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A few blocks up the street from my house here in University City is the Reconstructionist synagogue Kol Tzedek. It is the only synagogue nowadays in all of West Philly (not counting the Hillel House or Lubavitcher House on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania) - and a century ago West Philly had no fewer than a dozen Orthodox shuls! They are all gone now. Kol Tzedek is growing and thriving however. During services I must report that only about one third of the congregation "look Jewish" to me (what ever that means) ... to me I see East Asian (Chinese!), South and Southeast Asian (Filipino? Eurasian?), African-American ... and a lot of kids! Mixed marriages? Converts? I don't know!
The service follows an Orthodox format, and it is almost entirely in Hebrew and not English (the Rabbi's sermon and the 'announcements' excepted) and is traditional; men wear yarmulkes and tallit; both men and women sit together however in the Conservative/Reform tradition. Kol Tzedek has a reputation for being "gay friendly" and a very significant number of congregants, perhaps 20%, appear to be members of the LGBT community. The Rabbi will, in fact, perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.
Can this be a face of a new American Jewry? Will we see more people joining and be active in synagogue life that are not "ethnically" Jewish or can claim Jewish ancestry?
How does one "look" Jewish? We come from all over he world. We are all races. There have always been Jews who have converted to Judaism so that is not something new.
Ashkanazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi and we don't all look alike.
How does one "look" Jewish? We come from all over he world. We are all races. There have always been Jews who have converted to Judaism so that is not something new.
Ashkanazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi and we don't all look alike.
Your point is well taken. I agree with you. Many years ago, when I lived in Flushing, Queens, New York I was living amongst a large community of immigrant Tashkent and Bukhara Jews who were from the Steppes of Central Asia in Uzbekistan. They had a distinctly "Middle Eastern" look to me, like Iraqis or Afghanis.
What I meant to say is that when I was growing up in the suburbs of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jews looked to me like their white Christian neighbors to me: blond, redhead, brunette, Caucasian complexion, blue eyes, green eyes, hazel and brown eyes.
Please don't misunderstand me. I am well aware that Jews live in most countries around the world. As a world traveler I had the privilege to visit synagogues in such places as Yangon, Myanmar and in Kochi, India. I do know that Judaism is a religion and not an ethnicity.
If you visit Kol Tzedek in West Philly you will see Jews worshiping that you might guess are Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, West African, Latino, and African American on the street. That is something that is new to me ... and it has shattered my own stereotypes about Jews.
How does one "look" Jewish? We come from all over he world. We are all races. There have always been Jews who have converted to Judaism so that is not something new.
Ashkanazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi and we don't all look alike.
Exactly. There's not a Jewish look. I'm an Irish Jew, with green eyes and blonde hair.
If you visit Kol Tzedek in West Philly you will see Jews worshiping that you might guess are Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, West African, Latino, and African American on the street. That is something that is new to me ... and it has shattered my own stereotypes about Jews.
I know. I admit to being fascinated with this. It's unusual, and so beautiful.
Can this be a face of a new American Jewry? Will we see more people joining and be active in synagogue life that are not "ethnically" Jewish or can claim Jewish ancestry?
That's a fantastic question. But it begs the next question, which is an even tougher one. Just because one calls himself Jewish (like in the Chrstian tradtion where they move from Catholic to Protestant to other forms with nothing required of them other than their declaration of what denomination they are), does that really make him Jewish?
I would think the only way one can be Jewish, is if they meet the "requirements" as set out in the Torah and defined by our sages. I'm not a big fan of shooting the arrow and then later painting the bullseye around where that arrow landed.
Quote:
Kol Tzedek has a reputation for being "gay friendly" and a very significant number of congregants, perhaps 20%, appear to be members of the LGBT community. The Rabbi will, in fact, perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.
This may surprise some of you, but I'm pleased to know there are shuls in the US where LGBT Jews can feel comfortable practicing their Judaism. But perhaps this belongs in the Conservative Gay Jew thread, not here.
That's a fantastic question. But it begs the next question, which is an even tougher one. Just because one calls himself Jewish (like in the Chrstian tradtion where they move from Catholic to Protestant to other forms with nothing required of them other than their declaration of what denomination they are), does that really make him Jewish?
I would think the only way one can be Jewish, is if they meet the "requirements" as set out in the Torah and defined by our sages. I'm not a big fan of shooting the arrow and then later painting the bullseye around where that arrow landed.
This may surprise some of you, but I'm pleased to know there are shuls in the US where LGBT Jews can feel comfortable practicing their Judaism. But perhaps this belongs in the Conservative Gay Jew thread, not here.
One is Jewish and not through the movement one is a part of but who is born or converted to Judaism. According to your though one is only Jewish if they are 100% observant and that is not the case.
Judaism has much diversity and you seem to have issues with that.
A few blocks up the street from my house here in University City is the Reconstructionist synagogue Kol Tzedek. It is the only synagogue nowadays in all of West Philly (not counting the Hillel House or Lubavitcher House on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania) - and a century ago West Philly had no fewer than a dozen Orthodox shuls! They are all gone now. Kol Tzedek is growing and thriving however. During services I must report that only about one third of the congregation "look Jewish" to me (what ever that means) ... to me I see East Asian (Chinese!), South and Southeast Asian (Filipino? Eurasian?), African-American ... and a lot of kids! Mixed marriages? Converts? I don't know!
The service follows an Orthodox format, and it is almost entirely in Hebrew and not English (the Rabbi's sermon and the 'announcements' excepted) and is traditional; men wear yarmulkes and tallit; both men and women sit together however in the Conservative/Reform tradition. Kol Tzedek has a reputation for being "gay friendly" and a very significant number of congregants, perhaps 20%, appear to be members of the LGBT community. The Rabbi will, in fact, perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.
Can this be a face of a new American Jewry? Will we see more people joining and be active in synagogue life that are not "ethnically" Jewish or can claim Jewish ancestry?
Clark, Judaism has diversity as does Christianity and Islam.
Jews live in interfaith marriages and still raise Jewish children. Jews adopt children and they are converted and raised as Jews.
The face of Judaism throughout the ages has been changing since the temple was destroyed and the Jews exiled from Jerusalem.
As to LGBT there are those within the other religious movements that accept that we are born with our sexual orientation and those who don't.
The same occurs within Judaism. There are those welcoming communities and those who don't.
The same occurs within Judaism. There are those welcoming communities and those who don't.
Come to any Jewish neighborhood here in Brooklyn and you'll see what the problem is in short order: we get criticized if we don't "welcome" them. But they don't welcome us; they just want us to convert.
Clark, Judaism has diversity as does Christianity and Islam.
Jews live in interfaith marriages and still raise Jewish children. Jews adopt children and they are converted and raised as Jews.
The face of Judaism throughout the ages has been changing since the temple was destroyed and the Jews exiled from Jerusalem.
As to LGBT there are those within the other religious movements that accept that we are born with our sexual orientation and those who don't.
The same occurs within Judaism. There are those welcoming communities and those who don't.
Actually Judaism does not have diversity as Christians and Muslims.
99% of Jews are Whites. I never heard/seen any Jews that are Asians, Hispanics or Blacks.
Actually Judaism does not have diversity as Christians and Muslims.
99% of Jews are Whites. I never heard/seen any Jews that are Asians, Hispanics or Blacks.
OMG - you simply have no idea how embarrassingly ignorant that statemet is.
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Converts? 
