What a day😊!
As many of you may know, a few months before the pandemic started I left my job at a government agency because I was assaulted by my supervisor. Well, since that happened I have been patiently waiting for the right opportunity to come my way. I got a call in the morning from MPT and it went very well 🤞🏾! 30 minutes later, I was interviewed by a reporter from the Jewish Times about my take on a recent survey about Jews of Color.
During the interview, I was asked about how I felt being a “Jew Of Color” when I show up in Jewish spaces. I was frank and honest and said that I have not experienced any hatred in any Jewish spaces. I was taught by a conglomerate of AMAZING “Black” women who descended from the harshest human treatment known to man, That, “if you approach in love, there is no way that anybody can be hateful around you!” You hear me? (shoutout My Great-Grannys Hattie and Hazel, my Granny Sarah May, My momma Debra and my Auntie Denise “Bubbles”). I told him though, that my problem is with the descriptive phrasing “Of Color”, as it denotes an opportunity to segment entitlement based on melanin; my main issue though was how Jewish people who approach me outside of Jewish spaces tend to approach. I further explained to him that I wear a kippah, tzitit both of which I wear almost everyday and I have payot; and I am stopped to get asked if I am Jewish. He told me that my problem made sense. We ended the conversation and i prepared for my evening plans.
The plan for the evening was to go to the screening of our 48hr Film Project film “The Tennalys” which screened at 930. After the screening we were milling about talking to the other filmmakers and players (masked up and socially distanced of course) and I was approached by a man who asked me if I was wearing a yarmulke, which is Yiddish word for kippah. My reply was yes I wear my kippah everyday when I can. His next question did not catch me off guard as I was prepared for it because, I too want to be selfish and exclusionary with HASHEM. I want to ensure that the only people who come to G-D, my forever father, to not come disrespectfully, I get it! He asked me, “Are you Jewish?” I told him that I may have been able to hide it if it were not for my tzitit and my payot. Next, he asked did I convert or was I born Jewish, to which I replied, “I was born Jewish, I just didn’t know until I converted!” He then asked was I orthodox or ultra-conservative. When I told him that I practiced under the reform tradition mostly and also attend conservative services sometimes. He looked shocked which let me know, he was Jewish.
He told me that he and his director were both practitioners of the Orthodox tradition and it means that they pray in Hebrew more, he then kept trying to “Jewish” quiz me. He asked why do I practice reform, my response was then what it always is when I am afforded the opportunity to answer this question. HASHEM led me to the reform tradition, but when I got there I realized that I have more conversations with people who may be questioning where they belong in their faith. It is in those moments that we have the opportunity to really ask G-D to come into a conversation and show us how to be better oriented with our kavanah (intention) for prayer. This is the prime opportunity to meet people who desire to start a relationship with HASHEM and get the questions asked, that they were always told not to ask.
In closing, I’ll offer this, it is Rude AF and antisemitic as a Jew to keep asking “Black” people questions about their dedication to Judaism just because, you believe that they aren’t Jewish enough for your Jewish standard that you are partially dedicated to. This encounter is the personification of the descriptive phrasing “Of Color”. IMO, dude felt like he had more right to Judaism than I did simply because he lacked the amount of melanin that I had. I walked away from the situation thinking that it was messed up that it happened and partially angry however, as I have been writing, I am now thinking; maybe when y’all do that, it is because you wonder where you fit in the tribe and the fact that I found my space makes you feel some kind of way. Either way, your issue ain’t with me!
The only way I could sum up my collective experiences for yesterday, “What a day😊!”
Thanks for reading. May your day be blessed, I love y’all and there is nothing you can do about it.
Shabbat Shalom,
NachShon
