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  In the News: 2010
Growing a Global Jewish People By Diane Tobin / January 2010 / Torah at the Center I love listening to the voice of my son Jonah practicing his Torah trope, ancient lyrics that he sings with a new, rich voice, adding another dimension to his repertoire of Jewish skills. He is proud of himself and is looking forward to his bar mitzvah, an important moment when he will affirm his Jewish identity—one of many identities he embodies. Read on... In the News: 2009
 Rabbi Funnye's Message of InclusivityBy The Wandering Jew / October 29, 2009 / Jew School Throughout the talk, Rabbi Capers Funnye repeated his message of the need for inclusion, acceptance, and a better understanding of how a diverse Jewish population can learn from each other. He gave examples of how African-American Jews can help build bridges between synagogues and churches and mosques. Read on...  Davi Cheng, "One-Stop Shop" MinorityBy Candy Cheng / October 26, 2009 / chineseandchosen.com Davi Cheng is the Los Angeles Regional Director Be’chol Lashon, an institute for Jewish and community research. Davi came to the U.S. from Hong Kong when she was 14 and she currently lives in Los Angeles. She often introduces herself by giving all of her names: Wai-Fong (Chinese), Mariana (English) and Davi (Hebrew). Watch the interview...  Jews of color come together to explore identityBy Sue Fishkoff / October 13, 2009 / JTA At the most recent Be’chol Lashon fall retreat, held Oct. 2-4 at Walker Creek Ranch just north of San Francisco, parents interviewed said they don’t want to segregate their children from the larger community. Most, but not all, send their children to mainstream religious schools and belong to synagogues. They look at the Be’chol Lashon activities as supplementary, giving them space to explore their connection to Judaism without having to explain who they are. Read on...  Sukkat Shalom: From Uganda to U.S. and BackBy Amy Klein / September 30, 2009 / Jewish Journal Rabbi Gershom Sizomu is starting a health clinic in Mbale — this after getting malaria under control by distributing mosquito nets, digging wells and teaching about sanitation and health — all with the support of Be’chol Lashon in San Francisco, which advocates for the growth and diversity of the Jewish people. Read on...  The Reel Deal: Follow filmmaker Lacey Schwartz behind the lens as she works to redefine the face of JudaismBy Jen Jones / May/June 2009 / JVibe By way of daring documentaries and forward-thinking films, Lacey Schwartz seeks to inspire others to think "outside the box"—literally. "My documentary is about dual identity," says Lacey of her upcoming film, cleverly titled to reference forms that instruct people to check just one box in regards to race. Read on...  For first-timers and old pros, Israel in the Gardens delights the sensesBy Amanda Pazornik / June 11, 2009 / J-Weekly Inside the Be’Chol Lashon Kids Interactive Zone, Israel in the Gardens’ first-timers Kim Lawrence and her 3-year-old daughter, Kendall, created photo magnets and colorful flowers made of bright pink and purple tissue paper. “My daughter is loving the art and music,” said Lawrence. Read on...  Introducing America's First Black, Female RabbiBy David Kaufman / June 6, 2009 / TIME "This is an exciting next step in my journey," says Stanton, who feels both blessed and burdened by her "first-ever" status. "I'm honored and awed by this achievement," she continues. "But I am foremost a rabbi who happens to be African-American, not The African-American Rabbi." Read on...  Is Jewish the New Black?By Cord Jefferson / June 10, 2009 / TheRoot.com It's been a bit of a mixed bag for blacks and Judaism lately. In the heartland city of Cincinnati this month, 45-year-old Ohio native Alysa Stanton became the first African-American female rabbi. Sadly, Charles Taylor, the former Liberian dictator awaiting trial for war crimes, made news, too, as a convert to Judaism. Party crasher. Read on...  To be young, gifted, and black...and JewishBy Anthony Calypso / June 9, 2009 / theGrio.com As a child Tamar Manasseh's favorite prayer was the Sh'ma (pronounced sha-mahh) because she had to cover her eyes to recite it. But as she left home every morning to go to school Manasseh, now 31, had to lose the Star of David pendant on her necklace because it was identical to a gang sign in the painfully impoverished Englewood neighborhood in Chicago where she was raised. Read on...  Newly ordained Colombian rabbi vows to help ConversosBy Ben Harris / May 28, 2009 / JTA Raised as a Catholic in Colombia and educated at Christian schools, Juan Mejia was on his way to becoming a monk when he discovered as a teenager that his family had Jewish roots. After a torturous journey, Mejia converted and began training for the rabbinate. Now he is dedicating his rabbinate to helping Jewish descendants like himself who want to reconnect with their roots. Read on... 
