As this week’s cover photo of El Cerrito High School head football coach Kenny Kahn proves, not all Jews look alike. Some are black, some are Asian, some Hispanic.
Kahn is the son of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish black father. He grew up in a proud Jewish home, had a bar mitzvah, studied at the afterschool program Midrasha and went on to lead an exemplary life as a teacher, coach and Jewish camp director.
Much of the credit for his ongoing involvement in Jewish life goes to Be’chol Lashon, which nurtured Kahn’s Jewish identity in summer camps when he was a young adult, and through all kinds of community-building opportunities as he got older.
A San Francisco–based nonprofit, Be’chol Lashon works to strengthen the Jewish people “through ethnic, cultural and racial inclusiveness,” according to its mission statement.
That means Be’chol Lashon welcomes Jews who don’t look like most people in synagogues: the black, Asian and Latino Jews who constitute a small but growing percentage of the local community.
Co-founded by the late Gary Tobin and his wife, Diane, Be’chol Lashon has a national presence, conducting research and holding educational events that serve not only Jews of color, but also raise the consciousness of the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish majorities.
Thanks to Be’chol Lashon camps, symposiums, holiday celebrations and other projects, more people today know of and embrace a wider community of Jews, be they the Abayudaya of Uganda, the Anusim (descendants of Spanish Conversos) or the Bene Israel of India.
Add to that list Jews of color here in the Bay Area.
Be’chol Lashon is not the only local organization of its kind. Building Jewish Bridges, an East Bay interfaith outreach group run by Dawn Kepler, has worked to foster within the community a more welcoming attitude toward blended families and Jews of color.
Together with Lehrhaus Judaica, Building Jewish Bridges has launched “What Color Are Jews,” a series of panel discussions at Oakland’s Temple Sinai, which will explore the issues facing black, Asian and Hispanic Jews. It’s well worth attending.
The Bay Area is home to many innovative Jewish agencies, all doing important work to serve the community. We try to fill our pages with their latest projects and successes.
With this week’s uplifting story of Kenny Kahn, we feel compelled to salute the local Jewish organizations working to deepen our collective pride in this very diverse Jewish community of ours.
Kol hakavod to Be’chol Lashon and Building Jewish Bridges.