Kesher Talk

Jews of odd backgrounds: Hindu-Jews: Some call them "HinJews." Others say they're "Om-Shalomers." But whatever they're called, young Jews of Hindu and Jewish parentage are coming of age, marking the emergence of a new cultural subset in an increasingly diverse American Jewish population.

In the wake of the Hart-Cellar Act, which liberalized U.S. immigration policy in 1967, a wave of mostly male Indian graduate students moved to the United States to study engineering. Many of them married Jewish-American women. Of these couples, many have raised their kids as Jews while also introducing them to secular Indian cultural values. Like "JewBu kids" — born of Jews married to Buddhists — these children have grown up surrounded by a unique blend of values and traditions.

"Despite the obvious religious differences, there are clear parallels between Jewish and Hindu traditions," said Nathan Katz, a professor of religious studies at Florida International University and the editor of The Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies. "They share an emphasis on home-centered religious practices, family values, dietary codes and other rather striking similarities."

posted by William @ 3/18/2004 08:55:31 AM