Color

When one thinks of physical characterisitics of a typical Jew one often thinks of a Jewish individual as being white, dark, and with a big nose. It is interesting to see that there is a wide range of Jews who do not meet this physical critera. When sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to depart, I was sitting across from a young hispanic mother and her daugher. After looking at the this hispanic family sitting just a few feet away from me, I noticed a Magen David necklace around the mother’s neck. I was particularly surprised to see that this hispanic mother and daughter were Jewish considering that I have not been exposed to many hispanic Jews in my area. My friend who resides in Miami is a Colombian Jew and she has friendly with many Colombian and Mexican Jews as well. Just because I am not exposed to hispanic Jews does not mean that they do not exist. As a child, I went on a mission to Israel with my family. There, we went to a concert conducted by a family of Ethiopian Jews. It is interesting to see that Jews can be any color, ethnicity, or race and just because they do no make up the marjoirty, does not mean that they should be ignored. While watching the segment from “Black Israel” it was interesting to see this Ethiopian congregation. It think they add so much life to the Jewish religion through their interest in their history and through their bright, colorful clothing. Many things come in all different shapes, colors, and sizes and people should not ignore differences within their communities.