In his article “Rarely Kosher: Studying Jews of Color in North America,” Lewis Gordon discusses how Jews of color have been isolated and made invisible through modern investigations of Jewish history.  According to Gordon many scholars investigate Jewish culture through a European-centric lens, which ultimately results in many histories and discussions only recognizing Jews as white individuals. This results in many studies completely negating to recognize the existence of Jews of color, even though more modern research indicates there is a very large population of non-white Jews throughout the world, including those of African, Asian, Hispanic descent. Gordon condemns this form of research, as he argues that in only examining the Jewish population through a “white” lens, many groups of people are not accounted for and therefore not validated in their Jewish identity.  He uses African American, Latin American, and Caribbean Jewish populations as an example of this phenomenon, claiming that many Jewish individuals within these groups feel “hidden in proverbial plain site.” It is Gordon’s desire to encourage a more diverse examination of Jewish individuals, by creating a system that researches Jewish history through the lens of colonization and empire. Moreover, Gordon insinuates that in order for people to no longer assume that one group of Jews (i.e. those which are white) represents all Jews or their beliefs, the framework with which we study Jews must shift from a homogenous study to a more heterogeneous approach.

This article was extremely interesting to read. I appreciate that Gordon included personal anecdotes throughout his narrative, as it gave the readers a first-hand account of what it was like to exist in this framework as someone who was both Jewish and a person of color. I think that the structure of the article was laid out in a very efficient and effective manner. The content was easy to understand, and Gordon did a great job at articulating himself in a comprehensible and accessible manner.  However, I wish Gordon had included or elaborated more on his secondary scholarship to strengthen his position and argument. I also think that while this article did a great job at explaining the phenomenon as a whole, it lacked a really strong thesis (I felt like I had to circle back a few times to get a firm grasp on what his ultimate argument was).