A bunch of us Dominican Jews started a clique here in Riverdale which was rather aptly named Dominyan (get it? Dominican minyan?) but we haven't met up in quite a while. All of the other members have big, burgeoning families and it's not so easy to stay connected outside of Facebook.
Now, you should know, I rarely pray for myself. I pray for other people's health, for other people's love lives and even for other people's parking spots but almost never for myself. I can more easily bang out "find my husband a parking spot before he freezes on a Riverdale street corner) than I can ask G-d for something as simple as sending me a Spanish-speaking friend.
Luckily, even when you don't pray directly, G-d can hear ya.
And that's how I ended up with not one but TWO Spanish-speaking converts who need my help. (If you're an Orthodox Judio Latino in Washington Heights, you can help too! Drop me a line!) Their English isn't so good and so our conversations are completely in Spanish. I get in a lot of "ums" and "How do you say...?" and I even sound drunk as I slur over the multisyllabic words. Really, it's ingenious that in one shot, I get to help someone Jewishly and practice my Spanish with people who are so grateful they rarely laugh at me when I make mistakes. It makes me feel like I'm covering a lot of bases.
In the meantime, I'm struggling to find Spanish Jewish resources--everything from Spanish speaking rabbis to Spanish websites, CDs and books--so I can help these two women. I've managed to cobble together this list thanks to fans but I could use more. I'm even inspired to get a Spanish-Hebrew siddur. For some reason praying in Spanish sounds way cooler than praying in Hebrew or English.
Check out these Spanish Jewish resources:
Chabad in Español! www.es.chabad.org
Aish Latino www.aishlatino.com
Get Spanish Jewish books here: Sefarad Judaica and here: Kehot Publication Society
Hillel in Spanish: Texas A&M Hillel Foundation (Texas A&M has attracted Jews from Latin American countries and Texas A&M Hillel also has a spanish language section on its website. Texas A&M Hillel has also attracted some interest among Mexican-Americans with Jewsih ancestors who want to reconnect to Judaism.)
Spanish Jewish stuff from Bar Ilan University: http://www.masuah.org/
Blogging in Spanglish: Sephardic Food blog
http://www.tora.org.ar/index.asp
http://www.judaicasite.com/
Breslev.co.il
(Conservative) Rabbi Juan Mejia's site: http://koltuvsefarad.com/
(Reform) Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn's website: http://esp.rabbicukierkorn.com/index.html
Connect with other Jewish Latinos: Judios Latinos (Check out the corresponding Facebook groups too:
Judios Latinos NYC
Interfaith Family Group for Latino Jews
(Conservative) Rabbi Joshua Kullock gives online Tanakh classes in Spanish
Spanish Jewish synagogues and/or synagogues with lots of Spanish-speaking Jews:
(Reform) Temple Beth Shmuel-Cuban Hebrew Congregation, Cuban-Jewish synagogue in Miami
(Orthodox) Shearith Israel, the Spanish-Portuguese synagogue in New York City
(Orthodox) Lincoln Park Jewish Center in Yonkers, NY and check out the related Spanish language Torah center in Yonkers, El Centro run by Rabbi Manny Viñas.
If you've got stuff to add to the list, comment and I'll put it up!
(Update: So cool, in less than 6 hours since I started searching, I've already managed to find some Orthodox Judio Latinos in Washington Heights. It's networking time! Hooray!)
