Jewish author discusses role of Judaism in world history

10/23/07 - In a world with separatism and ethnic hatred, is there one ideology that transcends ethnic, political and cultural boundaries?The answer is yes, according to Loolwa Khazzoom, and it is called Judaism.

Last night Khazzoom, a Jewish author and artist, spoke at the University of Rhode Island's Multicultural Center to about 35 people.

But this was no ordinary lecture. The room was arranged as any other educational event would be, with rows of chairs, a PowerPoint presentation and of course cookies in the back. What appeared to be a "sit-and-listen" lecture turned into two hours of songs, questions, discussion and history.

When it comes to Judaism people need to know all they can, because "I see a lack of understanding and knowledge," Khazzoom said.

The topic of Khazzoom's presentation was entitled "Jews Without Borders: 4,000 years of Jewish history across the globe." Khazzoom conveyed to the audience, or in this case participants, that 4,000 years allows a lot of migration and change.

"We have mixed and mingled wherever we have gone," Khazzoom said.

To get her points across, Khazzoom had people gather in small groups and discuss questions she asked. The questions created a buzz from people discussing, where do Jews come from? What do Jews look like? If Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jew, why is he often portrayed as Aryan?

Although Judaism is smaller than Christianity and Islam, Khazzoom's presentation pointedly showed that it is ubiquitous, with followers in China, India, Ethiopia, Columbia and Jamaica.

The participants also sang the choruses of three short songs. One song, "Sooree Goalleeya," was about nuts and fish. After Khazzoom read through the song once, she began playing on a drum and almost everyone began clapping and singing. With all this activity there was plenty of room and time for Khazzoom to expound upon the last 4,000 years of Judaism.

"The middle-ages stunk," Khazzoom said.

She was referring to A.D. 1290 and the 200 years following in which Jews were subjected to the Spanish Inquisition and were expelled from England, France, Austria and Portugal.

Khazzoom made an elementary school poem a couple lines longer to show the results the Spanish Inquisition had on the Jewish population.

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and on his ship were a whole bunch of Jews," Khazzoom said.

She also spoke about the ancient Jewish tribes immigrating into Egypt, which resulted in increased Egyptian nationalism, and ended with the enslavement of the Jews. Khazzoom drew a parallel to the modern United States and Mexico because of the hatred caused by immigration.

Khazzoom grew up in what she described as a "proud Jewish-Iraqi home," and began looking for deeper meaning in Judaism besides bagels and cream cheese at the age of four.

Her father was an Iraqi-Jew, but because of growing hostilities towards Jews in Iraq, Khazzoom's father left for Israel. He then went on to become the first Israeli accepted at Harvard University.

Khazzoom's mother was raised as a white Anglo-Saxton protestant, but did not feel at home. Even before Khazzoom's mother met her future husband, she began her search for a new religion. Her mother tried other religions, Hinduism and Islam, but it was not until she entered Judaism that she proclaimed, "Ah! I am home now," Khazzoom said.

Khazzoom is looking for greater acceptance in Israel of all types of Jews. She believes that racism deters many Jews from becoming citizens of Israel.

She said that Jews of any small denomination should not think of themselves as a minority within Judaism, but part of their complex and storied history.

"The more we learn of the heritage, the more we have a feeling of abundance, rather than scarcity," Khazzoom said.