The Syrian Jewish community is notorious for its insularity. Some years ago, it famously ranked among the highest ethnic groups with the most intact DNA. One of its members, Esther Chehebar, allows us outsiders a peek in, in her recent debut novel, Sisters of Fortune.
This week I crashed B’nai Chaim’s monthly book club when I saw that Chehebar’s novel was the selection. Being responsible for the IJN’s online events calendar, I’m aware of a lot of happenings, and I’ve developed a nice rapport with Willi Risch, who organizes B’nai Chaim’s book club. She lets me know which books they’re considering ahead of the annual cycle and, very kindly, even asks for suggestions.
Her attitude reflected the group as a whole, who welcomed this stranger.
Aside from Willi, none of us were especially familiar with Syrian Jewish culture, and while we understood many of the tensions that arise from an insular group trying to maintain its unique characteristics and values, we kept returning to a deep discomfort with the age gap between one of the couples, especially considering the sister in question is only 17 when she bags her man.
Through other characters, Chehebar does allow for different life choices, but when it’s not one’s culture, it’s very difficult to see a young woman miss an entire stage of late teen/early young adulthood. For many people, this stage is an essential period of exploration and imagination.
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A virtual conference, Tribes of Israel, was scheduled to take place this week for the first time. California resident Timothy Jacobson, a member of the Latter Day Saints, shared with the IJN that in recent years, he has reached out to and developed close relations with many Jewish people in his area. He and his wife have also visited Israel several times.
Witnessing the rise in anti-Semitism, he felt he had to do more.
About eight weeks ago, he and others in his circle, from the Jewish and LDS side, decided to bring their connections to a wider audience. The goal is dialogue, education and solidarity, which Jacobson believes are what’s needed to stem the tide of anti-Semitism from both the right and left.
Several intermountain Jewish leaders were scheduled to participate, including Rabbi Sam Spector of Kol Ami in Salt Lake City and Rabbi Joe Charnes of Temple Aaron in Trinidad.
Jacobson hopes this will become an annual event. I hope so too. Dialogue, understanding and respect are three things the world could use a whole lot more of!
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
