Jews Without Borders workshop at URI, Oct. 22

KINGSTON, R.I. — October 12, 2007 — Author, artist, musician Loolwa Khazzoom will present an interactive workshop entitled “Jews Without Borders” on Monday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at the University of Rhode Island Multicultural Center, 74 Lower College Road in Kingston. Her appearance is sponsored by URI Hillel, the Rhode Island Chapter of Hadassah, the URI Multicultural Center, and the URI Women’s Center.

Weaving the inter-connected stories of Jews from Africa, the Middle East, Central and East Asia, Southern Europe, and Latin America, teaching lively Jewish music in Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew, and Aramaic and showing colorful slides, maps, and charts, Khazzoom will take participants on a 4,000 year Jewish journey around the world. The workshop is free and open to the public and is intended for both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences.

Loolwa Khazzoom pioneered the Jewish multiculturalism movement in 1990 through such media outlets as The Washington Post, Marie Claire and Rolling Stone, institutions including Harvard University, The Simon Wiesenthal Center, Manhattan Jewish Community Center and Skirball Cultural Center, performance venues including the World Music Festival and Jewish Music Festival, and countless Jewish conferences, synagogues, publications, schools and community organizations throughout North America and Israel.

Her work has radically transformed thinking about diversity and Jewish identity, inspiring the proliferation of media articles, educational materials, and community programs on Jewish Multiculturalism.

Khazzoom is the editor of The Flying Camel: Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage (www.tapestry-online.com/publications.html#camel), a contributor to several anthologies including Best Jewish Writing 2002 and a featured expert in several films including The Forgotten Refugees and Young, Jewish and Left. The former founder and director of the Jewish MultiCultural Project and a founding member of JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa), she directs of Tapestry (www.tapestry-online.com) – a Jewish multicultural education and consulting company.

For more information, please contact Amy Olson at URI Hillel, 401-874-2740 or amyolson@mail.uri.edu.