I Look Jewish, and other interesting facts [updated]

Neither an Ashkenazim nor Sephardim be. Here's an interesting article about the first South Asian to head a US synagogue. A short introduction to South Asian Jews as well.

The Revealer has a good post called "Who's a Jew?" It's about a Muslim. My wife is a big fan of Ali and Nino and has been trying to get me to read it for a while. The question of authenticity is hard enough within a religious tradition, especially as different interpretations of the same faith come into contact. Then you throw in inter-faith issues and have people from outside any of the relevant faith traditions determining who is authentic. Religion is a struggle, we don't need people throwing gasoline on the fire.

Speaking of outsiders and inter-faith, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of nations, not religions. In any event, head over to Dove's Eye View and read her current coverage of the Egypt meeting. She's covering the bases.

[updates] Apparently Rachel couldn't take my word about Indian Jews, so she had to go see for herself. What she said first, then what she saw.

Also, following up on Ali and Nino, MoorishGirl talks about a biography of the author, including a link to the first chapter of the book. Seems very cool.

Comments

[Leila]

Thanks for the link, ya Islamoyankee. Folks might want to try this permalink:
http://bedouina.typepad.com/doves_eye/2005/02/the_head_heeb_s.html

for the Egypt summit roundup. More recent articles feature the Methodist Church and Jewish Voice for Peace responses.
Glad you're back posting!

[Sam I Am]

The idea of a Jewish community without any history of persecution is intriguing to me. I remember visiting "the oldest synagogue in India" when we went to Kerala in 2001. The building was nice and kept fairly clean, but seemed largely abandoned by any real community.