious blog tells a story about a white Jewish mother who has adopted an African child and her reaction to when her Jamaican nanny expresses the racism she has experienced from other whites in the community while caring for this child.
Back in 2004 when I first started speaking and blogging about race, I was invited to facilitate a phone discussion with a group of parents who had adopted children from outside the United States.
One of the mothers in the group was white and Jewish. She adopted her son from an African country, and was raising him in her faith. She told me that she wanted my advice on a situation she was dealing with.
Her nanny was a Jamaican woman. One day, the nanny came home and the mother noticed she looked upset. The mother asked her what was wrong, but the nanny just shook her head and said everything was fine.
The mother was concerned, so she kept prodding, but the nanny was still reluctant to say anything. The mother was persistent, and told her that this was a safe space for her to share. She said there wouldn’t be any judgments, no matter what it was about.
Finally, the nanny broke down and said, “You people don’t know how to act!”
She explained that anytime she took the child for play dates in their mostly white and Jewish neighborhood, parents would treat her brusquely and avoid eye contact. Whenever she went to a store, salespeople would follow her around to make sure she didn’t steal anything. When she went to pay for items, the cashier would treat take great pains not to touch her hand when giving her change back.
She had been putting up with this kind of discrimination for a long time now because she loved working with this family, but she didn’t know how much longer she could go on as it was wearing on her emotionally.
“Can you believe that?” the mother asked me, her voice shaking with anger.
I was about to respond by expressing how sorry I was that this level of prejudice existed in her community, when the mother continued.
“I’m going to fire her! How dare she call Jews ‘you people!’ I’m Jewish and my son is Jewish. I’m just going to have to fire her because I don’t feel safe around her anymore.”
Was Carmen too harsh on the Jewish mother? Was the Jewish mother too harsh on the Jamaican nanny? Could the Jewish mother have been a good ally if she had read more Angry Black Woman blogs?
I can't get enough of convert Yisrael Campbell's jokes. Check out this little bit of shtick about Hanukkah candles. Yeah, Yisrael, sometimes I wish I was a Hanukkah candle, too!
Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that seeks to revitalize Aliyah and to substantially increase the number of future olim by removing the financial, professional and logistical obstacles that prevent many individuals from actualizing their dreams, brought over 150 participants together on Ben Yehuda Street for the first ever Jerusalem flash mob in honor of Hanukkah.
This video reminded me of a couple of things: how much I miss walking down Ben Yehuda Street (I hope to get back soon G-d willing), also how much I love Jewish comedy and of course, that song from OutKast (Hey Ya!). My new favorite Hanukkah song is definitely "Hannukah Hey Ya!" No doubt about it, us Jews are fun, funny and fearless.
Well, Happy Hanukkah, folks! Let's make this one as unforgettable as the last! (Though Hanukkah is a fairly minor holiday on the Jewish calendar, every year I get to celebrate it in conjunction with my wedding anniversary--three years this Hanukkah!)
MY DREIDEL JUST SPINS AROUND AND THEN FALLS TO THE GROUND AS WE LIGHT THE CANDLES (OY!) I LOVE TO LIGHT MENORAHS AND THE MATZAH BALLS ARE COOKING ON THE STOVE (MMM!) FLAMES HIGH TO LIGHT THE CEILING BUT THE CANDLE DRIPPING'S BURNING ME RIGHT NOW (OW!) THANK GOD FOR MOM AND DAD FOR TEACHING JEWISH CULTURE 'CAUSE WE ARE SO PROUD (L'CHAIM)
[CHORUS] HANUKKAH HANUKKAH HANUKKAH HANUKKAH
THOSE FLUFFY LATKES, OH THOSE FLUFFY LATKES THEY'RE HOT I WANT TO EAT 'EM 'TILL THERE'S NOTHING AT ALL WE GET THE PRESENTS, OH WE GET THE PRESENTS AND EIGHT IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN THREE FROM SANTA CLAUS AND WHAT THEY SAY IS "WE'RE THE CHOSEN PEOPLE" THEN WHAT MAKES, WHAT MAKES, WHAT MAKES, WHAT MAKES US THE EXCEPTION? DON'T KNOW WHY, KNOW WHY O-Y, O-Y, O-Y (OY!) RUN AND CALL YOUR RABBI SO THAT YOU CAN CELEBRATE THIS YEAR
OY IS JUST YO BACKWARDS
[CHORUS] HANUKKAH (WHY DON'T YOU MEET MY RABBI) HANUKKAH (HE ISN'T SUCH A BAD GUY) HANUKKAH (IT WOULDN'T BE A BUMMER) HANUKKAH (IF YOU WANT TO WEAR YARMULKE)
MANISCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ AND A KOSHERIZED PICKLE MANISCEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SHEVITZ AND POTATO KNISHES MANISCEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ AND THE KASHA VARNISHKAS MANISCEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ, SCHEWITZ,
SUBURBANHOMEBOY.COM...CHALLAH!
Also, check out this article about Martin Casey, the African-American (and Scottish, Irish, Native American) Jewish convert who choreographed the Jerusalem Flash Mob: "Feeling the beat"
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