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Be'chol Lashon Newsletter: December 2012
We want to share some of the successes you made possible over the past year. Be'chol Lashon provides tools and opportunities to explore identity and connect the Jewish people globally. Please contribute to a stronger, more vibrant Jewish people, ensuring the participation of future generations in Jewish life. Mazal Tov to Be'chol Lashon's Rabbi Juan Mejia and his wife Rabbi Abby Jacobson on the birth of their daughter Esther Shoshana sister of Gracia. She was welcomed into the covenant of the Jewish people with a B'rit Mikve an adaptation of the traditional Sepharic Zeved Bat ceremony.
Talk with Lewis Gordon and Jane Anna Gordon and you will find quickly that relationships matter. Not just between two scholars, but in the world at large. Kenny Kahn coaches the El Cerrito High School Gauchos, who took a commanding lead early to cruise into their first round playoff victory putting their record at 11 - 0 overall.
Rabbis Without Borders is creating a network of rabbis who are attuned to and educated about the issues in American culture today. We are beginning to see amazing results.
John T. Reddick, a Harlem historian, has pieced together how the neighborhood's black composers, performers and music publishers collaborated with Jewish counterparts to sell ragtime, jazz, blues and patriotic marches.
Attending AJU alongside the Jewish majority is a handful of students who are not Jewish. These students are a unique, valuable minority in a community where Judaism is the dominant culture.
“When people have issues about converts, they stem from a fear of the past, of people being protective of blood and lineage,” says Diane Tobin.
Like it or not, intermarriage is a fact in Jewish life. And for the most part the Jewish community has learned to live with it. From Renewal to Orthodox we no longer assume that a Jew by birth will marry another Jew by birth.
The Spanish offer of citizenship was not as simple as it first sounded, and almost immediately evoked a mix of reactions. The Federation of Sephardic Jews in Argentina, for one, was elated. But there were some hard questions from bnei anousim, the descendants of the anousim. They were concerned about criteria that were not widely explained.
Malaysia is our home. It is our future and being Jewish hasn’t really changed anything. We don’t face any anger or resentment from friends and colleagues who know we are Jewish, so I think in the future, the Jewish community will continue to be strong in our own way.
“The Sigd holiday is based on the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, when after 70 years in exile, the Jews returned from Babylon to the Land of Israel. In Jerusalem, they held a day of fasting, repentance, teaching of the Torah, and prayer.”
A gathering of more than 500 Jews from 20 plus countries in Latin America and beyond, the Encuentro was a thrilling reflection of Jewish community life from Chile to Peru to Mexico.
On a recent Tuesday night in Warsaw, more than 30 people gathered around Rabbi Gil Nativ. Most of them were part of a current trend in Poland, where people are rediscovering their hidden Jewish roots and converting back to the religion of their parents and grandparents.
Bringing an eclectic new voice to a cultural conversation once dominated by the Eastern European Ashkenazi, the Sephardic Music Festival has shined a light on this community and its traditions for the past eight years with a phalanx of artists from across the city and throughout the diaspora.
Latinos may be predominantly Catholic, but there are also large numbers of Hispanics who practice Judaism—some 500,000 through South and Central America and growing numbers here in the states.
It’s not every day an Israeli wakes up to an email inbox full of love letters from Iran. Yet they come in droves to the Israeli singer Rita Yahan-Farouz.
Celebrating Jewish identity and survival, Purim is traditionally observed with a joyous, irreverent and carnival-like festivities. An afternoon of frolicking, food and fun, with face painting, hamentaschen, henna art, multicultural food and more! Co-sponsored by Be'chol Lashon.
Growing up Jewish in Mumbai was more perplexing to those around him than Samson himself. As a first generation Indian Jewish guy with zero historical knowledge of American Standup, Samson brings a refreshingly new approach to thought-provoking humour with a global perspective.
Be'chol Lashon, in partnership with the Jewish Board of Family & Children's Services, is proud to announce the launch of the first Big Brother Big Sister program aimed at ethnically, racially and culturally diverse Jews.
In his new film, 400 Miles to Freedom, director Avishai Mekonen breaks his 20-year silence about the kidnapping he endured as a child in Sudan during his community’s exodus out of Africa.
Siona Benjamin is an artist originally from Bombay, of Bene Israel Jewish descent. Siona’s work reflects her complex cultural background and the transition between the old and new worlds. She raises questions about “home”, identity, immigration, and the role of art in social change.
Idan Raichel began his musical journey collaborating with artists of different ethnicities and singing in languages as diverse as Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, Amharic, and Swahili. The resulting albums shattered sales records in Israel, making Raichel his country’s biggest musical breakthrough with triple-platinum sales.
Happy Holidays! The Be'chol Lashon groups will be on break through the end of January and will start back up again in February. • Be'chol Lashon DC Group If you want to book a speaker, screen a film or for press inquiries, contact Speakers@bechollashon.org or 415.386.7900. | |
Malaysia’s forgotten Jewish community
At El Encuentro, Family Life Comes Full Circle
With Farsi album, Israeli singer Rita finds herself a fan club in Iran
