Hey Everyone. I haven’t posted lately, and as a Dorot Fellow in Israel, jumping between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem several times a week, I’ve been generally exhausted. But with this post, I hope people will take note and spark up some real efforts to use Jewschool to exact real /on the ground/ change in Israel.
I have been working at the Domari Center: The Society of Gypsies in Jerusalem since the beginning of my time here. The Domari Community in Israel and the Palestinian Territories are the ethnic kinsmen of European Roma, a 12 million strong transnational minority. Many recognize Romani culture as being characterized by thievery, deception, exotic superstition and the expansive shantytowns that line the railroad tracks leading out of many European cities. Romani communities also suffered great losses, both culturally and communally, during the Holocaust. In Jerusalem, The Dom are the Middle Eastern remnants of this group. As Romani populations migrated west from North India through the Middle East and into Christian Europe, many small communities remained. The Domari are one such community. In many ways, their history and future has been determined by their overarching marginalization, intense social discrimination and their lack of educational opportunity.
The Domari Center was founded by Amoun Sleem, a native Dom Jerusalemite, and one of the very few Dom to have attained a higher education. In order to counter the seemingly hopeless situation for Jerusalem’s Dom: both as the lowest caste in Palestinian society and non-Israeli Arab Jerusalemites in the eyes of Jewish society, the center has spearheaded programs in Womens’ Empowerment, Literacy and Vocational Training, as well as youth initiatives to instill in Dom youth a sense of cultural pride and progressive outlook towards education and economic development.
It has long been my belief that it is a particular Jewish reponsibility to reach out to The Romani Diaspora. The social and historical experiences of Jewish and Romani communities often run parallel, and in the Jewish state, such a historical relationship ought to inform our support of Palestinian organizations with progressive, tolerant and democratic outlooks.
This post is an effort to connect to the Jewschool community, to identify networking opportunities and to aid one Jewschool contributor in improving life for some of Jerusalem’s most downtrodden residents. The support of a progressive organization such as this will serve as the foundation for a more tolerant Jerusalem, and a better Israel.
Please email me if you know anyone with a connect to funds and organization development:
rosenblatt dot e at g mail dot com