Growing up, Liz Kleinrock never felt like she fit into her Jewish community in Washington, D.C. Born in Korea and adopted into an Ashkenazi family, she constantly felt pressure to justify her Judaism—whether at Hebrew school, summer camp or synagogue. Years later, after becoming a professional antibias and antiracist educator, she met author Caroline Kusin Pritchard, and the two clicked. One day, they got an idea: to create an educational, illustrated, family-friendly book that redefines the face of Judaism—literally.
The result is What Jewish Looks Like, released September 2024, which profiles unconventional Jewish icons. The collection includes British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, historic Ethiopian community leader Uri Ben Baruch and American trans activist Jazz Jennings—about as varied a scope as one could imagine that crosses skin colour, religious affiliation and cultural identity.
The book’s launch has been met warmly in Jewish spaces. And yet, as Kleinrock and Kusin Pritchard tell Rivka Campbell on The CJN’s podcast about Jews of colour, even on their book tour, they face microaggressions in every city. For them, it’s a constant reminder of why this kind of content is needed—not just to educate younger Jewish generations, but older ones as well.
Credits
- Host: Rivka Campbell
- Producer: Michael Fraiman
- Music: Westside Gravy
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