“Zionism has no space for an Arab Jew [Mizrahi] like me The State of Israel conditioned us to see the intersection of ‘Jewish’ and ‘Arab’ as impossible — even though my family held that identity for generations. Whenever I find myself at a leftist protest against the occupation, there is always someone holding a sign that says “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies.”
This phrase has become, in some ways, the bedrock of leftist ideology promoting coexistence in Israel/Palestine. But when I encounter this phrase, I immediately feel disoriented. Which side am I on? If I am on the “Jewish” side, do I lose the Arab identity within me? Can I identify as an Arab, even as I enjoy privileges as a Jewish citizen of Israel? Who decided to position a race against a religion?
Colonization works with our minds to distort our understanding of identity and perpetuate its own agenda. Because of this, my identity has been a great source of internal confusion that has taken me years to unpack and untangle. Recently, I began to understand how this internal self-dialogue represents a political dilemma born through the colonization of Palestine.
I identify as an Arab Jew. My family has lived in Jerusalem for over 10 generations, and my other ancestral cities include Aleppo in Syria, Baghdad in Iraq, and Shiraz in Iran, along with a small village in Kurdistan. I grew up with primarily Syrian-Palestinian traditions and cultures. My grandmother was a feminist painter and cultural lover of film and literature.
My grandfather was a prayer leader skilled in the art of maqamat, a unique Arab melodic framework, who recited prayers in the Syrian-Jerusalemite tradition. My family prayed in Hebrew and Arabic, with a thick accent rolling off our tongues as we pronounced Jewish blessings. I grew up with Mohamed Abdel Wahab [an Egyptian pan-Arab and revolutionary singer] and Shabbat piyyutim, Jewish liturgical poems, sung together. Until my parents’ generation, Arabic was the predominant language in my family.”
Jewish Community of Lemmygrad
Lemmygrad Rules :
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No capitalist apologia or other anti-communism.
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No bigotry — including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.
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Be respectful. This is a safe space where all comrades should feel welcome, this includes a warning against uncritical sectarianism.
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No porn or sexually explicit content (even if marked NSFW).
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No right-deviationists (patsocs, nazbols, strasserists, duginists, etc).
Rules of the Jewish Community:
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Religion is permitted as long there isn't any reactionary elements to it , This is a community for all secular and non-secular.
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No antisemitism of any kind.
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Be respectful and kind to our dear and beloved non-Jewish comrades.
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No pro-Zionism or anything that haves to do with the wicked régime of Isn'treal.
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We are pro-Palestine, period. From the river to the sea Palestine shall be free!
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All types of ethnic Jews are accepted here and the non-Jews are allowed to participate with us too.
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Criticism(s) of the illegal apartheid Zionist régime of Isn’treal are a must to do rule in this community; criticizing the illegitimate Zionist state is not anti-Semitism. Criticism(s) of such an inhumane, atrocious, genocidal, bigoted, hateful, xenophobic, and irrational (cough cough … non-existent and non-Jewish) state (régime) is not and never shall be anti-Semitic. We are anti-Zionists and we are proud of it and we uphold the liberation cause for a free and sovereign Palestine.
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Memes and sh*tposting are permitted as long they aren’t anti-Semitic or xenophobic.
Judeo Languages that are permitted to be spoken in this community:
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Ladino (Judeo-Spanish).
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Yiddish.
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Judeo-Arabic.
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Bukhori (Judeo-Tajik).
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Judeo-Persian.
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Judeo-Portuguese.
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Judeo-Marathi.
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Judeo-Malayalam.
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Judeo-Tat.
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Judeo-Urdu.
Non-Jewish languages that are permitted to be spoken in this community:
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English.
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Spanish.
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Portuguese.
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Bengali.
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German.
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Russian.
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Chinese (Mandarin).
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Farsi/Dari/Tajik.
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Arabic.
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Polish.
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Irish.
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Turkish.
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Greek.
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Serbian.
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Italian.
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French.
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Malayalam.
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Azerbaijani.
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Armenian.
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Marathi.
