Arts & Culture
Jews In Unlikely Places: Scattered Among The Nations
By Jennie Rivlin Roberts / March 20, 2009
I tripped across an article about Penn State hosting an exhibit entitled Scattered Among The Nations by photographers Bryan Schwartz, Jay Sand, and Sandy Carter. The photographs depict Jews in the most unlikely places: India, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Peru and Uzbekistan.
Check out the website scatteredamongthenations.org to see many photographs and descriptions of the Jewish communities in Africa, Asia, former USSR, and South America. Also in the works is a book: Jews of Color: In Color! It’s fascinating to read about these often tiny Jewish communities. Some of them are ancient such as in Tunisia where the first Jews arrived 2600 years ago during the Babylonian Exile. Others are brand new such as the the Inca Jews of Peru who started practicing Judaism just 10 years ago. The small communities are recognizably Jewish with many of them observing Shabbat and kosher laws in the familiar ways one would find everywhere. However, each have customs reflecting their own "flavor" of Judaism. For example, in the tiny Jewish communities of Uganda and Zimbabwe songs written in Hebrew are set to African melodies; in India the Benei Menashe still practice ritual sacrifice of animals while the Bene Israel have their "Malida" ceremony which offers prayers, songs and bowls of fruits and flowers to the Prophet Elijah. Scattered Among Nations is also a non-profit organization who assists isolated Jewish communities through projects such as helping the Inca Jews become officially converted and building a community center for the Benei Menashe Jews in India.
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As a multiethnic, multiracial Cuban Jew, I just love this! All too often Jews of color are overlooked and there is an assumption that all Jews are Eastern European Ashkenazim. One of the coolest things about our community is the incredible diversity, IMO our strongest suit. So, seeing anything that celebrates that diversity is a great thing for those of us who get shocked responses when we say we’re Jewish because we aren’t white. I have to show this to my daughter, a devout Jew with a Cuban mother and an Apache father (not to mention her Greek stepfather and deaf Korean aunt- seriously, we are like the U.N.).
Shalom!
I’ve always been fascinated by Jewish communities around the world. I would love to see this exhibit. Any idea if it’s a traveling exhibit or not?
The Uzbeki Jews isn’t that unlikely, the Bukharan population in Central Eurasia is one of the oldest. They just don’t have the visibility of the Ashkenazi or Sephardi Jews. The Bukharan kipot seem particularly trendy, too. (And for good reason, so much more comfortable than the tiny beanie yarmulke.)
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