Kate
Favorite Jewish food: Either sufganiyot or matzah ball soup.
Favorite Jewish holiday: I think my favorite one is probably Yom Kippur because I like the music and reflecting on the past. How would you describe your identity? I’m an adopted Asian born into a Jewish family I guess. Do you feel like your looks or experiences are included in the general picture of what a Jewish woman is? Definitely not an ideal* Jewish person, I definitely do not look like the ideal Jewish person. There is some diversity in the Jewish community, but I don’t think a lot. *I want to point out that there is not an ideal way of being or looking Jewish, just a stereotype about what that means. Has that affected your feelings about Judaism or Jewish identity? Not really at all. I feel like I do get stares and stuff, but I feel like a lot of people in the Jewish community are accepting of who everyone is and they are not that judgy. |
Do you feel like you’ve generally been welcomed in Jewish spaces?
Yeah, I’ve been very welcomed. I feel like people do have that reaction of “Oh I didn’t know you were Jewish”. They’re surprised, but they don’t judge me for it. I don’t think I’ve felt excluded, just very uncomfortable at points. It may just be my temple that I go to, but at my temple, there’s a lot of white people, and upper-class, higher income families, which is kind of uncomfortable at times. Have you felt excluded from other spaces because of your Jewish identity? Not really, I don’t really tell everyone that I’m Jewish in spaces unless they ask, I keep it lowkey. Do you feel like you’ve been able to find communities where your whole identity has been accepted? I would say the music community, like orchestra. Through the camp I went to, I’ve met a few people that are also Asian Jews. I feel like a lot of people in the music community have their own identities and are unique in their own ways, so it’s a pretty accepting community. What was your experience with Jewish identity and education growing up? I feel like the kids at my Jewish school, as we got older, they took note on race issues, like different races and being more diverse. I know that in middle school, people would call me by where I’m from, which is Fengcheng. They sort of stopped towards seventh and eight grade because as we were more educated on the civil rights movement and the Holocaust and stuff, they stopped. There definitely wasn’t a lot of diversity in my Jewish school, there may have been four or five other Asians in the whole school. It was kind of uncomfortable. There was this one time where there was a speaker who came and we did activities where you had to step in the circle. They asked questions about your race, and I was the only one who stepped in the circle, which was really uncomfortable. They don’t talk a lot about diversity in Jewish communities at my school. |
"They're surprised, but they don’t judge me for it. I don’t think I’ve felt excluded, just very uncomfortable at points" |
"I grew up around being Jewish and having those experiences...It’s part of my uniqueness." |
What do you think we could do as a larger Jewish community to make our spaces more welcoming to people who identify differently than the “norm” of American Judaism?
I feel like the community as a whole is very accepting, but there are cliques where only certain people feel accepted and normal in those groups. I don’t know. Does Judaism/identifying as Jewish play an important role in your life? Yeah. I grew up around being Jewish and having those experiences: bat mitzvah, going to Israel, Hebrew classes, and praying every Friday. It was definitely a majority of my life. It’s part of my uniqueness. Do you still feel as strong of a connection to Judaism now that you no longer attend a Jewish school? I’ve definitely drifted from the Jewish community as I’ve gotten into high school. I’ve moved away from the temple, going to a different school. We go to temple on the high holidays, and it’s my favorite part, feeling connected in that way. What’s your favorite part about being Jewish? The community and also I love the music and the singing. And the Hebrew language is so cool. |