Dear Friend,



Right now we’re in the middle of Latino/x Heritage Month (el mes de la herencia Latina) — a month that honors the richness, history, and culture of Latin heritage.



To celebrate Latino/x Heritage Month this year, we’re partnering with our friends at Jewtina y Co. <[link removed]> and sharing stories from Latin-Jews* in our community.



Read on to meet Eddie, Denise, Leili, and David and learn what being a Latin-Jew means to them: 







“As an immigrant myself, the Jewish tradition’s mandate to care and protect the stranger and the vulnerable really speaks to me. It speaks to my heart, my soul, and my increasing connection to the Jewish people. As someone who has felt like an outsider for a long time, the Jewish community has made me feel welcomed and it’s an incredible feeling.”





- Eddie Chávez Calderón <[link removed]>







“Black and brown and multicultural families like mine are a growing part of the Jewish community, and I often ask myself and my peers: What would a truly multicultural community of belonging look like for all Jews? How can we foster a sense of true inclusion in all our gathering spaces, including our schools and our synagogues, for multiracial Jewish families?”





- Denise Dautoff <[link removed]>



“My favorite part about being an Iranian, Latina, Jewish woman is that I LOVE my cultures, languages and food! It means I choose to be a caretaker of my loved ones. It means I welcome people into my home with nourishment and care. It means I have access to recipes that have been in my family for generations. It means I have access to languages that have existed for centuries and that are still very part of my everyday life. 





As we continue to build this community together, let us gently remind ourselves that we are not a monolith. We are multicultural, multi-lingual, multi-faith and multiracial.”





- Leili Herlinda Davari <[link removed]>







“I wish we talked about race, inequality, religion, and identity more directly, beyond how these concepts are academically or intellectually fascinating subjects. 





Young me really could have benefited from someone directly talking with me about these things, validating how [messed up] racism is, letting me know I didn’t need to always worry about other people’s feelings or comfort over my own well-being.”





- David McCarty-Caplan <[link removed]>



There are as many ways to be Jewish as there are Jews.



At Bend the Arc, we share and learn from diverse stories of joy and inclusion, pain and nuance, so we can build a community where all of us are thriving. 



As Leili shares, “We are not a monolith. We are multicultural, multi-lingual, multi-faith, and multiracial.”



Join us in celebrating Latino/x Heritage Month by checking out the VOCES Project blog, podcast, and video series from Jewtina y Co. <[link removed]>



And if you’re a Latin-Jew, you can share your story here! <[link removed]>



With love, 



The Bend the Arc Team



PS: Looking for more resources from Jewtina y Co <[link removed]>? Check their bilingual holiday resources for Rosh Hashanah <[link removed]>, Yom Kippur <[link removed]>, Sukkot <[link removed]>, and Simchat Torah <[link removed]>. ✨











* Latin-Jews refers to anyone who identifies as Jewish and Latine, Latino, Latinx and Hispanic.







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