A first-of-its-kind program will give 30 Jewish social service professionals, including social workers, doctors and therapists, specialized training to better meet the psychosocial and emotional well-being of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews. Among the participants will be two members of the local Jewish community: Harley Kushmier, a social worker in Kelowna, and Serach Aleria Sarra, a student in spiritual health at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
The program, part of JIMENA’s Sephardic Leaders Fellowship, is designed to deepen the professionals’ understanding of Sephardi and Mizrahi heritage and equip them to provide culturally responsive care. Chosen from a competitive applicant pool, fellows were accepted based on professional merit and a demonstrated commitment to serving diverse Jewish populations. JIMENA stands for Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa.
“In a post-Oct. 7 world – where so many Sephardi and Mizrahi Americans have been directly affected by events in Israel and the Middle East, and amid rising antisemitism and social strain – our research and community experience point to a clear demand for culturally responsive training for health professionals and social service providers working with Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews,” said Sarah Levin, executive director at JIMENA, in a press release. “This inaugural cohort – comprising therapists, counselors, crisis and trauma practitioners, providers for aging populations and at-risk youth, and clinical social workers – reflects that demand.”
Over a series of sessions, the fellows in the social service providers cohort will explore a range of topics relevant to working with Sephardi, Mizrahi and other unique Jewish communities. These include mental health stigma in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures, intergenerational trauma in immigrant and refugee families from the Middle East and North Africa, and economic vulnerability. The cohort will also engage in discussions on trauma-informed care with a focus on sexual abuse, as well as traditional Sephardi perspectives on identity, belonging and community care. This will include a dedicated session on LGBTQ+ youth, led by JQY. Additionally, participants will receive a foundational overview of Sephardi Jewish history, context and key definitions. Sessions will be led by leading practitioners in their field.
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On Aug. 21, JIMENA released the study Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in the United States: Identities, Experiences and Communities. It offers recommendations for leaders and organizations that want to more deeply engage these communities. Among the findings are that Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in the United States have higher rates of Jewish communal participation, a stronger connection to Israel and are more likely than Ashkenazi Jews to say that being Jewish is somewhat or very much a part of their daily life.
The research was directed by Dr. Mijal Bitton and based at the New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Research. As part of the research, scholars at the Cohen Centre for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University conducted a review of existing quantitative data from national and community studies on Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in the United States. Based on these figures, the study’s researchers estimate that approximately 10% of American Jews are Sephardi and/or Mizrahi.
The data also show that, compared to Ashkenazi Jews, American Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews have the lowest intermarriage rates, and are more likely than Ashkenazi Jews to be born and/or raised outside the United States, to be politically moderate or conservative, and to be economically vulnerable.
Researchers examined four communities: the Syrian community in Brooklyn, NY; the Persian community in Los Angeles; the Bukharian community in Queens, NY; and the Latin Sephardi community of South Florida. Key findings include:
• While historically underrepresented in mainstream Jewish communal life, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews have built strong, vibrant communities that maintain deep familial, religious and cultural traditions.
• Sephardi religious practice reflects a strong sense of traditionalism, combining respect for religious laws, customs, legitimations and authorities with more flexible personal and family religious observance.
• Community members want to make new lives for themselves in America, while still preferring ethnic connections, especially marriage with other community members and their own cultural traditions, and they maintain abiding connections to their Mediterranean, North African and Middle Eastern cultures.
• Most community members exhibit a notable resistance to language that frames race as their primary identity, categorizes them as Jews of colour or positions them as a minority group in need of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“The research is more than just insights and data; there’s a roadmap here that we hope will be a catalyst for change,” said Levin. “Jewish communal leaders and educators can include Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews – and our history, traditions and current customs – in meaningful, equal ways that reflect the diversity of the Jewish people.”
The report’s specific recommendations are informed by five recommended frameworks to approach diversity work in the Jewish community:
• Avoid viewing Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews only through the lens of exclusion, marginalization and victimhood narratives. Recognize that strong Sephardi and Mizrahi communal identities exist even as barriers and biases exist within Ashkenazi-majority institutional frameworks.
• Avoid centring Judaism exclusively around European Jewish experiences and Ashkenazi cultural norms as the dominant narrative (i.e. Yiddish as the primary language of Jewish tradition and denominational structures as the only legitimate form of Jewish identity).
• Avoid creating inclusion projects that assume everyone agrees with a single set of values (e.g., liberal values) or tools for inclusion (DEI frameworks). Create inclusion projects that allow for diverse viewpoints, values, multiple religious perspectives and norms, and a plurality of political views.
• Avoid viewing diversity in Jewish spaces solely through North American racial and ethnic categories. Jewish diversity should recognize the central role of family origins and communal networks in shaping Jewish identity; the complex intersections of ancestry, ethnicity, religion and culture; and the migration patterns and geopolitical histories that shape identities, perspectives and communal structures.
• Avoid assuming that universal frameworks and solutions for inclusion will be effective for all and that shared priorities exist across all Jewish communities.
For the full report, go to sephardicstudy.org.
– Courtesy JIMENA