Archive for July 2015

David Baliaba, a prominent member of the Jewish community in Cameroon, performing Hatikvah. David composes music for the prayer services in Cameroon, and is a professional musician and performer.

 

From Canada to the Judean Hills, from Christianity to Judaism

Azriel Dror from Canada converted to Judaism from Christianity and made aliyah because Israel is “where every Jew needs to be.”
Arutz Sheva continues its series of interviews with some of the 221 olim who arrived in Israel on a Nefesh B’Nefesh flight this week.

One of the new olim on the flight was Azriel Dror, 35, who converted to Judaism from Christianity. Dror, along with his wife and five children, made aliyah from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada (a suburb of Toronto) to Susya, a religious community located in the southern Judean Hills area.

“Israel has always been in my heart and in my mind,” Dror said as the flight made its way to Tel Aviv. “The Torah says that Israel is where we should be. You see prophecy happening all the time, and Hashem has put in my heart and in my wife’s heart to go back to the Land of Israel, where every Jew needs to be.”

Dror recalled how he surprised his son, who attended yeshiva in Israel this past year, by arriving in Israel for a visit. The two toured the country from the south to the north and “I fell in love. My soul just came alive. I said, ‘This is where I need to be. This is where I need to live. Every Jew needs to live there.’”

“I still have to pinch myself that I’m here. Hashem, you made this possible. I thank G-d for his miracles. I thank G-d for catching this flight, and I thank G-d for when I land, that I can kiss the ground,” he said.
Originally posted HERE

A Kaleidoscope Of Jewish Identity By Sharon Anstey

ahuva.feature_por_300px

Ahuva in “Kaleidoscope.” Jonathan Pillot.

Cuban, Moroccan, Turkish, Libyan, Israeli, Puerto Rican, British and American influences swirl through the very Jewish stories presented in Vanessa Hidary’s “Kaleidoscope” at the 14th St Y.

Hidary, the actress, solo performer, poet and director known as the “Hebrew Mamita,” and her cast of 4 men and 8 women explore what it means to be Jewish through multiple, shifting lenses. Their compelling monologues in English with notes of French, Hebrew, English, Spanish, Ladino, Amharic and Turkish, highlight pride and joy as well as discomfort with inequalities and, for many, the bittersweet moments when grandparents and grandchildren cannot communicate easily.

Avi Amon — white, male, Jewish, Turkish, Sephardi, American — articulates the fundamental dilemma: How can we check any one box on a survey form? No one box can capture all that we are. We are forced to “shape shift.”

Raised an Episcopalian in the Bronx, Malaika Martin converted to Judaism and lived in Israel for many years. She thinks she was the only black in Beersheva in the 90s and later reigned as the “Black Queen Bee” of Tel Aviv, dispatching any competitors with contempt — to Jerusalem.

Another performer, who goes by the name Ahuva, grew up in the Ethiopian community in Ashdod and recalls that the Ethiopians walked at night and hid by day during their long journey to Israel. Her pride in Israel and having served in the IDF is evident. At the same time, her fury at the derogatory “Cushi” being hurled at members of her community is palpable.

A common thread among these monologues was “don’t tell me how to be Jewish.” As Corey Hennig who closes the evening said, as a Black and as a Jew, “the nice Jewish boy with a little more flavor,” he feels caught in the crossfire too often.

On a personal note, I witnessed a close friend grapple with this question for a long time. She was a black South African, drawn strongly to Judaism. Rabbis here in New York were willing to convert her but counseled against it as she was planning to return to South Africa — they felt that her Jewishness might be hard for her family there to digest. She lived as a Jew but died a Christian.

“Kaleidoscope” opened on Wednesday evening to an enthusiastic reception and the final performance at the 14th St Y is July 19th.

Originally published HERE.

Olam echad, Hashem echad, ha’am echad” (One world, one God, one people)

“Ani Yehudi”, I am a Jew.
Artwork & products by Yosef’s Dreams/ Zazzle


JEWS AROUND THE WORLD by Ruth Brin

Who Are These Jews?

There were women who sat in the market
selling beets and cabbages so their men could study:
They were Jews.

There were men of Yemen, great swordsmen,
guards of the king: they were Jews.

There are dark women of India, wearing saris,
Black farmers from Ethiopia, Children with slanted eyes:
All Jews.

There are dressmakers and sculptors, thieves
and philanthropists, scholars and nurses,
beggars and generals.

There are women who follow every rule of Kashrut and
men who know none of the rules, yet all of us are Jews.

Though we are not alike in mind or body,
somewhere in the depths of our souls
we know we are the children of one people.

We share history, a hope, and some prayers:
We speak many languages:
We have heard one Voice:

All of us stood together at Sinai
When our past and our future
Exploded in thunder and flame before us.

Faces of Israel

Latest Tweets

  • MochaJudenBHM Cape May Cty NJ: Wildwood was an entertainment hub for AA performers. Not permitted to stay in YT hotels local… https://t.co/krmMiw5qSZ - posted on 02/02/2023 12:50:08

  • MochaJudenHanna Jahanforooz MORNING https://t.co/fbhsFZ51af - posted on 31/01/2023 12:49:08

  • MochaJudenGela by Abyssinia Infinite featuring Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw https://t.co/DGu1flDaDc - posted on 30/01/2023 18:05:41

  • MochaJudenGela by Abyssinia Infinite feat. Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw - (Zion Roots): https://t.co/bIb3lxxSMf - posted on 30/01/2023 18:02:42

  • MochaJudenHBCU Dillard University Re-Launches the Dillard University National Center for Black-Jewish Relations in New Orlean… https://t.co/am6V5HTzwv - posted on 29/01/2023 16:40:46

Post Calendar
July 2015
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031