First African-American female rabbi to take N.C. pulpitBy Sue Fishkoff/ May 17, 2009 / JTA Diane Tobin sees Stanton’s ordination as an important step in mitigating the marginalization felt by many Jews of color. “There are so many who do not identify with the mainstream Jewish community,” Tobin says. “As more people like Rabbi Stanton come along as role models, others will see themselves better reflected in the community.” Read on... 
Be'chol Lashon Media AwardsBy Malka Faden / May 4, 2009 / San Francisco Examiner The 2009 Be'chol Lashon Media Awards were presented on Sunday, May 3, honoring excellence in coverage of Jewish ethnic diversity in print, broadcast/film and new media. Read on... 
Passover, the Exodus Story and Black Jews: The Black Rabbi From ChicagoBy Maureen Fiedler / Interfaith Voices / April 2, 2009 As a young man in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Capers C. Funnye Jr. was encouraged to become a pastor. Instead, he went to rabbinical school. Now one of about 27 black rabbis in the United States, he heads an Ethiopian Hebrew synagogue on the Southwest Side of Chicago. Rabbi Funnye joins us this Passover to share his struggle for acceptance and explain why blacks and Jews have so much in common. Listen to the interview: In the News: 2008
Life Through a LensBy Rahel Musleah, December 2008, JWMagazine.org Lacey Schwartz, 31, also places personal conflict front and center. Outside the Box, still in production, documents her attempt to confront her dual black and Jewish identities—and that of 400,000 black Jews in America. It opens with a series of stark statements: “Lacey Schwartz’s high school friends never asked why her parents were white. Neither did she. On her college application she had to state her race by checking a box. Unable to answer the question, she attached a picture instead.” Georgetown University enrolled her as a black student, which eventually blew the lid off the family secret: Her biological father was black. The revelation changed her life. Read on... For information about upcoming Be'chol Lashon events in New York, click here. 
Obama's cousin-in-law Rabbi Capers Funnye battles to open the gates of Judaism
By Julie Gruenbaum Fax, November 28, 2008, New York Times Funnye, 56, has dedicated his life to chiseling away at the conventional, but increasingly inaccurate, conception of who is a Jew. Web extra video: A Chicago TV station visits Temple Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation ...more 
Diane Tobin Featured in Bubbe's KitchenRosh Hashanah (September 30/October 1, 2008) Welcome to Bubbe's Kitchen. This is where Jewish Family & Childrens services stir up a little family tradition with your favorite recipes. Whether you are a Bubbe or a Zayde, or just want some new kosher culinary tips, drop by Bubbe's Kitchen each month to see what's cooking. ...more 
5768: A Chronology
By JTA Staff, September 22, 2008, JTA.org Taking a look at the highlights of the Jewish year. JTA published a chronology of highlights from the Jewish year 5768. Here is just one. Read all of them here. May: LOS ANGELES – Ugandan Gershom Sizomu is ordained as a Conservative rabbi by American Jewish University, making him the first official rabbi of Uganda's Abayudaya community. ...more 
Obama's RabbiBy Niko Koppel and Sarah Wheaton, September 10, 2008, The New York Times Who knew? Even as Senator Barack Obama has tried to overcome skepticism by some Jewish voters, he has been keeping a little family secret. Turns out that a member of the Obama clan is a rabbi. ...more 
An Evening With Rabbi SizomuBy Masada Siegel, September 5, 2008, The Jewish Advocate The African drum beat was combined with the violin, clarinet and myriad musical instruments. The energy in the room was overwhelming and the room was filled with a sea of white faces, with dots of color interspersed. All eyes were on Ugandan Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, his brother JJ and his son, all wearing colorful African kippoth. ...more 
Michelle Obama Has a Rabbi in Her FamilyBy Anthony Weiss, September 2, 2008, The Forward.com While Barack Obama has struggled to capture the Jewish vote, it turns out that one of his wife’s cousins is the country’s most prominent black rabbi — a fact that has gone largely unnoticed. Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side and Michelle Obama’s paternal grandfather, Frasier Robinson Jr., were brother and sister. ...more 
