Kayla
Favorite Jewish food: I would have to go with latkes, I just think they’re exceptionally good.
Favorite Jewish holiday: Definitely Hanukkah. How would you describe your identity, whatever that means to you? I would describe my identity as being biracial and also a Jew of color. Do you feel like your looks and experiences are included in the general picture of what a Jewish person/woman is? Why or why not? To be honest, I don’t. However, I do think we’re making progress. I personally feel like I don’t because I went to an all-white, Jewish middle school and there were only one or two other not white kids. Throughout the whole curriculum, it was based very much on white Judaism and not other types of Judaism. |
Has this affected your feelings about Judaism/Jewish spaces? Why or why not?
I think it makes a little bit sad towards Judaism sometimes. I feel like I’m just as passionate as other people, but my Judaism is invalidated. As I get older, I’m becoming more okay with it if that makes sense. Do you feel like you’ve been generally welcomed in Jewish spaces? I would say I think I have. After I talk about my experience, people want to improve the Jewish mindset. I do feel welcomed in most spaces. Can you tell me more about your experience going to a Jewish day school and what stood out about that? It was a little hard for me. I went there since kindergarten. When you’re young, being different is hard because I didn’t understand that it was okay to be different. It was frustrating for me to be taught half of my culture, but everyone elses’ full culture. A lot of the kids said a bunch of offensive things. It wasn’t a good environment if you weren’t a white Jew in my opinion. Do you feel like you’ve been able to find communities where your whole identity is accepted? Definitely. Through Or Tzedek, I learned about this cohort called Kol Or, which is specifically for Jews of color. My mom and I went to a couple meetings and it was really good to be a majority. It was really nice to hear that we had the same frustrations and talk about how we could overcome them and plan things to be seen. |
"I feel like I’m just as passionate as other people, but my Judaism is invalidated." |
"All of [my grandfather's] family was murdered. I myself enjoy being Jewish, but for him, I want to continue educating others and sharing his story with everyone I can just so his family’s memory lives" |
I got the 18 Under 18 book a few weeks ago, and I was reading about your project about Holocaust education. Can you tell me more about that?
Typically, without corona, I go to Japan to visit my family because I never see them, they don’t come to America. While I’m there, I usually give a talk to a church or a museum maybe about my grandfather’s survival story of the Holocaust. I couldn’t do that this year, so I decided to make a blog where teens our age could submit things about their family’s story. That way, we could share them and understand our different experiences. That has been my goal for 18 Under 18 so far. What do you think we could do as a larger Jewish community to make our spaces more welcoming for people who identify differently from the norm? I definitely think the biggest thing is awareness and education. I don’t think people are set out to be mean, but a lot of the time they don’t know Jews of color are a thing. I didn’t even know there were other Jews of color. I thought me, my sister, and my mom were the only ones. I would include different books in education. I have this book here called The Color of Love, it’s by a Jew of color and it’s really good. Subtle things would help expand people’s mindsets. Does Judaism/identifying as Jewish play an important role in your life? Why or why not? I definitely think so, especially because of my grandfather. All of his family was murdered. I myself enjoy being Jewish, but for him, I want to continue educating others and sharing his story with everyone I can just so his family’s memory lives |
What is your favorite part about being Jewish?
My favorite part about being Jewish is when you meet someone else who is Jewish, it’s such a nice feeling. You guys go through everyone who you know together. It’s a very connected community and I really like that.
My favorite part about being Jewish is when you meet someone else who is Jewish, it’s such a nice feeling. You guys go through everyone who you know together. It’s a very connected community and I really like that.
To visit Kayla's website and share your family's story, visit teenpeaceconvo.wordpress.com!