A Journey Across Generations and Borders

On the last day of Sephardi Mizrachi Heritage Month, Naomi Rabeeya, M.P.A., Senior Manager of Donor Stewardship, reflects on the interconnectedness of tradition, identity, and leadership. From a day with Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion students and alumni to a serendipitous subway conversation about Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran, her experience highlights the enduring legacy of Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews.

 

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One day recently I was on the subway heading from HUC-JIR to pick up my eldest son from after school. I had just spent the afternoon talking with students and a rabbinic alum, about hands-on experience outside of the classroom, and on that train, I witnessed firsthand the moral leadership I helped foster as part of the larger HUC-JIR staff, alumni, and supporter family.

As the parent of an almost nine-year-old and a sixteen-month-old, most of the reading I get to do is on the subway. You will often find me reading a book in Hebrew. While American-born, my father, of blessed memory, made sure I was fluent in Hebrew. Reading is an important way to learn and maintain a language, especially if it is not one’s first language.

After getting on the train and taking out my Hebrew book, a man next to me asked if I knew Hebrew well. I explained to him that my father had instilled in me a love of the language as a connection to my history and my people. What went unsaid, is that Hebrew is my forever connection to him. I explained to the man, that my Arabic was not that strong, even though it too was the language of my people and my father’s first language.

As the conversation progressed, I learned that the man did not know much Hebrew or Arabic. Like my father, his mother was born in Baghdad, Iraq. They were both forced to leave in 1951, Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, the massive emigration of Iraqi Jews to Israel. We talked about October 7, and how in the public discourse, Sephardi and Mizrachi are doubly erased by the Arab and Western worlds, who deny or do not know of their existence, our existence. The situation in Israel was nuanced and included acknowledging Jews of Arab lands and Iran. We talked about reclaiming our cultural traditions when we did not have the opportunity to learn them due to historical reasons. I explained that I run the Sephardi Mizrachi small group at my synagogue working with clergy and the cantorial and rabbinic intern.

Amid this discussion, I kid you not, another man interrupted us apologetically, saying his parents too, were Iraqi, left on Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, and eventually ended up in England. The conversation ended as first this man and then I exited the train at our respective stops.

I felt seen as an Arab Jew, to meet people that I did not have to educate or explain, that Jews had been in the Middle East for centuries, pre-Islam.

This unexpected turn of events—meeting with students and alumni, followed by an encounter on the train while on my way to pick up my son is demonstrative of the dynamic nature of modern Judaism. It underscores the transmission of tradition across generations and the reclamation of our identity, including that of Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews. While it is not always clear the path that the world will take, I am comforted by the increase in conversation, of the focus on leadership, that uplifts different voices.