Who is an African Jew?By O. Stav Hillel, September 29, 2008, The Jerusalem Report Last July, in the city of Nabugoye, in Eastern Uganda, the group of Jews known as the Abayudaya ("People of Judah" in the native Luganda language) convened for the installation of Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, Uganda's first chief rabbi and the first black sub-Saharan rabbi to be ordained by an American rabbinical school. ...more Black Jewish filmmaker sets out to capture her identity By Anshel Pfeffer, August 6, 2008, Haaretz.com Lacey Schwartz began to ask herself questions about her identity only at age 18. How did it happen that her American-Jewish, white parents gave birth to a dark-skinned girl? She discovered that the father who had raised her since birth was not her biological father; her biological father had been her mother's lover and a family friend. ...more 
More blacks explore JudaismBy Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor, July 17, 2008 Like many of the growing numbers of Protestant blacks in America and Africa converting to Judaism, Elisheva Chaim grew up believing she had a "Jewish soul." ...more 
Freshly-ordained Ugandan rabbi gets ball rolling on returning homeBy Roberto Loiederman, JewishJournal, July 16, 2008 Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, the first black sub-Saharan rabbi ordained at an American rabbinical school, has had a very busy time since returning to Uganda in June, after not having lived there for five years. ...more 
Choosing to Be ChosenBy Don Lattin, July/August 2008, California Magazine Rabbi Capers Funnye, the spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, doesn't look Jewish- at least to some Jewish eyes. ...more 
Positive Realist: Dr. Gary TobinBy Debbie Cohen, Spring 2008, Lifestyles Magazine Dr. Gary A. Tobin knows how to make a point- even if it's not always easy to hear what the well-known demographer and President of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francsico has to say. Tobin challenges traditional ways of thinking about Jewish communal life. ...more 
In Living ColorBy Rachel Sarah, July 2008, Jewish Living Raising a biracial Jewish daughter, a mother finds herself answering many questions: from her child, from total strangers, and from her own heart. "Mommy, you became Jewish when you had me." That's how Mae, my eight-year-old daughter, explains it, and she's right. ...more 
Gay rabbis getting married—and marryingAmy Klein, The Jewish Journal, June 17, 2008 It's almost 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 17, and the line at the West Hollywood Park snakes around itself, as some 400 people wait to obtain marriage licenses on this first official day that the State of California is issuing licenses to gay and lesbian couples (aside from one wedding on Monday). ...more Jews' faith journey leads from Uganda to L.A. and back By Sandy Banks, June 10, 2008, Los Angeles Times The music was distinctly African, driven by pulsing drums and lively melodies. But the lyrics were in Hebrew, sung by a diminutive rabbi with coal-black skin and a yarmulke as colorful as its history. ....more Three countries share limelight at Israel Expo By Julie Anne Ines, June 1, 2008, Orange County Register The Jewish community of Orange County threw a bash in honor of the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel, but Israel Expo 2008 also celebrated the 60th birthdays of the democracies of India and South Korea. ....more 
Far-flung communities seek place in the Jewish worldBy Sue Fishkoff, May 6, 2008, JTA Miguel Segura Aguilo’s ancestors were executed as Jews five centuries ago in Spain, but he is not welcome in his local synagogue today. Gershom Sizomu, who will be ordained this month in Los Angeles as a Conservative rabbi, dreams of setting up the first yeshiva for African Jews in his Abayudayan village in East Uganda. ....more 
Ugandan Gershom Sizomu ordained as first black sub-Saharan rabbiBy Brad Greenberg, May 21, 2008, The Jewish Journal Gershom Sizomu has had a wonderful five years—four spent enjoying the for-granted luxuries of Los Angeles and one indulging in the spiritual gravity of Jerusalem—and now he is set to return home to lead a small Jewish community in rural Uganda. ....more 
Think Tank Aims To Infuse Jewish Mainstream With Dashes of ColorBy Rebecca Spence, May 8, 2008, Forward.com San Francisco - Go to almost any Jewish conference and you’ll likely find the ethnic makeup to be largely, and unsurprisingly, white. But at a recent plenum in San Francisco, a group championing ethnic diversity in Jewish life turned that situation on its head ....more Meeting unites far-flung communities seeking place in the Jewish world By Sue FishkoffMay 7, 2008, JTA Miguel Segura Aguilo’s ancestors were executed as Jews five centuries ago in Spain, but he is not welcome in his local synagogue today. Gershom Sizomu, who will be ordained this month in Los Angeles as a Conservative rabbi, dreams of setting up the first yeshiva for African Jews in his Abayudayan village in East Uganda. ....more 
