Growing up, Liz Kleinrock never felt like she fit into her Jewish community in Washington, D.C. Born in Korea and adopted into an Ashkenazi family, she constantly felt pressure to justify her Judaism—whether at Hebrew school, summer camp or synagogue. Years later, after becoming a professional antibias and antiracist educator, she met author Caroline Kusin Pritchard, and the two clicked. One day, they got an idea: to create an educational, illustrated, family-friendly book that redefines the face of Judaism—literally.

The result is What Jewish Looks Like, released September 2024, which profiles unconventional Jewish icons. The collection includes British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, historic Ethiopian community leader Uri Ben Baruch and American trans activist Jazz Jennings—about as varied a scope as one could imagine that crosses skin colour, religious affiliation and cultural identity.

The book's launch has been met warmly in Jewish spaces. And yet, as Kleinrock and Kusin Pritchard tell Rivka Campbell on The CJN's podcast about Jews of colour, even on their book tour, they face microaggressions in every city. For them, it's a constant reminder of why this kind of content is needed—not just to educate younger Jewish generations, but older ones as well.

Credits

• Host: Rivka Campbell
• Producer: Michael Fraiman
• Music: Westside Gravy

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Gad Saad, the Canadian professor and social media icon with well over a million followers online, grew up in Lebanon as one of a rapidly decreasing number of Jews in the 1970s and '80s. He routinely faced genuine, unabashed Jew hatred, hearing "Death to the Jews" chants in the streets—and witnessing his own school friends talk about killing Jews.

Fast-forward to this week, and Israel is preparing a probable ground invasion of southern Lebanon, shortly following their remarkable pager attack on Hezbollah members and assassination of longtime organization leader Hassan Nasrallah. As Lebanon makes headlines around the world, Saad sat down with Rivka Campbell, host of The CJN's podcast about Jews of colour, to share stories of the Lebanon he remembers before his family fled for a safer life in Canada. He explains why he always felt close to his Lebanese roots and how he hopes the country can return to a pluralistic, accepting state.

In 2024-2025, Saad is a visiting professor and global ambassador at Northwood University. He joins us from his home city of Montreal.

Credits

• Host: Rivka Campbell
• Producer: Michael Fraiman
• Music: Westside Gravy

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• Subscribe to Rivkush (Not sure how? Click here)

Adiel Cohen remembers Oct. 7 like it was yesterday. He was at his sister's house in Northern Israel when he woke up to hear his phone buzzing with rocket alerts and notifications. His first-ever panic attack washed over him as he realized he would quickly be called back into the army—which happened immediately after Shabbat. That night, Cohen filled a backpack with a few essentials and travelled south on the eerily quiet roads.

After his time fighting in the south, he returned to his studies at Tel Aviv University, but didn't stop fighting for his country. Instead of prepping rocket launchers near Gaza, he took to TikTok and Instagram to argue against anti-Zionists describing his home country as a land of colonizing Europeans. For Cohen, this line of attack is particularly egregious, as one of his biggest inspirations is his grandmother, who came to Israel from Yemen decades ago.

Cohen joins Rivkush, The CJN's podcast about Jews of colour, to talk about the history of Yemeni Jews, share his war stories and explain why watermelon is actually a very Israeli fruit.

Credits

• Host: Rivka Campbell
• Producer: Michael Fraiman
• Music: Westside Gravy

Support The CJN

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to Rivkush (Not sure how? Click here)