O pinion
The American Jewish Story Needs to
Include More Non-Ashkenazi Jews Like Me
BY LAYLA RUDY | JTA
WHEN I WAS in first grade,
during my first few weeks of
yeshiva in New Jersey, my
teacher asked the class what
we knew about Shabbat. I kept
quiet, but my classmates had
plenty of answers.

“We can’t cut paper with
scissors,” one said.

“I’m not allowed to use
glue,” a classmate behind me
pointed out.

Another student raised their
hand and gleefully shouted
out, “Kibbeh and lachmagine!”
Our teacher laughed and
responded, “Yes, we do eat kibbeh
and lachmagine on Shabbat,
that’s my favorite part!”
That was the moment I
realized my fellow classmates,
my teachers, my community,
were just like me. They ate
kibbeh, lachmagine, sambusak,
ka’ak and every other food I
thought would be considered
weird or different. It was in that
moment I realized the stark
difference from the stories I
heard from my mother about
her own upbringing.

My entire paternal family
came from the Syrian city
of Aleppo in the early 20th
century. My maternal grand-
father was born in Damascus,
my grandmother in Istanbul.

They married in Lebanon, had
two children and escaped in
1967 when it became unten-
able for Jews to live there. My
mother is the first in her family
to be born in North America.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM She was raised in Montreal and
attended a Jewish school with
mostly Ashkenazi children.

My mother and I were in
our backyard a few weeks ago
when I was imparting my
thoughts on being raised in our
Syrian community surrounded
by people who shared our
background, values and tradi-
tions. I told her about my
experience in first grade and
the small, stunning revelation
of my community.

Sitting on lounge chairs
under the sun, my mother
relayed the story I’ve heard since
I was a child: my great-grand-
mother Leila baking pita bread,
then spreading labneh and mint
with a drizzle of olive oil and
rolling it up for my mother to
eat for lunch. And my mother —
nearly the same age I was when I
heard “kibbeh and lachmagine”
— taking the rolled-up pita out
of her bag at lunchtime and
attempting to eat it, only to
be surrounded by questioning
classmates. “What is that?” they asked
my mother.

She told them about her pita
sandwich with labneh and mint,
a sandwich her grandmother
made for her, a sandwich my
grandmother still makes for me.

“Arab! She’s an Arab!” they
taunted her, faces twisted in
disgust. I have heard this story since
I was young, nearly every time
my mother or grandmother
prepares me a pita sandwich
with labneh and mint (and
tomatoes and olives). But this
was the first time my mother
told me the actual taunts thrown
her way, the manner in which
they spit out the word “Arab!”
I have never met that level
of blatant hostility, but now,
venturing out of my commu-
nity and onto a university
campus in Brooklyn and now
Montreal, I do encounter
confusion and questioning
when I tell classmates that I’m a
Syrian Jew. I’m often met with,
“There are Jews in Syria?”
To which I respond, “Well,
not anymore.”
As I proceed further out
of my community and into
the “real world,” I realize my
Jewish identity is a puzzle to
nearly everyone I meet. I didn’t
understand it at first. How
could people not know about
Jews, about where we come
from and our histories, how we
ended up where we are today?
Learning more about my
Jewish history, as well as the
histories and heritages of our vast
community, has made me realize
that the lenses through which
the world views Jewish people is
very much centered on Ashkenazi
Jews (and even then, people aren’t
aware of nor educated fully on the
multifaceted history of Ashkenazi
Jews, either).

Mizrahim (Jews who were
exiled to Middle Eastern
countries), Sephardim (Jews
who were exiled to Spain) and
other subdivisions within our
larger Jewish community are
too often ignored by Ashkenazi
Jews and the institutional Jewish
world. The dangerous connota-
tions and rhetoric that comes
along with our erasure within
and outside of Jewish commu-
nities is more than just a matter
of “they don’t know about us.”
With our existence being barely
an afterthought, the mainstream
idea of Jewish people — what
we look like, our traditions, our
historical backgrounds — is
inherently warped.

The conversation on Judaism
and Jewish history, as well as the
modern Jewish experience, has
largely been led by and centered
on Ashkenazim. That conversa-
tion is an important one. There are
people who deny the Holocaust
and those who subscribe to
the preposterous notion that
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Runyan Wrong on Trump
IT IS DISAPPOINTING that Rabbi Joshua Runyan (“Why
Trump’s Not Getting This Orthodox Vote: He’s Neither Good for
the Jews, Nor for Judaism,” Sept. 10) has not applied the teach-
ings of the Torah and the wisdom of the sages to his analysis of
our upcoming election.

The relocation of the U.S. Embassy was authorized in 1995 by
the United States Congress. Successive presidents of both parties
delayed doing so. The recognition of Israel by the UAE is the first
movement of rapprochement in a quarter-century. And these
steps are supposed to make the USA more dangerous for Jews?
Four years ago, we began the biggest economic growth from an
economy that was undergoing the slowest recovery since the Great
Depression. We are now recovering from the worst pandemic in
over 100 years with a vaccine months, not years, away.

It is difficult to understand how the rabbi can support a candi-
date who wants to reinstate millions of U.S. dollars annually to
the Palestinians with their “Pay to Slay” government. It is equally
difficult to understand how he can vote for a party who honored
noted anti-Semite Linda Sarsour by allowing her to speak at their
recent national convention. This same candidate wants to rejoin
the horrible Iran deal, reopen the Palestinian pseudo-embassy
in Washington, and supports Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her
anti-Israel squad.

It is unfortunate that Runyan does not seem to remember the
words of Hillel the Elder, “If I am not for me, who am I?”
Robert M. Rubin | Huntingdon Valley
Rose Wrong on Trump
Binyamin Rose (“Many Orthodox Jews Support President
Trump. I’m One of Them — Here’s Why,” Sept. 10) should worry
more about the blatant anti-Semitism in this country, which is a
direct result of Trump’s unleashing of hatred and bigotry.

Rose should also be more worried about the narcissism that
puts thousands of Trump’s followers at risk of contracting and
spreading COVOD-19 when urged to attend Trump’s rallies.

Rose should also realize that Trump really does not care about
Israel or the Jews. He cares only about himself — currying favor
with the Jews and evangelicals is self-serving, as is everything
Trump does.

Suzi Gerber | Lafayette Hill
See Letters, Page 20
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See Rudy, Page 20
JEWISH EXPONENT
OCTOBER 8, 2020
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