Reform student on track to become the first black female rabbiBy Sue Fishkoff, May 7, 2008, JTA She’s proud to be black, proud to be a woman and proud to be a 45-year-old single mother who raised her adopted child on her own. And when she says that next May, following her ordination as a Reform rabbi, she will become the first black female rabbi, the huge grin on her face lets folks know she feels pretty good about that, too. ....more 
On Being Black, White, and JewishLacey Schwartz, Jewcy.com, March 21, 2008 Like any typical upper-middle class Jewish girl growing up in the Eighties, my life revolved around the Bar Mitzvah party circuit, Gap clothing stores, second base, and Madonna. Something was off, though... ...more 
Black Rabbi Reaches Out to Mainstream of His FaithBy Niko Koppel, March 16, 2008, The New York Times Chicago- Having grown up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Capers C. Funnye Jr. was encouraged by his pastor to follow in his footsteps. Instead, he became a rabbi. ....more America's Filled With Potential, If Only the Community Could See It By Gary Tobin, March 6, 2008, JTA A study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows that Americans are switching religions more than ever. As many as one of every two adults does not practice the religion in which they were born or raised. ....more A Nation of Many Colors by Shoshana Kordova, January 1, 2008, World Jewish Digest Monique Apatow, a black Jewish woman, was walking down a street in her Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Shaul with an Ethiopian friend and their children last year when a group of ultra-Orthodox boys threw stones at the two families and shouted "kushi!" - a word that in Israel bears the connotation of "a racist white American calling an African-American a nigger," as Apatow puts it. ....more TOP OF PAGE In the News: 2007
Black Rabbi Seeks to Bridge Divide
by Ben Harris, December 31, 2007, JTA Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, wants you to know that he likes gefilte fish - a lot. "I love it," he told JTA in a recent interview. "I love lox. I love borscht. Some of my congregants don't even know what borscht is."....more Bush Burns Hanukkah Candle at Both Ends by Nathan Guttman, December 12, 2007 The Jewish festivities began at a discussion that Bush held with 15 Jewish communal leaders who escaped religious persecution in their countries of origin. After that, he moved on to a Hanukkah candle lighting, where a menorah that belonged to the great-grandfather of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was lit. ....more Bush uses menorah lighting to meet Jews who knew persecution by Beth young, December 11, 2007, JTA WASHINGTON (JTA) -- President Bush used his annual Chanukah meeting with Jewish leaders to invite figures who had experienced persecution throughout the world. ....more One People Many Faces Opening our eyes and our attitudes to the expanding racial and ethnic variety of Jewish life. By Rahel Musleah, December 2007, Jewish Woman Magazine Helen Wanderstock had difficulty picturing an Asian child on the bimah becoming a bat mitzvah—until she and her husband adopted a baby of their own from Vietnam. "It’s made me think differently," says Wanderstock, "about what being Jewish is." ....more Museum Exhibit Shoots Down Jewish Stereotypes by Dan Pine, October 13, 2007, j-weekly Blue skies and safe streets, Sears lawn mowers and Schwinn bikes. A father and son fishing down by the old creek. A mother pushing a baby carriage. They are bucolic images of suburban America. Except the women wear long skirts and the men wear kippahs and tallits. ....more Black Jews In America by Steve Kramer, August 22, 2007, GBMNews On our recent American visit, we had the pleasure of attending the wedding of the daughter of our dear friends, the Braunsteins. Lauren, an educator who received her Master's degree a few years ago, had met her husband Walter on JDate [online dating service catering to Jews]. Walter Isaac, is a Jewish man completing his doctorate at the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies of Temple University. What's a bit unusual is that Walter is a black Jew himself. ....more Local Jewish Community Aids Ugandan Rabbi-to-be by Jonathan Shugarts, August 6, 2007, Republican American Gershom Sizomu traveled to the United States from a land of dirt roads, mud huts, and a history of brutal dictatorship that clouded the rolling hills of his native Uganda in fear. But Sizomu, 38, will be a rarity when he returns to his homeland. He will be the only ordained rabbi in Uganda and will lead a small community of African Jews known as the Abayudaya who live in a small village called Mbale. ....more Israel in the Gardens by Dan Pine, May 25, 2007, j-weekly At this year's Israel in the Gardens, a Jewish percussionist from Uganda will lead a parade of Israel supporters around the Gardens. All theway around. "Walk a Mile for