(JEWISH GROUP) Asian Jewish students celebrate intersecting identities, gather for landmark Shabbaton at Yale

The table setting at the inaugural Asian Jewish Shabbaton at Yale University Hillel last Friday night — challah and chopsticks — straddled more than just culinary worlds. It also served as a tangible bridge linking the intersecting identities of the 450 students from 15 universities in attendance.

The two-day inaugural Asian Jewish Shabbaton, organized by Yale’s Asian Jewish Union, provided students a place to connect over the challenges around balancing both Asian and Jewish identities — and the associated stereotypes. It also gave participants a chance to explore the natural allyship the two groups share, with an emphasis on their mutual values — such as community and education.

“Before this weekend I had met a handful of Asian Jews my entire life,” Aasia Gabbour, a senior at New York University studying global public health and nutrition and food studies, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “This feels special because it’s something I never got to experience. I’ve always been able to find my community within the Jewish community, but [Asian Jews] are such a niche group that getting the chance to learn there are a lot of us is a unique experience.”

“The groups are natural allies and I especially saw that this weekend,” continued Gabbour. “We all naturally gravitate towards each other. We got to know each other on a deeper level with semi-facilitated discussions.”

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