Jewish in Polynesia
I grew up in Hawai’i, a kama’aina. Not in haole’s Hawaii with their ʻōlelo haole, but ethnic Hawai’i – maopopo iaʻu ka manaʻo o ka poʻe Hawaiʻi. And as an Island Jew from the Pacific Islands, I can attest to the heart of culture being all about a sense of ancestral identity, regardless whether you believe in the ancestral religious myths and theological ideas of your ancestors/culture. It’s all about משפחה/mishpachà and, by extension, משפחות/mishpachòt.
Near every culture in the world has its expression in Hawai’i, even though its primary cultures – under the dominance of U.S. presence – is Polynesian/Asian. There is a word or two in Hawaiian, the ʻōlelo maoli of the ʻāina, that I wish to teach you all, because it addresses the heart of what I often talk about on this web site about Jewish ethno-religious ancestry/culture. Though the majority of Hawaiians practice an island form of Christianity from the merchant/military forced take-over of the islands and forced conversions to English and Christianity by white Christians from the United States, to this very day the ways of the ancestors are preserved – the myths, the language by which to share the myths, the dances and chants, the original way of living and building things, etc. The reason for this is that in the Hawaiian mindset, Hawaiians are kānaka maoli, the indigenous humans of the land by ancestry, and ʻohana holoʻokoʻa, an over-all tribal family, of a sorts.
Let’s look at the Hawaiian word ʻohana for a moment. For I believe you will understand what this ʻōlelo is getting to, which I believe is the surviving/thriving heart of Judaism and the Jewish people, as well. ‘Ohana means “family, relatives, genetic kin” of some sort. But, it also means “to gather for family prayers/chants,” a shortened form of pule ʻohana. (For those interested, source: Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi). When we say ʻohana nui, we are referring to everyone within our family, whether of genetic bloodline or not. In other words, “extended family” or “clan.”
Makua Rothman, Hawaiian Jew
In the Southern Māori communities, like in the Northern Hawaiian communities, having any familial relation to a people and their culture makes one a member of the family. For example, there are (literally) Polynesian Jews in this world – Jews of Polynesian descent but, also, of some Jewish parent’s descent.
Taika Waititi, Maori Jew
For two well-known examples, actor/director Taika Waititi (Taika David Cohen) of New Zealand and surfer/musician Makua Rothman (Makuakai Rothman) of Hawai’i claim both heritages equally. They consider themselves Jews *and* Māori/ kanaka Hawai’i.
Growing up without the “either/or” mentality of Western civilizations, Polynesian Jews do not understand how you cannot be fully both, at the same time. Why is this? It’s all in the cultural “textline,” as Amos Oz ע״ה put it.
Before we go to the exciting and informative other pages of my personal web site, here is a mini Hawaiian to Hebrew lexicon for this page – for those interested in re-reading it again.
kamaʻāina – born/raised in this place – יוֹשֵׁב / yoshev
haole – any foreigner – זָר / zar
ʻōlelo – language / word – שָׂפָה / safa / מילה / mila, depending on context
maoli – indigenous – יְלִידִי / yelidi
ʻāina – land – אֶרֶץ / eretz
kānaka – human beings – בְּנֵי אָדָם / bnei adam
ʻohana – family – מִשְׁפָּחָה / mishpacha
holoʻokoʻa – complete, entire – שָׁלֵם / shalem
יוסף פרקשדי
2 Comments
Joseph T Farkasdi · December 4, 2020 at 6:32 am
Yes, this is Hawai’i!:
“In California, my identity as a Jew wasn’t particularly relevant. In Honolulu, I am pretty much off the table insofar as the ethnic imagination of my students goes. All white people were haole — a Hawaiian word with a slightly derogatory connotations (one of my students wears a T-shirt to class that reads “Haole you flew here I grew here”.)
The problem was not just that my students didn’t know that I was a tomato, they’re often a little unclear on the idea that people must be sorted into fruits and vegetables. To put it another way: it is difficult to expose the culturally-contingent nature of your student’s essentialist folk theories of identity when they have names like Motoko Kapualani da Silva or Brian Ka’imikaua Li. This latter student claimed to be “Japanese, Filipino, and Hawaiian.” I pointed out to him that his last name was Chinese. He paused and thought about it for a second and then remembered that yes, his family was also Chinese but he had never really thought of “Li” as a Chinese name.
By speaking frankly about my own identity with my students I learned that they did not operate with the same concepts of race and ethnicity that my students on the mainland did, and this insight allowed me to teach anthropology in a way that was accessible to them.” – Alex Golub
For me, a kamaʻāina of Hawai’i, that at first glance (until I open my mouth and speak) would be considered haole, what he is saying is obvious:
What Jewish is to gentile, is what Hawaiian is to haole! It’s an indigenous thing, beyond inherited religion. Family(ies) and family ties first, then the rituals of family(ies) second. Once family, everything else is up for individual debate, and not for an overall people’s debate. Judaism, yes?
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/04/17/jewish-polynesia
Jewish in Polynesia
Joseph T Farkasdi · January 3, 2021 at 12:08 am
Getting an education on my home isles tonight! Things I never knew. … Like Jason Momoa is from Waianae side, Oahu, brah!
Da buggah stay so young, I neva know, brah! Da kānaka maoli all talk like me, da only haole-skin kine no get beat up in Waianae.
Den wen get da paddle fo surf board. 1900’s, wtf, brah?! Duke Kahanamoku wen surf dis way?! Neva know, brah.