Israel" which circumnavigates Yerba Buena Gardens, is but one part of the entertainment on tap at the Bay Area's annual love-in for the Jewish state. ....more Black Jew illuminates diversity of Judaism by Dianna Marder, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 5, 2007 Much of the study of African Americans and Jews relates to relationships between the two groups. But Lewis Ricardo Gordon, a Jamaica-born, Yale-educated author and Temple University professor, is studying African-Americans who are Jews. ....more Shades of Gray By E. B. Solomont, American Jewish Life Magazine, April 1, 2007 The problem was the boxes on her college application. The ones where you check white or black. Lacey Schwartz didn't know which to check, so she sent a picture instead, which led the school administrators to enroll her as a black student, one who inexplicably had two white Jewish parents. That's how she made it 18 years before blowing the lid off the family secret: That her mother had an affair with a black man, that she was the product of their union. ....more Taste of Uganda: Rabbi Reaches out to Children Through Music by Sara Cunningham, Courier-journal.com, March 24, 2007 Gershom Sizomu shared his musical message in English, Hebrew and Lugandan yesterday with schoolchildren and members of a local synagogue. "Behold it's a good thing and pleasant for brothers and sisters to sit together," he sang. For Sizomu, language can cross all boundaries when it's set to music. ....more Montclair Identify Expert to Explore Growing Awareness of Multiracial Jews By Johanna Ginsberg, New Jersey Jewish News, March 1, 2007 "I have to figure out my Jewish identity in a way my husband doesn’t have to"ť said Lisa Williamson Rosenberg, who identifies herself as black and Jewish. He says, "I’m Jewish,"- no one debates him or gets into an argument with him. It was the same for my mother. No one says, "Oh, how did you get to be Jewish? - Everyone asks me those questions."....more Book Review: In Every Tongue: The Racial & Ethnic Diversity of the Jewish People. By Diane Tobin, Gary A. Tobin, and Scott Rubin. San Francisco: Institute for Jewish & Community Research, 2005. 251 pp. American Jewish History Journal, Volume 93 By Ephraim Tabory, Bar Ilan University March 1, 2007 The authors' main focus is on what they call "diverse Jews," and their primary study relates to the United States. They estimate that "at least 20 percent of the Jewish population in the United States is racially and ethnically diverse, ....more Intermarriage Studies May Be Right; Community's Fearful Response Isn't JTA, by Gary Tobin, February 15, 2007 We keep producing studies that prove that children of intermarried families are less likely to be Jewish than children from two born Jews. There's nothing wrong with the research; my studies show the same thing. However, our responses to the findings, which come from fear and suspicion, are troubling. ....more TOP OF PAGE In the News: 2006
Deconstructing the Asian Jewish Experience
j., The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, by Joshua Brandt, December 8, 2006 Much of the study of African Americans and Jews relates to relationships between the two groups. A recent forum on Asian Jewish identities emphasized commonalties while shattering stereotypes. But before debunking the prevailing paradigm of the Ashkenazi Jew, the panel had to come to grips with an equally important question: What constitutes "Asian?".....more Have a feliz Chanukah at multicultural holiday fiesta j., The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, by Dan Pine, December 8, 2006 Much of the study of African Americans and Jews relates to relationships between the two groups. A recent forum on Asian Jewish identities emphasized commonalties while shattering stereotypes. But before debunking the prevailing paradigm of the Ashkenazi Jew, the panel had to come to grips with an equally important question: What constitutes "Asian?".....more Fasting Has a Way of Humbling the Self NPR, by Rabbi Capers Funnye, September 20, 2006 In my faith of Judaism, we are commanded to fast specifically on Yom Hakippurim, which is coming this year on Sunday evening, the first of October. And we are directed in the Torah to fast from sundown of the ninth day of the seventh month until sundown of the tenth day of that same month. The fasting, for me, on a very personal level, has always been a way for me to open myself up to see things clearer, to be drawn closer in my relationship to the God of Israel. ....more Book Review: Troubling the Waters: Black-Jewish Relations in the American Century diverseeducation.com, by Jane Gordon, August 24,2006 Cheryl Lynn Greenberg, in Troubling the Waters: Black-Jewish Relations in the American Century, reopens the question of whether there was a “golden age” of