Spanish-speaking Jews a growing community
STEPHANIE N. HENSCHEL
Staff Writer
The local Spanish-speaking Jewish community is a growing population, but one whose needs are not being addressed.
Temple Beth Sholom in Chandler is attempting to fix that.
Once a month, the Conservative synagogue holds services in Spanish.
"In the United States in general, we have a lot more Spanish-speaking Jewish people than we realize," says Ramon Carrasco, who has played a pivotal role in the development of the Spanish services - though he credits board president Barbara Gold with the idea.
"We had some recent arrivals from Mexico that are very active (in the synagogue)," says Carrasco. "She thought it would be a splendid idea to have services in Spanish."
And that particular family was overjoyed by the service.
"There were a lot of emotions that that family expressed," he says. "This is truly the land of religious opportunity for them."
Spanish Jews are not strangers to religious oppression. The Spanish Inquisition forced many to flee or hide their religion.
"Those that were lucky enough to escape still hold a very strong Spanish identity," he says.
The services only help to uphold that culture.
The temple held its first Spanish bat mitzvah for Abigail Garcia in October. When the Garcia family began attending services, the soon-to-be bat mitzvah did not speak any English - and her tutor did not speak Spanish.
"It was really an act of love," Carrasco says.
The services are not fully in Spanish - the parts that would traditionally be Hebrew are read in Hebrew. Other services at synagogues with Spanish populations, such as the two Sephardic synagogues in the Valley, are solely in Hebrew.
"I imagine that Spanish-speaking Jews feel more comfortable speaking their own language," says Christianne Meneses Jacobs, a native of Nicaragua who now lives in the Valley. She is the publisher of "Iguana," a magazine geared toward Spanish-speaking children.
Jacobs says it would be easy for the Spanish-speaking Jewish community to feel alienated.
"They just want to have a group they can connect with," she says. "The message gets to them easier if it comes to them in their own language."
"The motive for starting these services was to accommodate and make our Spanish-speaking congregants feel at home," Carrasco says.
Temple Beth Sholom's efforts to reach out to this community have not gone unnoticed. At the temple's next Spanish service, a recognition ceremony will also take place for an award the small congregation received for its Spanish services.
The congregation will be presented with the Gold Award for Ritual, which was awarded to the synagogue at the biennial conference of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the governing body for the Conservative movement.
"For a temple that is so small, it was something very out of the ordinary," says Carrasco.
Carrasco hopes that more Spanish-speaking Jews will hear about the services and be attracted to the synagogue.
"Those that do decide to come to services turn out to be those who are very grateful," he says.
Contact the writer here
|