You can love Irish songs, and you can love Yiddish songs. Irish chanteuse Susan McKeown and Klezmatics bandleader Lorin Sklamberg encourage you to love them both — at once.
The preservation of Jewish traditions was a common feature in Christian societies which were outside the Roman Empire, and therefore somewhat immune to reforms which took place after Constantine’s conversion.
European Jewish immigrants and their descendants certainly benefited from the privileges that came to them in American society by being seen as white, but those privileges came with significant costs for Jewish group identity because they placed limits on the expression of Jewish distinctiveness. Today, an American Jewish community that increasingly includes people of color has the opportunity to re-imagine Jewishness in ways that will make it more distinctive, vibrant and less limited by the need to conform to the expectations of white America.
A rare Jewish text, published for the “Black Jews of India” in the 19th Century, has been discovered in a garage sale in Salford.
The 137-year-old Poona Haggadah, used by the Bene Israel community at Passover, was found by University of Manchester historian, Dr Yaakov Wise.
He said he paid a “substantial” fee after recognising it at the sale.
“I knew it was a very rare book - in fact, it may be the only copy of it in Britain,” he said.
“If there’s Christians of all colors and all kinds, and Muslims of all colors and all kinds,” Amalia, 11, said over Shabbat lunch, “then why would Jewishness be any different?”
One of her fellow campers, Josh Rowen-Keran, 14, who was born to black and Korean parents and then adopted by an interracial couple in the Bay Area, sounded similarly nonchalant. “Being Jewish isn’t looking a certain way,” he said. “I could look at anyone and not know if they are or aren’t Jewish. You can’t know till you know the person.”
Yet what strikes these children as the same old same old, an American-Jewish community of multiple hues and heritages, has arrived as a seismic change. Religiously and historically, Judaism has generally placed little emphasis on evangelism and conversion.
Ahead of upcoming performances in Israel, Bob Marley’s son talks about Jewish holidays he celebrates with his Israeli wife (‘I love it’), his new cartoon character – ‘Marijuanaman’, and his father’s legacy
For fun, I created some t-shirts for us Irish Jews—I hope you like them! I’m going to buy my own design once I get the extra $20. (It truly is a labor of love, as I only stand to gain $2/shirt.)
Hello, I haven’t seen you in a while. About 3 years, to be exact. Well, I’m just as Irish and Jewish as ever so I decided I’m going to try to start blogging regularly on Tumblr and see if that makes things easier. A full-scale WordPress blog can be intimidating when you’re posting about quick little things like this blog is meant to be about.
P.S. I let the domain expire and GoDaddy is holding it hostage for over $200. Yes, really. I guess people really like searching for the site because they find that holding onto the domain and running ads is pretty lucrative for them. I’m not going to pay them, forget that.
Rally in support of Israel’s war in Gaza in NYC
Photo is by Dan Sieradski of the rally for Israel in New York on January 6th 2009, he has even more on Flickr, as well.
I don’t know if there’s anything more eye-opening than converting to another religion (or none at all) and becoming a non-Christian in America. Roughly 80% of America self-identifies as Christian. As a result, most aspects of life in America are dictated by Christianity.
You tell someone that you are Jewish, and that comes with a set of questions but no big deal. Tell someone that you are converting, well, that’s just strange. Never mind that people choose different religions all the time, such as becoming a “born again” Christian; Judaism seems to be seen as a religion that someone wouldn’t often freely choose, but a burden that one receives at birth.
I came across an article about privilege and unconscious ideology (such as racism, sexism) and found that much of it applied to Christianity in America. I wondered if someone had written about Christian privilege before. Lo and behold, yes.
Christian Privileges for Holidays & Holy Days:
Christian Privileges in American Culture:
Christian Privileges against Discrimination and Bigotry:
Christian Privileges in Schools:
Christian Privilege, Fear, and Security:
Christian Privileges in the Community:
Christian Privileges with Christianity:
Christian Privileges in the Law:
