RUAMOT?
If you’re reading this, the odds are pretty good that Yo(U) A(R)e A Member Of the Tribe. Get it?
How is a high school or college student supposed to show a bit of Jewish pride in a post-modern, kidding-on-the-square fashion and maybe even hook up with a fellow Jew as a result? With a T-shirt that reads “RUAMOT.” Or “Talk to the hamsa cause the punim ain’t listenin.”
At least, that’s the idea behind RUAMOT, the new company formed by Javid Noorollah, a Kansas City, Kan. area chiropractor and ba’al tshuvah.
Noorollah (his father’s from Iran, his mother’s from Jersey) moved to the Kansas City area from Los Angeles several years ago, and established a chiropractic practice with his father-in-law.
RUAMOT grew out of the logo that Noorollah conceived for his chiropractic practice. It’s a hamsa — the Middle Eastern hand symbol — onto which has been superimposed the bones of a hand, as if seen in an X-ray.
Then the 35-year-old Noorollah, who’s a fan of heavy-metal music, began to imagine the logo on skateboards, T-shirts and the like. He came up with several other designs, including iMot, a spoof of the ubiquitous iPod logo. He’s produced an initial batch of shirts and some stickers, and has plans for an entire line of clothing.
“The whole idea is to incorporate Jewish symbology into current cultural trends,” he said.
Noorollah has put up a Web site, www.ruamot.com, where the shirts can be ordered.
“We want to provide a point of connection for Jews, especially the unaffiliated young adults who have some identification with their Jewish heritage, but it’s sometimes difficult to get them to go to a class, considering their busy schedules,” Noorollah said. “If they can get a shirt with a symbol that ties into being Jewish, maybe when they get to college they will be comfortable enough to walk into Hillel.”