cooperation between Black and Jewish groups from the 1940s-1960s. ....more Ethiopian Jews' Panel Touches Questions of Race, Religion j-weekly, by Rachel Sarah, August 4, 2006 "If you're presented with choices, such as being both black and Jewish, then who are you?" This question, posed by Scott Rubin, was at the heart of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival's panel discussion on Saturday, July 29 at Berkeley's Roda Theatre. Rubin, a senior research associate at the Institute for Jewish & Community Research, was moderating a panel discussion on race, adoption and Jewish identity. ....more "Awareness Growing, Local Rabbi Says" South Bend Tribune, by Christine Cox, June 22, 2006 Every Friday at sunset, 6-year-old Livya Zeitler of Elkhart helps her mother, Melanie, light candles to welcome Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. Together they pray over wine and the traditional chalah bread, covering their eyes to show God respect. Livya has been able to recite these prayers since she was 3 1/2.....more 
Funny, you don't look Jewish!by Davi Cheng, Beth Chayim Chadashim, May 29, 2006 At the end of the Beth Chayim Chadashim Humanitarian Award Brunch, I walked over to meet our guest, Bruce Vilanch. Before I even had a chance to open my mouth to introduce myself, Bruce reached over with his gigantic hand, and sporting a huge smile on his face he took my hand firmly in his and shook it warmly. "Funny, you don't look Jewish!" he said. ....more "South of Main" Takes Top Award Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal / GoUpstate.com, Linda Conley, Staff Writer, May 14, 2006 A book that details life in one of Spartanburg's early black neighborhoods and its demise, has received an award as one of the best books produced last year. "South of Main," published by the Hub City Writers Project, recently received the top award for Multicultural Nonfiction titles for adults in the Independent Publisher Book Awards competition. ... [Among the] finalists receiving recognition in the category is "In Every Tongue: The Racial & Ethnic Diversity of the Jewish People" published by the Institute for Jewish & Community Research. ....more New Study Ponders Key Question: How to Promote Active Converts? JTA, Rachel Silverman, April 12, 2006 NEW YORK - Low conversion rates among intermarried Jewish families continue to plague those working to reverse the demographic downtrends in American Jewry. ....more Jewish Moms, Chinese Daughters By Merri Rosenberg, Lilith Magazine, March, 2006 It's just a little hard for me to think of this little China doll taking my mother's name. Your grandmother--this would be hard to explain to her.....more Thinking About Jewish Tolerance Leslie Bunder Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2006 A Jewish diversity conference held earlier this month in San Francisco brought together people from various backgrounds and regions - Europe, Israel, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Australia - for a gathering that pretty much resembled a United Nations of Jews. ....more Funny, You Don't Look Jewish: Local Synagogue Explores the Changing Face of Judaism. Montclair Times, Taressa Stovall, January 25, 2006 When Lisa Williamson Rosenberg explains to people that she is biracial – black and white – and Jewish, the reactions vary. Some people are accepting, some are surprised, others are incredulous. And some have told her point-blank that, no, it's not possible to be black and Jewish at the same time.....more Out of Egypt Jerusalem Report, Ira Rifkin, January 23, 2006 As American demographics are shifting, so too are those of American Jews away from the white Ashkenazi stereotype. Then again, Jews haven't been ethnically 'pure' since the time of the Pharaohs. Lewis Gordon grew up in the Bronx, a center of Jewish life until the closing years of the last century. In that, Gordon's background is typical for an American Jew. Untypical is that his father was an Afro-Asian Jamaican and his mother was a mixed black-white Jamaican Jew who traced her maternal bloodline to Jews from Scotland and her paternal line to Jews from Jerusalem. Both sides emigrated to the Caribbean in the late-19th century and intermarried with local blacks, and while some of the offspring assimilated into the larger Christian community, others, like his mother, Patricia Solomon, remained Jews.....more Get Down, Moses Village Voice, by Elena Oumano, December 13, 2005 The Maccabee warriors' trouncing of synagogue-defiling Greeks (a victory, incidentally, that blew Jewish chances to trade patriarchy for paganism) pales next to the Savior's birth. But Hanukkah offers its own charms and boost to the economy - eight days of presents and that catchy"Dreidel" tune. This year's Hanukkah could beat out the Christmas competition in New York, thanks to a burgeoning wave of musicians recording and performing individual takes on Jewish identity. ....more TOP OF PAGE In the News: 2005
