Torah Study by Artist, Lecturer, Musician Chaim Parchi
Who Are These Jews?
by Ruth Brin
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.
(Ruth F Brin z”l was famous for her Jewish poetry, prayer services, scholarly articles, children’s books and librettos. Her liturgy was found in the pages of Reconstructionist, Reform and Conservative prayer books around the country.)
King Abdulla Ibn Hussein of Transjordan sits under the watchful eyes of his Jewish bodyguards, Habanni Yemenite brothers Sayeed, Salaah, & Saadia Sofer (1922).
“The Jewish experience is built upon foundations of diversity as old as the Jewish people, a reality that may be lost to many Jews who tend to think of other Jews as being only like themselves. The historical home of the Jews lies at the geographic crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Jews are an amalgam of many peoples and Jewish origins include a multitude of languages, nations, tribes, and skin colors.” ~The History of Jewish Diversity/ Be’chol Lashon
I Love Jewish Faces by Debra Darvick
Hello,
This is beautiful! Keep sending this out into the world!
Thanks,
Lili