Book Discussion Group: The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto by Hen Mazzig
Tuesday, November 7, 2023 • 23 Cheshvan 5784
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto
by Hen Mazzig
“When people ask what I’m passionate about, Judaism, likely, comes first. I’m from Israel; my family comes from Tunisia, and Iraq. So you’re Arab? people often ask. I’m a Jew. I’m Mizrahi. But few people—Jewish and non-Jewish alike—know of us. We’re not only unfamiliar, but our culture shatters stereotypes and unspoken rules.
I don’t fit into what many people see as the secular, cultural tenets of Judaism. Yes, my grandparents were in the Holocaust. Can’t get more Jewish than that, right? But their streets were never lined with swastikas or German soldiers. No one scrawled “Jude” on their homes or businesses. They were due to be sent to Nazi camps with unknown names. Their neighbors were shot and raped in antisemitic riots, which most people, even most synagogues, don’t commemorate.
For some, I’m not just the wrong kind of Jew; I’m a bad Jew. I’m bad at meeting expectations of what Jewish looks like, sounds like, thinks like, and means.”
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