“J is for Janucá” Brings Latinx Jewish Representation to Children’s Books
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Ces Herida grew up Jewish in northern Mexico, experienced her Jewishness through a multicultural lens. She describes her house as the only one with a menorah in the window. In trying to explain to Mexicans--Jews and non-Jews--her friend and fellow Jewish-Mexican, Melanie Romero, wrote a children's books “J is for Janucá” She describes the difficulty of establishing an identify in a very Catholic country. Romero describes to Herida the pain of not seeing representations of people like you in the media. "My childhood," she said, "would have been much more empathetic if I had seen a version of myself in the media, and I never did..." Her hope is that "J is for Janucá " will "prevent other Latinx Jewish kids from going through what we went through: the mean comments from kids (and parents), the ignorance, the antisemitic remarks. It holds space for the religious and cultural traditions of a minority within a minority—Latinx Jews—and that can only ever be a good thing." Click on the link to read the article.