Communal diversity
I wrote my first letter to the AJN last week. It seems they weren’t interested in publishing it. After a couple of weeks of response to some articles on the short welcome that was extended to the Russian migrants to the Australian Jewish community, the AJN published a seemingly unrelated “glossy magazine”. This was my response:
It was nice to see that the glossy Wedding supplement (AJN 29/6) included its token Russian couple.
But since we’re talking marginalised, it would seem Sephardim don’t get married!
The famed Moroccan wedding feast; the colorful Yemenite henna party; the joyous shabbat chatan were all left unmentioned. Our beautiful Oriental women didn’t grace its pages- not even in the abundant advertisements!
While we are being inclusive and welcoming, why not give those photos a little colour?
I think it’s worth pointing out that our community, while diverse, is very easily dominated by the (granted, majority) European population, whether via South Africa or not. I don’t know whether it’s because the sephardim are so integrated or because they are so different that they are forgotten…