tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171081842012-01-16T14:39:21.027-08:00Aliza Hausman is a first-generation Dominican-American Latina Orthodox Jewish convert or “Jewminicana” who discovered she was born Jewish of Sephardic Jewish Turkish ancestry post-conversion. She is also a writer, blogger, educator & speaker. This blog chronicles her thoughts on being Hispanic & Jewish, focusing on identity, Judaism, Jews of colors, Latinos, diversity, race, ethnicity, conversion to Judaism, culture, multiculturalism, illness, disability, books, films, news & more….Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comBlogger1247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-55784370823650231492012-01-15T03:45:00.000-08:002012-01-16T14:39:21.057-08:00

Another head covering eaten by my afro. Yes, dear, I owe you a blog post. There have been many recent developments I'd like to share. Unfortunately, none of them mean coming back to blogging full-time as I am still trying to recover from the downturn in my health since April 2010. But there's plenty of goodish news in there somewhere. Please keep praying for me. My Hebrew name is Aliza

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-39109617085833163132011-11-03T14:48:00.000-07:002011-11-03T15:00:14.578-07:00

More than once, a friend has confused me for someone who believes in Creationism. They see me as an Orthodox Jew and therefore, as a "fundamentalist" and so, of course, they figure I must believe in Creationism like some of the Christians they've heard of and fear. As non-Jews or even secular Jews, they can't distinguish between different kinds of Orthodox Jew and the term Modern Orthodox Jew

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-48751252574104531272011-10-26T19:28:00.000-07:002011-10-26T19:28:29.705-07:00

My friend Hadassah, who is an awesome daily blogger, just wrote a post defending converts and their right to privacy. Please visit the post, it's called "Conversion is Private" and please weigh in with your personal thoughts. Especially if you agree or disagree! In my responses, I mentioned Jews of color, including converts of color, and the fetishizing and exotification and downright

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-66298561722339313242011-10-12T12:40:00.000-07:002011-10-27T01:51:35.715-07:00

This Rosh Hashanah, I was accused of un-Rebbetzin-like behavior by a stranger who didn't even know me, who didn't even talk to me, at a local minyan I attended. I don't know this person. I don't know this person's name or anything about him or her other than the casually uttered harsh words this person said to my family members who passed it on to my husband and no one wanted to share them with

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-13625964399799922802011-10-04T10:22:00.000-07:002011-10-04T10:23:08.174-07:00

Hope you had a great Rosh Hashana and are gearing up for Yom Kippur this upcoming Shabbos. Ug, I hate when Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos but after all the food I had over Rosh Hashana, which this year fell so close to Shabbos it created a 3-day yom tov, I think I'll be fine! In the meantime, it's time again to vote for your Jewish Community Heroes. The winner wins $25,000 for their organization!

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-30391220799773269832011-09-28T11:48:00.000-07:002011-09-28T11:48:31.671-07:00

Rosh Hashana Plush Set from Brochin's The Jewish new year is upon us again! Boy, in some ways that went by really fast and in other ways...painfully slow. I can't believe Rosh Hashanah is back though already and I'm hoping, as always, that next year will be better than the last. Rosh Hashanah starts tonight (Wednesday, September 28th, 2011) and ends Saturday night, October 1, 2011. Why?

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-60168500504788019712011-09-23T05:16:00.000-07:002011-09-23T05:25:59.596-07:00

Beverly Hills High School, one of the best public high schools in LA, has a large Jewish student population. If you talk to laypeople in the Orthodox community about the conversion crisis, you'll note very quickly that most of them are living under a rock and don't even know what you're talking about even in prominent Jewish circles and events. Unless they are rabbis and rabbi's wives or know

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-40777595104289238752011-09-09T01:23:00.000-07:002011-09-12T00:51:42.981-07:00

And now (because I'm so Jewish) I will turn into a matzoh ball! Okay, HOW did I miss this video of MaNishtana that pulls in interviews and pieces from his most infamous and awesome videos? The funny thing about moving to New York Los Angeles (Sorry, folks, that was just a homesick typo, I've never MOVED TO New York 'cuz hey, I was born there!) is having to search for other Jews of color all

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comLos Angeles, CA, USA34.0522342 -118.243684933.7354072 -118.50012840000001 34.369061200000004 -117.9872414tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-24189594364281217152011-09-09T00:43:00.000-07:002011-09-09T01:32:16.532-07:00

I must confess, it wasn't until fairly recently that I heard the term M.O.T., as in member of the tribe. But then the person who asked if the guy I was telling him about was an MOT, probably had never heard of JOCs, as in Jews of color. I'll never know. I didn't ask when he looked at me like I was nuts for not knowing what an MOT was. Yes, I am a member of the tribe but I have to repeat it,

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comLos Angeles, CA, USA34.0522342 -118.243684933.7354072 -118.50012840000001 34.369061200000004 -117.9872414tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-8558477419530753072011-09-08T22:21:00.000-07:002011-09-09T01:33:14.660-07:00

I remember when I used to stay with my girlfriends for Shabbos in Washington Heights. There was a point, right before candle lighting on Friday night, when all the girls would squeeze in together between the wall and the big claw-foot tub to put on their makeup in front of the medicine cabinet mirror. They used outrageous amounts of makeup, they said, because they planned on sleeping in it and

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comLos Angeles, CA, USA34.0522342 -118.243684933.7354072 -118.50012840000001 34.369061200000004 -117.9872414tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-35139608084143011322011-09-02T12:55:00.000-07:002011-09-02T12:55:32.340-07:00

Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen? I'm slightly obsessed with it even though when someone gave me a gold "Aliza" pendant, I sort of freaked and had a flashback to my ghetto childhood. All the "cool" girls who used to rag on me wore their shiny little MEAN GIRL names around their neck. Thanks to fan Rachel Lavin aka @fideoqueen for suggesting the perfect 5th anniversary present. Now

