Debunking the myths of Judaism

The recent ordination by the Reform Movement of Alyssa Stanton, a black woman rabbi who had converted to Judaism, provides an occasion to explode some commonly held myths about Judaism and the Jewish people.

The first myth is that Jews are racially monochromatic. Jews always have been a diverse people. From the time of the Exodus, they were, according to the Bible, a “mixed multitude.” Jews were never defined by race but by a common historical experience bound by the covenant of Torah.
Advertisement

By mid-16th century Jewish communities existed not only in Central and Eastern Europe but in Jamaica, Brazil, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Uganda, India and China. Jews made their homes in Iran and Iraq, Turkey and Greece. They did not eat only blintzes but also ate injera, Ethiopian flat bread, Indian curries, Arabic pita and Turkish kebabs.

The first Jews in the United States were Spanish-Portuguese Jews, exiled during the Inquisition. Until the late 1940s, African-Americans, Asians and Jews in the United States were considered foreign groups and restrictive housing laws applied to all of them.

Not only are Jews racially and ethnically diverse by birth, but many others, through intermarriage, conversion or adoption, have become part of the Jewish community. A 2002 survey found that 435,000 Jews are African-American, Asian, Latino/Hispanic, American or mixed race in the United States.

Around the world people of color are exploring Judaism. Whole communities, like the Abayudaya in Uganda, the Beta Israel of Ethiopia and others in India, Burma, Brazil and Peru, have been practicing Judaism for years. Israel is one of the most racially, ethnically and culturally diverse countries. Read Article

By Sandy Sasso