American Jews Grow in Diversity
charlotte.com, Gary Tobin, November 28, 2005 American Jews are often stereotyped as a monolithic people of European origin. Jews are in fact as diverse as any demographic group in America -- and perhaps the most diverse demographic group.....more "In Every Tongue"Shows Changing Community St. Louis Jewish Light, Robert A. Cohn, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, November 16, 2005 A newly published book, In Every Tongue, by Diane Tobin, Gary Tobin and Scott Rubin, proves conclusively, based on solid research, that today's Jewish community is absolutely NOT that of your Zayda and Bubbe from the Old Country - or even that of your Mom and Dad from l950s suburbia. The book, published by the prestigious Institute for Jewish and Community Research based in San Francisco, proves the surprising fact that at least 20 percent of Jewish America is ethnically and racially diverse. ....more American Jews Embrace Demographic Diversity DuluthNewsTribune.com, Gary Tobin, September 30, 2005 On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Jews across America will pause to consider how to improve themselves and their communities in the year to come. No doubt, many will contemplate how the country reacted to the terrible destruction wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A disproportionate number of the victims were poor and black, rekindling a national dialogue on race and class. Yet Americans poured millions of dollars into the affected areas, moving beyond racial stereotypes and boundaries.....more Book: U.S. Jewish Community Is Far More Diverse Than Most Realize JTA, Joe Eskenazi, September 18, 2005 Look at the Jew on your left. Look at the Jew on your right. OK, now look at two more Jews. Odds are, one of you is "ethnically diverse." That's the claim Gary Tobin makes in a new book exploring racial and ethnic diversity within America's Jewish population, "In Every Tongue." The San Francisco demographer maintains that perhaps 20 percent of the nation's Jews are Sephardi, Mizrachi, racial minorities or of mixed race. "It's a big deal when you start translating it into the number of human beings," said Tobin, who co-wrote the book with his wife, Diane Tobin, and Scott Rubin.....more New Research Finds 20% of Jewish America Is Ethnically and Racially Diverse HispanicBusiness.com, PRNewswire, September 14, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- New research debunks the commonly held view that America's Jews are a monolithic people of exclusively white European ancestry. In their new book, In Every Tongue (Institute for Jewish & Community Research, $25, 251 pages) noted scholar Gary A. Tobin and co-authors and show that American Jews are a multiracial people -- perhaps the most diverse people in history. ....more Outreach Advocates Cheered by Findings of Unexpected Ties Forward, Jennifer Siegel, July 8, 2005 Advocates of outreach to interfaith couples are touting a new survey that they say upends previous arguments against efforts to reach out to the children of mixed marriages. ....more Rabbi extends a rare invitation Orange County Register, By Ann Pepper, May 22, 2005 Rabbi Nancy Myers is putting together bags stuffed with books on Judaism, little goodies from Israel and some music from the cantor at her synagogue, Temple Beth David in Westminster - because she's getting ready to step out of line a little bit. ....more Kosher Gospel Rocks the House at Seder Celebrating Jewish Diversity JTA, By Chanan Tigay, April 14, 2005 Fifty years ago, Joshua Nelson's grandmother would not have walked up to a synagogue in her New Jersey neighborhood, entered and prayed. "That's because she was black," Nelson says, "and black Jews didn't generally pray at shuls dominated by white, Eastern European Jews."....more The Face of Jewish Uganda JN, Detroit Jewish News ONLINE, By Shelli Liebman Dorfman, March 3, 2005 J .J. Keki looks very much like his Ugandan neighbors. He grows coffee, bananas and maize on his farm; travels on dirt roads by bicycle-taxi and pumps water from the ground several times a day to carry home to his family. But no matter what he is doing or where he goes J.J. always has a kippah on his head, eats only kosher foods and on Friday nights and Saturdays, he walks to synagogue for Shabbat. &That is because I am Jewish," J.J. explained. ....more West Coast conference brings together Jews of color from across the globe to celebrate diversity. The Jewish Week, Serving the Jewish Community of Greater New York Debra Nussbaum Cohen, February 25, 2005 San Francisco - Before a packed house of some 400 people at the Fairmont Hotel here, 45 voices from Temple Beth El's choir soared in songs melding Hebrew lyrics with the passionate energy and rhythmic lilt of gospel music, all backed by a rocking band.....more Embrace Jewish diversity J, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California, Editorial, Staff Writer, February 4, 2005 As this week's cover story on Asian Jews makes plain, the face of Judaism is changing before our eyes. With conversion, transracial adoption and intermarriage becoming facts of American Jewish life, we have no choice but to expand our definition of who is a Jew. It is wrong to stare at those who don't "look Jewish" ....more TOP OF PAGE In the News: 2004
