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social action

Breaking Bread

It's a great way to break cultural stereotypes as well.

Jeannie Weiner Contributing Writer

When 40 Chaldean and

Jewish women met for the

first time at Shenandoah

Country Club in West

Bloomfield for dinner and an

opportunity to learn about

each other's cultures, some

attendees were surprised at

what they learned.

Linda Finkel, a Jewish participant
from Bloomfield Hills, commented,
"One of the interesting offshoots was
a discussion among the Chaldean
women about whether their culture
included religion. We could have the
very same debate among the Jews,
and that is only one similarity."
The three Chaldeans and two
Jewish women who planned the
event were charged with developing
a social action plan for Chaldean and
Jewish women in Southeast Michigan.
LeeAnn Kirma, Sathab Ousachi,
Ann Antone, Gail Katz and I form a
subcommittee of the Social Action
workgroup of the Chaldean-Jewish
Building Community Initiative.
To reach our goals, we mapped
out two getting to know you events,
followed by a plan for a social action
project to be determined later. The
women invited to the first event were
selected based on volunteer involve-
ment in their own communities.
Unaware of any relationships these

Linda Lee, Sharona Shapiro and Suhair Kallabat, all of West Bloomfield

women had outside of their own
community, our goals included devel-
oping a link between the two groups
through social action and friendship.
We hoped to expand the number of
relationships, both social and com-
munal, between Jews and Chaldeans
in Southeast Michigan.

A Hot Ticket

A few days prior to the first event,
a Chaldean invitee called to tell us
she had invited her two close Jewish
friends. Although it was unexpected,
we were pleased and amused. As
word spread, Jewish women and
Chaldean women called to ask if they
could attend. We accepted as many as
the room allowed, delighted that the
event had become a hot ticket.
The crowded room at Shenandoah
provided an educational opportunity

conducted by Sathab Ousachi and
Ann Antone who led a fascinating
discussion about the challenges
and culture of Chaldeans living in
Michigan.
We learned about the plight of
Iraqi Christians in Iraq who are being
persecuted, raped, forced to convert
to Islam and, in some cases, mur-
dered. If they are able to immigrate to
Michigan, they face language barriers
and difficulty finding jobs and afford-
able housing.
Sathab Ousachi described her fam-
ily's departure from Iraq in the 1970s
when she was a young child. Her
mother maneuvered Sathab and her
brothers to Greece. Months later, her
father secreted out of Iraq to Jordan
and then joined the family in Greece.
Sathab grew up in Oak Park with
many Jewish neighbors and friends.

Ann Antone came to Detroit with
her family in the 1940s.
"Detroit was a place of many
groups and religions. I learned
English quickly and spoke without
an accent, so I had no problems in
school," she said.
But others told of hiding their
Iraqi backgrounds after schoolmates
called them names and associated
them with terrorists because of their
Middle East origins.

Settling In

The similarities between Jews and
Chaldeans became apparent when
the women spoke of assimilation and
acculturation, issues of marrying
"outside" of the community and deal-
ing with the terror of the "knock on
the door in the middle of the night"
causing quick flight from ancient

One of the interesting offshoots was a discussion among the Chaldean women about

whether their culture included religion. We could have the very same debate among

the Jews; and that is only one similarity.

— Jewish participant Linda Finkel

August 2011

CHALDEAN NEWS I JEWISH NEWS 13