If you are Jewish you are going to love this video. And if you aren’t you’ll probably love it too.
Identity crisis does not meant a thing to Vanessa Hidary – also known as The Hebrew Mamita. She is a self-described “culture bandit”, actress, social performer, poet, writer and director, and she’s very proud of who she is.
Just watch her performance at Def Poetry Jam HBO.:
Comments
19 Comments so far
That’s fabulous.
On the flipside of Vanessa everyone thinks I’m Jewish, including most Jews I’ve met, and their jaws drop when they discover I’m not. I’ve been asked “are you SURE?” more than once. I guess I DO look Jewish-ish, and with a name like Rachel I’m halfway to the stereotype already… I always say that the chosen people seem to have chosen me. And it doesn’t offend or bother me in the slightest. (In fact, in certain Sydney suburbs it gets me great service when I’m in line at the deli, so who’s complaining?)
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My father is Jewish, my mother is not. So i am not officially Jewish but i feel half. My great grandparents died in concentration camps. My grandfather escaped Germany on the kinder transport at the age of 14 and never saw his parents again. My grandmothers family left Poland for Australia before the war because things had become intolerable for Jews there. I have an ethnic look so people often ask my heritage and I always tell them proudly “my father is Jewish”.
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I was helping an old man on the train with his iPod and we had a nice chat and then he asked me my name ( which is Israeli) and when I told him he squinted at me and asked whether I had a nose job as I don’t look Jewish, when I asked him what do Jews look like, he replied dark, stooped over with big beaked nose and beady eyes…
I started work at a non-for profit church organization a year ago and on the first week the main reverent done a ‘hail Hitler’ when I told him I was Jewish..he thought it was funny..
Oh vey
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Words fail…
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Love the passion and the words and the message… but I can not STAND listening to spoken word. No idea why. Same goes for book readings. I cringe and can’t bear to watch.
That’s probably not really worth mentioning, but that’s what I feel after watching, so I write it
But yes, had I have read the words as opposed to watch I feel I would have been moved more… But then again, apart from hating spoken word I am also not Jewish and so it’s not so personally relevant for me (although it’s certainly culturally relevant, and I do agree with a commenter below that there is far too much unchecked anti-semitism going around)…
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Oh my goodness! I cried while watching this. Such a powerful, moving piece. I can’t tell you how many times in my life I get the comment ‘wow, you don’t look Jewish’, and it makes my blood boil. As a diasporic Jew whose grandparents fled from Europe to Australia, it makes me feel even more displaced. This year I have strated wearing a Jewish symbol around my neck. It’s not a star of David, so it doesn’t attract unwanted attention, but for those who have some awareness of the Jewish tradition and its symbols, it stops them from assuming anything. And it’s a nice way for me to feel connected and visible wherever I am.
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Im so surprised by some of the comments on here….is there really so much anti semitism in Australia?? I’ve often heard that if the mother is Jewish the children are Jewish ( as an ethnicity??). I recently found out my sisters mothers family was Jewish but changed their name when they came to Australia.
I’m guessing to avoid discrimination. This fascinates me and would love to find out more about their heritage. Especially seeings as there are not many survivors left. I feel it’s important to educate my nephews ( all kids really) on what their ancestors went through. It’s something in history that we can never ever forget because it is possible for it to happen again and it does happen in many countries. In Burma for example. I think I’m still in shock tho that there are antisemites prevelant in Australia!!
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she’s terrific. Very powerful. thanks for sharing. …. from a non-Jew who is married to a Jew,
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Gosh! This totally resonates with me. I get the ‘But you don’t look Jewish’ line all the time! I have never really thought it through like this. What a universal truth for anyone who has been told “Oh, but you don’t look…’ As Vanessa says well, actually I do look like my people, because I am my people! And I agree with Genevieve, it’s amazing what awful things people think they can say when they don’t know you are Jewish!
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Can someone please explain to me if Judaism a race or religion? I’ve heard people (and Jews) talk about the Jewish race. I know Caucasian, Negroid, Asian races (genetically based) but not a Jewish race, I don’t understand. Surely there is no Christian race, Buddhist race or even Muslim race. All I know is Judaism is an ancient religion based on the Torah and essentially following many ancient rules, and the followers of this religion are no different to anyone else and can be as liberal or fundamental as any other religious adherent. So again is Judaism, or being Jewish, a religion or race?
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It’s a religion
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Just as I thought, so why do some people refer to the Jewish race then?
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It’s a religion and an ethnicity.
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The Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים ISO 259-3 Yhudim Israeli pronunciation [jehuˈdim]), also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and an ethnoreligious group, originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation.[2][3][4] Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos is equal to those born into it, have been absorbed into the Jewish people throughout the millennia
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There is only one race of humans, the Human Race. Subdivisions based on nationality, religion or appearance are given different names, but there is overwhelming evidence that we all sprang from a very small number of parents, and that changes to colour, eye shape, height etc have resulted only from genetic adaptations or “natural selection” favouring the dominance of certain features best suited for certain climatic conditions, diets etc.
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AMAZING. Wow. Brilliant words
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WOW!!!!!!!
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I’m not Jewish but my husband is. Most people wouldn’t guess, because he doesn’t look Jewish and his surname is Italian.
It’s amazing the casually derogatory things that intelligent, educated people have said about Jewish people to him, not realising that he’s Jewish himself. These are people who would never make a racist, sexist or homophobic comment. It seems as though it’s still socially acceptable to be a low level anti-semite in polite company…
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Love, love, love this! I’m giving her a virtual standing ovation!
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