Someone forwarded this to me. I thought I’d try to find more information on the singers and instead, I stumbled upon another blog where people were asking, “Are they Jewish?” And someone responded, “They don’t look too Jewish to me.” Sigh.
Funny, they look pretty Jewish to me.
Thanks to the dear reader who uncovered their website. Check out “Hazken Voices” for more information.
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 
They’re Jewish, those ask the same ridiculous question are racist. Period. It bothers me that they think that they have the right to ask whatever comes to their minds when they meet people who do not look like them. I am tired of all this bigotry.
LikeLike
This is the band:
http://www.myspace.com/hazkenivoices
I don’t think they’re Jewish from what their site says, but I still think it’s obnoxious that people would *assume* a bunch of dudes wearing kippot and singing in Hebrew *aren’t* Jewish.
LikeLike
ooh, and i found ’em on facebook. they are coming out with a CD.
LikeLike
Aliza:
Let me add my two shekels. There seems to be a lot of Ashkenazi bashing on these sites. I can assure you that Ashkenazim are not racist… some are just xenophobic.
My mother’s family is Bolivian (of Austrian descent). She too grew up in WH and was assumed to be Latina by the other Jews. One even asked her to light her stove on Yom Tov when it went out. When my mom told her her (afterward) that she was in fact Jewish, the woman had to dump the food she was cooking! It wasn’t hateful to assume she was Latina, it was due to years of being the “others” in Europe and being forced to not interact with any outsiders.
In this day in age things are slowly changing. I am a frum guy who’s closest friends are an African American Jew (convert), and Irish/Itailan American Jew (convert), a Filipino Jew (convert) a former Byzantine Catholic Jew (convert) and a good old former WASP Jew (convert). Converts are holy and infuse Judaism with a vigor for and love of Hashem that born-Jews sometimes need a refresher course in.
Fact is, I can trace my lineage to Aharon Ha-Kohain and my wife has a family tree going back to King David. HOWEVER… you are the only one of us three who can say for 100% certainty that I am a Halachic Jew. The rest of us go on mesora.
In short (too late!) please don’t assume all Ashkenazim are xenophobic.
LikeLike
Anonymous, I AM Ashkenazi and so is my husband.
I do agree that some people confuse a couple of racist and/or xenophobic statements by SOME Ashkenazim and indict the whole group as racist and xenophobic because of them.
But unfortunately, most of the racist and xenophobic comments I have heard come from white Ashkenazi Jews. I think this has to do with Ashkenazi being in a position of privilege as much as it has to do with that knee-jerk unpleasant response to “outsiders” or no-Jews.
LikeLike
This reminds me of the Ein Kelohenu scene in the movie Keeping the Faith.
LikeLike