About
MochaJuden
Excerpt from Essay: My Soul Has Found it’s Home
When I expressed how I grew tired of looking into cold unfriendly faces when in the company of other Jews and treated as an intruder, I was then asked the question: “Given your negative experiences, why do you stay?”
I smiled, realizing that after sharing the personal details of my life, this person still didn’t get it. She didn’t understand that I could no more turn my back on being Jewish than she could. That unlike my mutti, who out of fear and perhaps even shame, felt the need to hide her true self, I cherish my Jewish heritage. When I walk into my synagogue and the service begins, a sense of peace comes over me. And when my voice blends with my choir members and the entire congregation sways and sings Avinu Malkeinu, a sense of belonging overwhelms me. I am moved to tears. I finally know who I am and where I belong. I told the person, “Leaving is not an option; my soul has found it’s home.”
Ich bin…
A Survivor
Mother, wife, daughter, friend, and student
Vice President and Co-Founder of Black German Cultural Society (BGCS)
A former president of the Jewish Multiracial Network (JMN)
Ich Liebe…
Meine Familie und Freunde so viel
Klal Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael
Creating stain glass art
Dancing, Passionate about Raqs Sharqi
Reading, Historical Romance Novels by Beverly Jenkins and Bertrice Smalls, Tananarive Due’s African Immortal Series, Octavia Butler, Rabbi Harold Kushner-Inspirational and list goes on!
Cooking, Currently experimenting with Moroccan
Baking, (I’m so good)
Foreign and Independent films, Documentaries, Happy tear jerkers
Music, All genres. Big fan of Middle Eastern music (best for Raq Sharqi) Big Jazz Vocalist fan: Ella, Carmen, Betty Carter, Lorez, Nancy, Dinah, Sarah, the list goes on.
Traveling! “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”
I love being at the ocean, smelling the ocean air, hearing the seagulls and watching the ebb and flow of the waves. Best of all, I love watching the sun set over the ocean, and preferably with mein Mann.
(Notice I didn’t say anything about getting “in” the ocean. I’m a pool person)
