So Different, So Similar
Immigrant experiences lay groundwork.
Joyce Wiswell
Managing Editor I Chaldean News
hough Chaldeans far out-
number Jews in Metro
Detroit, it's still somewhat
easier to generalize about the
Chaldeans.
Chaldeans trace their roots to Iraq
and all are Eastern-Rite Catholics. Jews,
in contrast, hail from many parts of the
world and have several different reli-
gious denominations.
"When I write about Chaldeans,
I always write about the
three major institutions:
church, family and the
grocery store," said Mary
Sengstock, a professor of
sociology at Wayne State
University and author of
Chaldean-Americans: Changing
Conceptions of Ethinic Identity.
While modern-day Chaldeans have
branched out into many professions,
including the medical and legal fields,
the independent, family-run food or
liquor store is still the backbone of the
community's economy.
It's not as easy to thumbnail Jews,
noted Sidney Bolkosky, a professor of
history at the University of Michigan-
Dearborn and author of Harmony and
Dissonance, Voices of Jewish Identity in
Detroit 1914-1967.
"It's a very multifaceted community
— I prefer to refer to it as communities,"
Bolkosky said. "There is such a wide
range of identities."
Data Driven Detroit director Kurt
Metzger added, "It is said that you get
two Jews in a room and you have three
opinions."
The Jewish faith includes several
denominations, including Orthodox,
Conservative and Reform. Many
secular Jews don't consider
themselves religiously obser-
vant but still embrace their
Jewish culture — which tends
to be politically liberal and
champions social and civil
rights — although it's
Mary
becoming harder to cat-
Sengstock egorize Jewish political
leanings.
The Chaldean community typically
skews more conservative on both politi-
cal and social issues.
While the Chaldean population con-
tinues to grow in Metro Detroit, particu-
larly with the influx of refugees from
the Iraq War, the concentration of Jews
is decreasing, "primarily the result of
intermarriage," Metzger said.
Michigan's struggling economy also
is a factor as Jewish young people
look elsewhere for jobs. "The Jewish
community has experienced a great
out-migration of their youth who, after
attending college, are relocating else-
where. The community has undertaken
a new effort to try to turn that
around," Metzger said.
"While there has been some
out-migration of Chaldeans,
the community has remained
strong, and young people
appear to be going to college
but staying in the area. Family
is extremely important and
often multigenerational
in the same household."
The stereotypical
Jew is viewed as highly
educated and wealthy.
A further look shows
a great deal of variation
Sidney
within the community and
Bolkosky
a growing realization of
an older and overall less-
affluent community, Metzger said. "The
Jewish population in Metro Detroit is
considerably older than the Chaldean
community, primarily due to immigra-
tion patterns and lower birth rates," he
said.
Chaldeans are known primarily as
small-business owners — particularly
party and grocery stores — but "have
expanded to own a great deal of com-
mercial property and have seen second
and third generations become increas-
ingly professional — banking, medi-
cine, law, engineering, etc.,"
Metzger added.
Though each ethnic group
views itself as distinctive,
Sengstock notes that all
immigrants, regardless of
religion and country of
Kurt
origin, have had simi-
metzger
lar experiences.
"One important
thing I would want people to
know about Chaldeans is how
much they are like nearly every
other group that has come to the
Americas," she said.
"People like to think their own ethnic
experiences are unique and, in some
ways, they are. But to a great extent,
they are common to all — and that
applies across the board."
Role Of Religion
Family and faith are important to both Jews and Chaldeans.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Keri Guten Cohen
Staff Writers I Jewish News
t the center of Judaism is the
synagogue; at the heart is fam-
ily. And with both, there is food.
Just substitute "church" for "syna-
gogue" and you also have the mainstays
of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Here we take a look at both religions:
Judaism
• A main distinction of Judaism is the
belief in one God, with prayer directed
only to God. In Judaism, the Messiah
has not yet come, but Jews believe
when the Messiah does, the world will
become a place of peace and pros-
perity and the righteous dead will be
resurrected.
• Jewish prayer is recited in Hebrew; a
few are said in Aramaic.
• The Jewish Bible, known as the
Tanach, is made up of the Torah (the
Five Books of Moses) plus many addi-
tional books known as the Prophets
(Joshua, etc.) and the Writings
(Psalms, etc.). The New Testament is
not part of Judaism.
• The Jewish Sabbath is observed on
Friday night and Saturday daytime as
a time of rest and synagogue prayer.
Many Jews also pray three times daily.
• Some Jewish men wear a kippah
(skullcap) at all times. Some women,
for modesty, wear long sleeves and
skirts; some married women cover
their heads with a wig, scarf or hat.
• The current year, on the Jewish calen-
dar, is 5770.
• Jews descend from the ancient
Hebrew people of Israel and live
worldwide, mostly in the U.S. and
Israel. Most American Jewish families
emigrated from Eastern European cit-
ies, with many coming here following
the Holocaust, when six million Jews
were murdered during World War II.
• Jewish youth may attend Jewish day
schools or after-school Hebrew school
and/or Sunday classes. There also are
Jewish-based colleges and adult edu-
cation programs.
• Boys become a bar mitzvah at age
13 and girls become a bat mitzvah at
12 or 13, during which they read from
the Torah and become "adults" with
regard to Jewish ritual, law and eth-
ics.
• Some Jews eat only kosher food,
which excludes items like shellfish and
pork. Kosher food has been super-
vised by a rabbi during production.
Chaldean Catholicism
• Most Chaldeans are Eastern Rite
Catholic and under the Pope in Rome,
but they also follow some of their
own observances, including Baoutha
d'Ninwaye (Fast of Nineveh, also know
as Jonah's Fast). Chaldeans observe
Lent three days prior to the Latin
Rite. However, they do not observe
Ash Wednesday.
• The Chaldean Catholic Church has its
own patriach, Cardinal Mar Emmanuel
III Delly, who, in 2007, became the
first Chaldean Catholic to become
a cardinal in the Catholic Church.
Mar Ibrahim Ibrahim, bishop of the
St. Thomas Chaldean Diocese in
the Eastern U.S., is based in Metro
Detroit, where most Chaldeans in
America live.
• Chaldean Catholic families often are
large, and it's not uncommon for sev-
eral generations to live together. Also,
many Chaldeans in the community are
related because they are from several
villages in the northern part of Iraq.
• Chaldeans were converted to
Christianity by the Apostle Thomas
on one of his missionary journeys
to India. St. Addai, an associate of
Thomas, is revered as a Chaldean
patron.
• In more modern times, many
Chaldean Catholics left Iraq to escape
religious persecution from the Muslim
majority surrounding them and also
for economic opportunities. Once an
enclave from Iraq was established in
Detroit, more Chaldean Catholics fol-
lowed — and still do, primarily because
of the 1990 embargo and war.
• Sabbath is observed on Sundays.
Holidays also draw Chaldeans to the
church; services are held in Aramaic/
Syriac, Arabic and English. Children
are baptized and celebrate their First
Communion at church.
• Among Chaldean Catholics, there
remains a high rate of marriage within
the faith and the ethnic group. Often,
those who marry into a Chaldean fam-
ily become part of the community.
• Chaldeans speak Aramaic, the mod-
ern version of the language spoken by
Jesus. Li
'''ay
2010 11