Kehila Magazine
Kehila gives a voice to the Jew of Color community to educate and open the doors of knowledge and understanding between Jews of Color and white Jews, and between Jews and non-Jews.
“Kehila” in Hebrew means community, and this magazine is specifically for Jews of Color. We are a minority within a minority whose community is growing and requires more outlets in the Jewish and non-Jewish world to express, share, educate, discuss, debate, and voice the many opinions, topics, and issues that are important to us. I hope that this magazine will be such an outlet. While this magazine is geared toward a target audience-Jews of color-everyone is welcome to participate in the growth of this magazine! Kehila is in its infant stage and will continue to grow with the support of the JOC community and the Jewish and non-Jewish communities.
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taliadina Tali Adina
Why KEHILA?
There are about 1.2 million Jews of Color in North America alone.
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This includes African, African-American, Latino (Hispanic), Asian, North America, Sephardic, Mizrahi, and mixed-race Jews.
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Within the Jewish community, there are not a lot of spaces where JOC’s can see or express themselves. Kehila is a place where Jews of Color can do so freely.
Jews come in all ethnicites & colors!
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We live all over the world-from China to Africa, from India to Japan, from South America to North America and in between.
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We are Jews through conversion, adoption, marriage and heritage-There are Jews of Color whose families have been Jewish for generations!
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We are Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Hasidic, Secular, Atheist, and in between.
So, why the distinction?
What makes us different from our white counterparts? Well nothing and everything. We’re Jews just like them. We read the Torah, we go to the mikveh, we celebrate all the Jewish holidays, attend shul, etc.The difference is our skin color and ethnicity and the challenges that come with that which white Jews do not have to deal with.
Our Challenges:
So how can people understand the obstacles that Jews of Color face? To start off, there’s the Ashkenazi Privilege List (http://kehilamagazineofficial.wordpress.com/why-kehila/ashkenaziwhite-jewish-privilege-checklist/) that has statements that explain the privileges that white Ashkenazi Jews that Jews of Color do not have and to show the differences between how white Ashkenazi Jews and Jews of Color are treated.
Also watching the Jew of Color Round Table (http://kehilamagazineofficial.wordpress.com/why-kehila/the-jew-of-color-roundtable/) is another good way to understand what challenges we face.
The More You Know
There’s more to learn and Kehila Magazine is one of the places where Jews of color, White Jews, and non-Jews can come together.
Don’t Stop Connecting!
There are many reasons to come and visit this site. We talk about many issues, topics, etc, that affect JOC’s on a daily basis. We also talk about culture, food, music, etc. that interest all types of people. We also talk about how to keep the Jew of Color community connected with each other, the Jewish community as a whole and the non-Jewish community as well.
