“There are over fifteen million Jews in the world,” says the publisher’s blurb for this collection of 36 short biographies, “which means there are more than fifteen million ways to look and be Jewish.” Some of those many ways are on display here.
Each featured figure gets a spread with one page of text and another page of colorful illustration. Some are people many readers may have heard of; others are less well-known. There are Black, Latine, Asian, and Indigenous Jews; disabled Jews; and Jews of varied careers and talents. Most (but not all) live or lived in the United States for all or part of their lives. All of the biographies are organized around several core Jewish values that they embody, such as tikkun olam (to repair a broken world) or tikvah (hope).
Unsurprisingly, queer people are among those profiled here, including Sandra Lawson, the first openly gay, female, and Black rabbi in the world; Harvey Milk, the famed politician and activist; WNBA superstar Sue Bird; transgender activist and author Jazz Jennings; Is Perlman, a transgender and nonbinary student and artist who has helped advocate for queer inclusion in Florida schools; and transgender activist Rabbi Abby Chava Stein. Sidebars and additional spreads offer additional information about various aspects of Jewish cultures, initiatives, and organizations, including Keshet, the organization for LGBTQ Jews.
Co-author Liz Kleinrock is herself Korean American, Jewish, and queer. She says in the introduction, “I was the only person who looked like me at synagogue, Hebrew school, and Jewish summer camp. Jews, non-Jews, kids, and adults (even rabbis) would tell me, ‘You don’t look Jewish!’ Because of these experiences, I often felt like I didn’t belong and that I always had to ‘prove’ my Jewishness.”
Co-author Caroline Kusin Pritchard, on the other hand, writes of feeling different from her largely non-Jewish peers as she grew up in Texas, but also feeling a fundamental sense of belonging, something that she only later realized not every Jewish child has. While this has meant, she says, that “I’ve also played a role in upholding harmful stereotypes,” she has learned there are “countless ways to be Jewish,” all valid and beautiful.
Together, they have created a wonderfully engaging, intersectional collection that should find a welcome place in homes, schools, and synagogues.
