good morning. welcome to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric white. we're about to have an amazing conversation about race in the jewish community. we would like you to meet to become a part of this conversation. a public affairs and civic engagement director at the san francisco bay's jewish community relations council and also rabbi who is the senior rabbi at temple in oakland. welcome. >> good morning. thank you. >> so let's just jump in and ask you what are your experiences in the jewish community? >> for the most part, my experiences in the jewish community have been very positive which is why i find myself as a leader in the

community now. my family is biracial. i am chinese as well as jewish. and throughout growing up, that would often pose a challenge at times. people would challenge or ask why we were there and even say -- ask we were sure if we were jewish. fi -- fiona? >> my experience was wonderful and complicated and challenging. i grew up here in san francisco and went to synagogue and was one of few kids who were not white and recognized as white in the community. he an experience. people wondering why it was adopted. why i became jewish? while my hebrew was so good. whether i learned the prayers and whether i was a natural part of the jewish community.

>> we have this industry then -- tremendous respect for what we think of as our text life which means we value words. we play with words. what are new words to. >> can you reflect of the way we view this lang wang. biracial. and are you really jewish and the way we talk about different ways in which culturals interact and families. what our language and what does that tell us about this issue and our jewish community. >> well, i this i the first up that comes to mind is i have often experienced. and this conversation in which we are talking specific to the united states in terms of the race. jewish leaders often talk about our afinty for the other and our care in community on behalf of the other, and we

talk about race, we often talk ant people of color attar as the other. thereby not assuming there are people of color inside the jewish community u. the first red flag is always talking about race as if people of color are the other path than an integral part of the u.s.-based jewish community. >> it makes a really important important. so often, we this i of jews as being connected to other parts of the world which is why jews perhaps don't all look the same. and this was an american phenomenon. and not white or who don't identify as wheat because of the unique contact here in the united states. so we do find that this is a part of what we are. it isn't a matter of welcoming someone of -- the people of color as the other gives us a way that the u.s. from statement -- have framed. it's integral to how we talk about pass overand we

want to be inclusive of others. we were once slaves too. >> people of color, african americans are not part of that flavory story. with e rely on this language to create our narrative of how we talk about ourselves as jews of the united states. in columnsy. and look at weaverring together this kind of male hispanicly uniquely american ways in our country, and how we talk about culture. and so does that help us in terms of saying and so there is panel odd dynamic. and but a poor smith. and in which we are basically in some

ways pushing at that narrative. and demand inclusion in a way that may or may not be assumed. >> i think that's true. and i think in that respect. than wannest important pieces for us as a jewish community is for everybody to be open with what those possibilities are, and that sometimes for people to be in that place where they say we are the other begins on opening to have that conversation about the phak that we thought there was a defense or someone was a stranger when really they are not. and i think it's really important for us to be open and rep frequentative about how we understand what makes us jewish and what can make somebody else jewish at the same time. >> we're going to take a quick break andment coback. please join us in just a memo.

a conversation against race. assistant director with the jewish relations council. welcome back. we were talking about in the jewish community the function of otherness and how that notion comes out of our theology, principally out of the story of exodus and the passover holiday and how that functions, and it seems natural to be just ask them ham about being white? what about whiteness? what about that aspect of our culture, of the way it sets functions racially in you and

your life and in your family. that subpoena a big way of asking questions. for folks familiar, this is just part of the conversation, something that some people may not be familiar with. so having said that, what about whiteness in all of this? >> well, i was thinking we were talking about intersectionalty that one of the nice things about intersectionalty is it allows people, all of us, every one of us have moment million identities and in a racial context, we were often challenged and pushed to pick one side or the other. and for those who have two white parents and have white skin privilege. when they arrive to this country or their families arrived, they were not labeled as white. they were labeled as people of color and ethnicity. jews were modernized. in a modern dynamic when we have to talk about race, i understand that lots of jews

who are white feel pushed to abandon their ethnic identity and jump into a kind of rightness that doesn't resaying mate with them. each. >> some referring to eastern european. it seems to me that let's just say we, jews. we come out of a place where prejudice was based on religion and ethnicity in a very reductionist way to say that prejudice has roots in skin color. and so even though internally, we would never identifity anything bottegaish -- jewish. we come to a country that from the outside sees us as white and gives us a kind of presumption of access to society based on the color of our skin. without really regard to how we feel internally. and we succeed. in part because of that.

