Theater show spotlights the stories of those who are Asian American and Jewish

LOS ANGELES – David Chiu’s mom comes from an extended line of Lithuanian Jews; his father is an immigrant from Hong Kong. For maximum of his lifestyles, the 42-year-old Southern Californian has felt like he “never completely belonged in either world.”

It wasn’t till a couple of years in the past, when he sat in a room with 8 other people who had been Asian and Jewish, that he discovered there have been others who held those identities.

“We’re not like oil and water that don’t mix,” he stated. “Asian Jews are like pieces of a puzzle that fit together, and they produce really interesting individual pictures.”

Chiu is a manufacturer on a show titled “What Do I Do with All This Heritage?” that can provide 14 true stories showcasing the distinctive, incessantly little-known stories of Asian American Jews.

The level manufacturing is a collaboration between The Braid, a 16-year-old story-telling corporate that highlights the Jewish experience, and The LUNAR Collective, which was once based in 2020 and is the best nationwide group for Asian American Jews. Chiu has roles in each teams.

Shows will run via June 9 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and by way of Zoom. May marks the party of each Asian American and Jewish American heritage.

The stories seize the wealthy range amongst Asian American Jews, with topics ranging in age from 12 to 75. The manufacturing has no units, props or costumes. It brings those true stories to lifestyles with poignant moments, humor, romance, track, and most significantly hope and pleasure, Chiu stated.

“This is like a nice sampler platter of what the Asian American Jewish experience is like.”

The Associated Press interviewed 4 of the other people featured in the manufacturing. Here are their stories.

Leila Chomski, 23, New Jersey

Born to a Vietnamese mom and an Ashkenazi Jewish father from Canada, Leila Chomski was once raised Orthodox Jewish. At 14, she fell in love with the Korean pop band BTS.

“K-pop songs spoke to me because they talked about working hard to achieve success and having intellectual independence,” she stated.

Chomski posted Ok-pop movies on Instagram and dressed like Ok-pop stars dressed in mini-skirts, thigh-high boots and cropped tops. Her new character conflicted along with her Orthodox Jewish values.

“It made me feel lost and sad and pained,” she stated, describing her helplessness at being not able to completely include her Asian and Jewish identities. “I spent a lot of time crying, praying to God.”

When Chomski was once 18 and using a bus along with her mom from New Jersey to New York City, she advised herself that if she noticed an indication from God that 2d she would trade her lifestyles. On cue, she noticed a billboard that includes a rabbi’s smiling face and the phrases: “Do a mitzvah (a good deed). It’s the right thing.”

Chomski took that to middle. With the assist of her rabbi, she discovered learn how to percentage her Ok-pop movies on social media with out compromising her religion. She switched to lengthy skirts and clothes. She stopped making a song and dancing in public.

“I was finding ways to be proud of my Jewish heritage,” she stated. “I realized I needed to be part of my Jewish community and celebrate being Jewish instead of being embarrassed about it. Reconciling my Asian and Jewish sides is still a struggle. I’m trying to find my way.”

Maryam Chishti, 26, New York City

Maryam Chishti’s Jewish mom is from Manhattan’s Upper West Side; her father is a Muslim from Kashmir. Her oldsters made up our minds to boost her Muslim and Jewish.

When she became 11, Chishti’s oldsters advised her she would have two coming-of-age ceremonies — a Bat Mitzvah and one the place she recited the Shahada — the Muslim occupation of religion.

“I was annoyed because I had to do twice the work preparing for both ceremonies,” she stated. But it helped her see the similarities between Judaism and Islam.

“Not only do both religions worship the same God, but the diets are similar, the teachings are the same. I started to see a merging of these faiths within me. And when I felt a connection with God, it was both as a Muslim and as a Jew.”

There had been moments of fusion at house as neatly, with celebrations of the High Holidays on occasion merging with Ramadan. Her father made a different lamb dish for Passover. But it was once difficult for Chishti to explaining her more than one identities to others.

“You never feel quite enough for everyone and you don’t feel entirely comfortable in a Jewish or Asian space,” she stated. “I often have to figure out how many cards I’m going to show — Indian, Asian, interfaith, Jewish, Muslim. It has been a process of knowing that I can only be me, and that has to be enough.”

Lulu Fairman, 75, Los Angeles

Lulu Fairman was once born in Kolkata, India, to Orthodox Jewish oldsters. Jewish migration to the town started in the past due 18th century when traders from Iraq and Syria got here to what was once then the seat of the British Raj. They based a neighborhood that changed into the hub of the Baghdadi Jewish buying and selling diaspora in Asia.

Her father’s circle of relatives was once from Baghdad; her mom’s facet was once from Eastern Europe. She had a standard Jewish upbringing, however is incessantly met with wonder when she introduces herself as an Indian Jew.

“I have friends who tell me they had no idea there were Jews in India,” Fairman stated. “But I did not know there were Jews in Vietnam. So we all learn something new.”

In the manufacturing, Fairman’s tale depicts her compassion, a top quality which took root in the poverty-stricken town the place she grew up and continues to these days via her volunteer paintings in Los Angeles. Fairman realized that the mom of the lady who performs her in the manufacturing lived 3 doorways away in Kolkata’s Jewish group.

“I had to hold back tears when I heard that. It felt surreal and serendipitous.”

Fairman stated she has discovered function in her lifestyles by way of serving to others.

“Now, I’m comfortable in my own skin. When I look in the mirror, I like the person I see.”

Lillian McKenzie, 23, Los Angeles

Lillian McKenzie’s mom is Jewish; her father is a Korean adoptee raised by way of white Presbyterian oldsters. As a forged member, she tells Chomski’s Ok-pop-infused tale.

Chomski’s enjoy resonates with McKenzie, a jazz vocalist from Los Angeles.

“We have oddly similar but different experiences,” she stated. “Both of us have found joy through dance and music.”

She could also be telling the tale of a 12-year-old lady of Chinese descent residing in Boston who confronted discrimination in her Jewish college and in consequence, comes to comprehend how essential her religion is. McKenzie says doing this show has helped her.

“I didn’t talk about my heritage much before because I felt not many could relate to it,” she stated. “This show has been a big stepping stone where I now feel like a full person with all my identities.”

The show could also be essential for non-Jewish other people to peer as it highlights the stories of “people who may never be seen,” McKenzie says.

“We’ve created a community out of what people thought of as nothing,” she stated. “You feel their humanness, because what’s more human than feeling that you don’t belong?”

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Associated Press faith protection receives fortify via the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with investment from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is just liable for this content material.