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-91485681856137651672011-08-30T10:49:00.000-07:002011-08-30T11:17:08.594-07:00

I woke up this morning to find that Mexican Jewish food had been featured in The New Yorker blog! Was I still asleep? Was I dreaming? When American Jews think Judaism or even Jewish food, they think Ashkenazi or Eastern European food. They don't think Hispanic Jewish food. People don't think of Jews as a dual-heritage or multi-heritage people though American Jews and Ashkenazi (Eastern European

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-75859239140711722732011-08-13T23:28:00.000-07:002011-08-13T23:31:31.510-07:00

Right-click on the Chrome shortcut, then add "--disable-print-preview" to the end of the target file name. Remeber the two spaces before the --. It should then look like: "C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --disable-print-preview" [the part before "--disable-print-preview" or "space,space--disable-print-preview" is whatever is already in your TARGET section]

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-61112728945434002862011-08-13T22:25:00.000-07:002011-08-13T22:28:54.897-07:00

Camp Be’chol Lashon near San Francisco brings Jewish summer camp to an emerging population of Jews of color. Diane Tobin, the camp's director, read clues to a scavenger hunt with camper William Kahn, 11. Jim Wilson/The New York Times A long time ago, I stopped reading the comments section of my articles and then eventually, the comments section of all articles. I saw that even the happiest and

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-75235182794264742912011-08-12T17:18:00.000-07:002011-08-12T17:26:07.767-07:00

I get this question all the time from people in the conversion process (the answer is a little bit different) and people have already converted. When I was in the conversion process, I couldn't go five minutes without telling people, quite excitedly, that I was converting. Or was it that I couldn't go five minutes without people asking me if I was a convert (except at the Sephardic synagogue, of

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-5937047944060249072011-07-31T18:49:00.000-07:002011-07-31T18:49:16.789-07:00

‎"Estas son las mañanitas" is the song the elders in my family sing to us youngins on our birthday. Hear it: Learn about the song and read the translation: http://gomexico.about.com/od/historyculture/qt/mananitas.htm Not quite sure why this Mexican birthday song is a tradition in our American-Dominican-Turkish-Jewish-Puerto Rican-Venezuelan-and-who-knows-what-else family but it is!

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-49186847430678471842011-07-18T18:52:00.000-07:002011-07-18T18:52:59.919-07:00

7/12/2011 Shalom uvrakha to all members and supporters of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. During the past several weeks, I have had many meetings during our stay here in Jerusalem. I've met with current and future authors of articles for our journal, Conversations, and our website jewishideas.org. I gave a lecture at the Pardes Institute, and will be speaking this Shabbat at one of

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-77481407259810517302011-06-17T15:34:00.000-07:002011-06-17T15:50:22.708-07:00

Watch the video and can I just say how much I love how committed G-dcast is to always including Jews of color in their videos!!! Parshat Shelach Lecha from G-dcast.com This week's storyteller is writer, scholar and activist Jay Michaelson For my husband's thoughts on this week's parsha, please read: "The Secret of Life: Parashat Shelach-Lecha" More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com BUY

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-59890026011511423032011-06-17T15:15:00.000-07:002011-06-17T15:15:34.625-07:00

BDJ's (Bnai-David Judea Congregation's) Design-It-Yourself Summer Beit Midrash Is there something you would like to study this summer, but you're not sure where or how? Would you love to study Tanach, Midrash or Talmud, but can't seem to find anyone to help you? Then come and join BDJ's Summer Beit Midrash! Beginning June 20th, at which Rabbi Yehuda Hausman will be available to study with you

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-69473889248446787092011-06-15T17:03:00.000-07:002011-09-22T22:01:14.357-07:00

My pain is acting up from too much typing so I have to make this briefer than I'd like but longer than I should. :) Yesterday, as everyday, I had to push myself to go to the gym and run errands but I was terribly exhausted after having overdone it the day before at the gym and running errands. I knew when I woke up, I'd never make it to the gym so I already felt like a failure for the day. But

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-2038051445631930342011-06-02T10:39:00.000-07:002011-06-03T18:36:59.416-07:00

When I started to "become religious" (as in Jewish), I stopped writing God and started substituting that with G-d instead. And no, not because of any mispeling vyrus I caught from reading too many Thursday Next novels in quick succession. Many of my friends as you can imagine were perplexed, especially since I was an English teacher and a very good speller. I'm most notable for acing every

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-38427428733818439312011-05-27T15:58:00.000-07:002011-05-27T15:59:34.583-07:00

Sorry, dear readers. I haven't felt up to writing very much and I find, that amazingly, I have very little to say. My health keeps me much too preoccupied so aside from my little updates on books, articles, TV and film I'm keeping up with, I don't have much going on. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but my wrists definitely aren't complaining. In the meantime, my husband has

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-91966149838474490362011-05-13T16:31:00.000-07:002011-05-13T16:33:26.635-07:00

Parshat Behar from G-dcast.com More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com And be sure to scoot on over to my husband's blog for more thoughts on this week's Parsha Behar: You Shall Dwell Securely."

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-57829978806782101062011-05-13T15:40:00.000-07:002011-05-13T15:40:07.885-07:00

I had to post this beautiful trailer for the film, "The First Grader."

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108184.post-82647592020110025212011-05-05T15:03:00.000-07:002011-05-05T15:04:23.326-07:00

A friend emailed this to me. "The 11 most absurd instances of accidental racism" Should we laugh or cry or perhaps, a little of both?

Aliza "La Jewminicana" Hausmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867752362566335019noreply@blogger.com