line >> reporter: think actual he looking at jewish white privilege can give us a really interesting perspective when we look at what that means outside the jewish community as well. so we both talked about being challenged. right, you walk into a jewish space and you are challenged often if you don't look white as to whether or not you really belong there, and jews who do look white or however people understand that aren't challenged. that is privilege. but you are not being asked to explain yourself or give some kind of legitimate reason why you should be there. and within a jewish context, i think it -- because it's about belonging and because it's about, you know, when you walk into a jewish space, you want to feel that kind of embrace at the jewish community that you hope that the jewish community will give you. it gives a really interesting perspective on what that distance means. if you are white, you have the benefit of the doubt. and that is the privilege. if you are not, you are asked to explain yourself. and that is what it is in the jewish community. when we take that outside in the greater community when we talk

about issues of justice and equality, we can kind of see how that plays out in the bigger picture as well. >> so to just add to the largeness of this conversation, both of your leaders in the jewish community, you're a rabbi, and you are a director of civic engage. and public affairs for a pre-- a jewish community agency, and so people come to you for your leadership and the expertise in the broadness of the jewish community. again, it's kind of a pig question, but does this issue play out, not play out? there are certain listed lties if you are gay or lesbian. if you are eyeworm -- a woman. all these things have subtle cities -- subtleties. can you comment where this does or doesn't exist when people come

to you for a life cycle event, a consultation. >> sure, and it plays on all kinds of levels and layers. i chose to be in this roam w. that, i chose all of the complications that come with the biracial identity and working not a jewish environment. and almost every day, people take a second look at me when they see me for the first time as related to my name. i have a very traditional jewish name, and they don't assume that i'm going to be black when they see me live and in person. sometimes i walk into situations where a racist thing is happening or a racist event is unfolding, and it may be a language. it may be a graphic imagery. maybe even the synagogue that i am visiting and working in on a consultation, and i have to grapple with how i can be a leader, an educator, someone who could advance the conversation in a way that moments the community together # and still.

still have authentic feelings about that. i need to be able to do that at all -- at once. be out the other thing is because of my background as a person of color who is also jewish and working in the jewish community, it gives movantage points and portals into community connections that maybe people with my background experience can uniquely make on behalf of the jewish community and on behalf of our larger community. so on the one hand, there might be complications or assumptions or even racist things that p hah. on the other hand, there are nothing but opportunities to build bridges and to build connections and advance not only the jewish community, but all communities working together as allies. and i think there's also some thing interesting about the fact we broke up in the -- both grow up in the jewish community and being people who identify white or not only white. we have had to take a look at our identities and who we are and how we understand ourselves and what makes us jewish. that also puts us in a unique place as leaders as well. being able to help other people also understand

who they are and what makes them jewish. >> i was going to say also bring an extraordinary richness and traiks ordinary richness to actually developing jewish identity. we're going to take a quick break. we're going to say good-bye to alana. the rabbi jackie will be stay being us. thank you for staying with us, and we invite you to return to us here in just a moment.

announcer: friday, february 12. my name is tyler oakley. my name is brodie, and this is my best friend kurt. 11 teams, who connect with millions every day through social media, disconnect. oh! a very special season of the amazing race. we're starting right now. oh, my god. go! can they survive a 27,000-mile race... go, go! ...in the real world? let's go! you're on the amazing race! premieres cbs, friday, february 12, in the middle of a wonderful conversation about race in the jewish community. joining us is the founder and executive director of organization in the jewish community.

in hebrew, it means in every tongue. and it is an organization that advocates for racial and ethnic diversity in the unjewish community. welcome to ann. >> so, let me ask you what are your experiences in the jewish community? >> yes. >> i adopt youd a child 18 years ago. many people are not aware of race. it's a small part of their lives. so our life became very much -- i didn't know any black jews. we did a study with a research institute. we did a study on racial diversity in the american jewish community to understand who was around. what does that world look like? and so now, my son was born in 2000, so 15 years later, we provide a space where a lot of people, jews, and color, all

