Leah Cardona: Blog 1

During the first two sessions of our class we spoke about the wave immigration of Ashkenazi Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Russian Jews, Sephardic Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and the Ultra-Orthodox, Haredim Jews. In many ways I felt I could relate to the stories we heard from the different Jewish immigrants. Being a Sephardic Jew, I feel I am a minority within Judaism itself and in the sense that I am Hispanic. My great grandparents, on my father’s side, had to leave Spain during the Spanish inquisition and immigrate to Mexico and Puerto Rico, and eventually to Chicago. My mother, and all of her side of the family, are from El Salvador and slowly throughout the years are continuing to immigrate to the USA.

It wasn’t easy for her family to move to a new country, learn a new language, find a job and start their lives all over again. Watching the documentary on the Russia Israelis just reminded me of the rewards and struggles it took for them to get use to living in a new country. I was able to help them as much as I could but it definitely wasn’t easy. A lot of it is individual learning. It is a reward having our family closer together and meeting new family members who I only knew through pictures. I one day hope to get the opportunity to travel to El Salvador and meet the rest of the family.

I really enjoyed watching the documentary on the Mizrahi Jews and their history to Israel. I’ve had many conversations with people on the topic of where Jewish people come from and most of the time they think it’s only the Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. However, it’s not completely true. There are Jews from all over the world. Growing up at a Sephardic synagogue I was able to meet people not only from Latin speaking countries but also Turkey, Greece, Iran, Iraq and many other countries. It’s the traditions of Judaism that brings all these people from all over the world closer together and form a community within a big city.

When I am at home most people only see me as Hispanic and don’t realize that I am Jewish. I have to explain to them that I am a Sephardic Jew and not all Hispanics are Catholic. But when I am in Israel, I’m seen as an Israeli and I don’t have to explain my family background, they just speak Hebrew to me like any other Israeli. I love the feeling of not being a minority here in Israel and I look like everyone other Israeli. Israel has always felt like a second home to me and I’m happy that I get this wonderful opportunity to study in Jerusalem for the summer.