S.F. conference brings together far-flung Jewish communities
j., The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, Dan Pine, Staff Writer, October 8, 2004 In the lobby of San Francisco's opulent Fairmont Hotel, Ephraim Isaac wasn't hard to spot. He was the one wearing the white djellaba (robe), natalah (fringed scarf) and gobah (wedding cake-shaped head covering). ....more Bay Area Jewish Parents Accept Joys, Struggles of Interracial Adoption j., The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, By Vicki Larson, October 8, 2004 It isn't too hard to pick out Ruthie Heller in her 12th-birthday photo, even if she weren't wearing colorful balloons fashioned into a hat atop her head.Among the four Orthodox Jewish girls, arms around each other and flashing wide grins, Ruthie's creamy bronze skin, dark brown eyes and facial features are a dead give-away. ....more The Shofar The Jewish Journal, By Gaby Wenig, September 17, 2004 Davi Cheng had some trepidation when she went to Hillel for the first time. She tried to feel comfortable, but she couldn't understand the language of the services and the liturgical rituals were confusing. ....more Diversity Rules at One-of-a-Kind Shavuot Festival j., The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, Dan Pine, May 28, 2004 There wasn’t a bagel in sight. Instead, the hundreds of moms, dads and kids attending the multicultural Shavuot festival at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center had other fish to fry. It made sense to forgo the customary Askenazic fare. Though just about everyone at the Sunday, May 23, event was Jewish, most of the people were of African, Asian and Latino descent. Most of the music rocked with a Ugandan beat. And the cherished ideal of am Yisrael, the people of Israel, on this day came in rainbow colors. ....more TOP OF PAGE In the News: 2003
Myth of Uniformity
By Rob Eshman, The Jewish Journal, July 10, 2003 A lesbian, a Chinese American and a black man walk into a bar.... It's not the start of a joke, it's the beginning of a minyan. It takes 10 Jews to make a minyan, or quorum for communal prayer, and at least three of the people on stage at the University of Judaism last week fit the description above. ....more Brothers' Judaism Swings to an East African Beat Forward, Max Gross, January 17, 2003 Having a tough time finding a good Jewish day school for your kids? Have you considered Semei Kakungulu School outside Mbale, Uganda? ....more TOP OF PAGE In the News: 2000
Shades Of Gray: Multiracial families are growing rapidly and changing
The Jewish Week, by Debra Nussbaum Cohen, June 28, 2000 As dusk fell on a Saturday night not long ago, 45 Jewish children and their parents gathered together on the deck outside a retreat center dining room in the northern reaches of Connecticut to bid farewell to the Sabbath.....more TOP OF PAGE In the News: 1999
Black and Jewish in America
Jerusalem Post, by Sue Fishkoff, April 2, 1999 Rabbi Capers Funnye, Jr., spiritual leader of the B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, represents a minority within a minority. Born and raised as a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Funnye once won a scholarship to the church's theological seminary. He is now the only black Jew sitting on the Chicago Board of Rabbis, creating his own national statistic. ....more Jews embrace rich history of diversity: Roots of Judaism blossom into array of multi-ethnicity San Francisco Examiner, by Michael Dougan, March 31, 1999 Victor Osborne does not, as they say, look Jewish. Neither does Patricia Lin. But Osborne, an African American, and Lin, of Taiwanese descent, will be among thousands of Bay Area Jews breaking unleavened bread at sundown Wednesday to celebrate the beginning of Passover. ....more TOP OF PAGE In the News: 1998
Organization for black Jews claims 200,000 in U.S.
j. the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, by Michael Gelbwasser, April 10, 1998 Descriptions of Robin Washington's ethnicity are often incomplete. Some people look at his skin and assume that he is black. Others look and think that he is white. Few people, however, think he is Jewish. ....more TOP OF PAGE |