kinds of jews who are making different choices in life. this is a world in which it is very open. internet and social media and social networks allow us to make all kinds of a tent dentty in life. you talk about multiple identities, people are choseing to be jewish and be part of your sin -- synagogue and a lot of different things. and do a little bit what you do. i meet people where they are, and people come from all different spaces. >> so when you say people are making different choices, can you comment a little bit on in the jewish context. and to this other place, this other community, to this other experience. if that makes sense to you. >> well, i mean we came as a persecuted minority and fighting ifer our

lives. this was the way that we succeeded was in some ways fit in with the other european americans. and it's being -- interesting to think about that it's only been like that since after world war ii. so simply outlines. theg bill in some ways provided affirmative action for european males. at that moment, we suddenly became americans. so i don't think that was a mistake. it was what it was. no need to rewrite history. a word of moment in time now where the american, particularly are going to be more diverse. you know, the process youth group with the country is multi-racial. this -- be in minority. saw -- suppose we have 2042. we have a moment here in the jewish community. we think who we are and how we got here and where

we want to move forward. and so jews are a multiculture people. we live all over the world. it resaying mates inside the jewish community, but the reality is this is a global world now and we are global people. >> so we as a jewish community are africans and ethiopia for example, or latinos in south america, for example, and worldwide in this way. so we funnel that global reality to serve american life, can you comment, both of you on the experience when you are jewish and go in the chinese community. when you are jewish and go into the african american community, how does the identity in some place dominate. how do you take who you are in

to that community. how does that function? >> well, you take who you are when you all the time. you're always everything that you are. >> it isn't a choice in that kind of way. it exists naturally side-by- side. and so i think when i go into the chinese community, i am jewish. i take that the. >> those spark specific kinds of reactions. those are going to be my greater experience. my experience as a jew is informed by the fact that i am chinese and what that means as well. >> ideally, it does exist in a more holistic kind of a way that we really making us chose one or the other, it enables us to understand and be able to

relate in a much broader kind of a way. >> and but your comment makes me think do we subtly force an american -- humanly accurate. >> i think that people are projecting their own experienced, and what i think what we are finding is a greater mix of races and ethnicities and all of the different pieces of who we are as americans. the more we continue to do that and do that. the less we are going to force. >> we are going to take a quick break and join us in just a moment when we come back tommy sigh -- mosaic.

a great conversation. rabbi jackie made some motions who was senior rabbi. and welcome back. so, diane, we were in the middle of this conversation about how the notion. you were going to add to that conversation. >> jackie made a point. we were on break. the fact that you have diversity within your family that that up changes the whole character of the family. for me, i grew up. i didn't grow up jewish so for me it was coming inside the jewish community and suddenly having an african american son rocked my world forever. my world view is completely different, and i think for -- then i feel so lucky to have that world view and it has made my life so much richer and so much more

meaningful. iment am excited for people that we may accuse poem of being racist or having white privilege in a certain way like that, but the reality is most poem don't have the experience, they don't have the exposure, and we work as an organization work to provide that to them, work to have those conversation. people overall, just don't -- they just don't think about it. you know, we -- little white liar. if you have a chance to see it, it's on netflix and i whyen tunes, but it really hits that subject. some people just don't think about it. they don't have it in their lives. >> so believe it or not, we are about to come to the end of our time together, and really, it's just a comma in this bigger grander conversation that has been happening for many years. in our community and in the country at large, but it seems to me for your final reflections, it seems to me that with all the ways in which let's just

say when something like this happens in your family, suddenly you have a different reality, that we'll say it takes a tremendous amount of love to really get to what the court is of a person and a human being. i just wonder if in a minute i don't you have a comment to serve on that level of the experience for yourself. rabbi? >> yeah. i mean i think it's a lot of love. it's a lot of understanding. it's a lot of openness. i think we're at a really exciting time. the race piece is one aspect of what it means to be creating an american jewish experience. and i think that is a really exciting place that we are, and so this mixing of families and races, autopsy those things. it means we are becoming a unique experience in the history of jews. and that's exciting. >> wonderful. >> and i think across the whole jewish people, people are chosing to be jewish and maybe they're not expressions that we might recognize, but they're chosing.

494 to 4% of people feel proud of being jewish. >> thank you so much, diane. i don't want to cut us off, but i want us to have a moment to say thank you so much for joining us, and please join this conversation in your lives. thank you so much for being with us this morning. ,,,, ♪ soul on fire, best you learn

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