{"id":1494,"date":"2020-12-03T17:44:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T17:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aniyostsef.com\/index\/?page_id=1494"},"modified":"2023-06-19T23:33:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T23:33:11","slug":"thoughts-of-an-island-jew-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/aniyostsef.com\/index\/official-biographical-reference\/thoughts-of-an-island-jew-hawaii\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts of an Island Jew, Hawaii"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Jewish in Polynesia<\/p><\/div>\n

I grew up in Hawai’i, a kama’aina. Not in haole’s Hawaii with their \u02bb\u014dlelo haole, but ethnic Hawai’i – maopopo ia\u02bbu ka mana\u02bbo o ka po\u02bbe Hawai\u02bbi. 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 \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d7\u05d4\/mishpach\u00e0 and, by extension, \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d7\u05d5\u05ea\/mishpach\u00f2t.<\/p>\n

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 \u02bb\u014dlelo maoli of the \u02bb\u0101ina, 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 k\u0101naka maoli, the indigenous humans of the land by ancestry, and \u02bbohana holo\u02bboko\u02bba, an over-all tribal family, of a sorts.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at the Hawaiian word \u02bbohana for a moment. For I believe you will understand what this \u02bb\u014dlelo 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 \u02bbohana. (For those interested, source: N\u0101 Puke Wehewehe \u02bb\u014clelo Hawai\u02bbi). When we say \u02bbohana nui, we are referring to everyone within our family, whether of genetic bloodline or not. In other words, “extended family” or “clan.”<\/p>\n

\"\"

Makua Rothman, Hawaiian Jew<\/p><\/div>\n

In the Southern M\u0101ori 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Taika Waititi, Maori Jew<\/p><\/div>\n

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* M\u0101ori\/ kanaka Hawai’i.<\/p>\n

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 \u05e2\u05f4\u05d4 put it.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

kama\u02bb\u0101ina – born\/raised in this place – \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1\u05b5\u05d1 \/ yoshev
\nhaole – any foreigner – \u05d6\u05b8\u05e8 \/ zar
\n\u02bb\u014dlelo – language \/ word – \u05e9\u05c2\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05d4 \/ safa \/ \u05de\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 \/ mila, depending on context
\nmaoli – indigenous – \u05d9\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9 \/ yelidi
\n\u02bb\u0101ina – land – \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \/ eretz
\nk\u0101naka – human beings – \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \/ bnei adam
\n\u02bbohana – family – \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05e4\u05bc\u05b8\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \/ mishpacha
\nholo\u02bboko\u02bba – complete, entire – \u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05dd \/ shalem<\/p>\n

\u05d9\u05d5\u05e1\u05e3 \u05e4\u05e8\u05e7\u05e9\u05d3\u05d9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up in Hawai’i, a kama’aina. Not in haole’s Hawaii with their \u02bb\u014dlelo haole, but ethnic Hawai’i – maopopo ia\u02bbu ka mana\u02bbo o ka po\u02bbe Hawai\u02bbi. And as an Island Jew from the Pacific Islands, I can attest to the heart of culture being all about a sense of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1494","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThoughts of an Island Jew, Hawaii - For Truth and Honesty by JTF<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/aniyostsef.com\/index\/official-biographical-reference\/thoughts-of-an-island-jew-hawaii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thoughts of an Island Jew, Hawaii - For Truth and Honesty by JTF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I grew up in Hawai’i, a kama’aina. Not in haole’s Hawaii with their \u02bb\u014dlelo haole, but ethnic Hawai’i – maopopo ia\u02bbu ka mana\u02bbo o ka po\u02bbe Hawai\u02bbi. 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