Personal Perspectives We Are Visible Jews

Yulia Medovoy Edelshtain

Iam proud to live in Pico-Robertson, a Jewish community in Los Angeles that we call “Little Israel,” and “the ‘chood.” My husband and sons proudly wear their kippot and tallitot without worry. We’ve always felt comfortable letting our kids ride their scooters to friends’ houses. We shop at kosher stores, walk around freely, and celebrate holidays in the streets.

But, last week, everything changed. Our little Jewish paradise was shattered. Kids were sent home early from school. My daughter told me she was scared. Why? A man had shot two visibly Jewish men within 24 hours. Thank God, both men were not gravely injured, and the suspect was caught and charged.

I feel so grateful that my parents had the foresight to take my brother and me out of the Soviet Union in 1980 when we were young kids. We had to wait a year for permission, and right before we left, someone put a small bomb under my father’s car. When my mom saw something burning from a window, she told my father to go check it out. He rolled it out, decided it was nothing, and walked away right before it blew up. If he had been there just a few seconds earlier, he’d be dead.

In the aftermath of the shooting, at a time when our entire community is on guard, I’ll tell you this: we will not forsake our Jewish identities and assimilate out of fear.

In America, there is a history of racism and targeting people of color. Judaism is understood as a religion, yet we come from all over the world and represent many colors. Because some of us look white, we cannot be put into a box. Regardless, we are just as easily targeted these days.

It is so dangerous for Whoopi and Kanye to share their thoughts about the Holocaust and Hitler with their millions of followers. They have many more followers than there are Jews in the world. People who listen to Whoopi, Kanye, Bella Hadid, and Ilhan Omar, among many other anti-Israel and antisemites, get radicalized and hurt innocent Jews.

As much as people try to spread lies about us, one thing is certain: Jewish people are here to stay. And we are not going to stand by as people try to destroy us.

As a doula, I help bring Jewish babies into this world. These babies are going to grow up in a world where antisemitism is on the rise and they may face hate for simply being who they are.

It is up to us and our children, the next generation, to stay strong in our Jewish values and not let the hate keep us down.

When we arrived in Denver, Colorado, the rabbi told us he’d send my brother and me to a Jewish school. I became more observant the older I got, and when I met my husband at 34 and got married, we decided to live as Orthodox Jews.

Since 2014, when the Gaza war brought so much hate towards Israel and Jews, I started using my social media to educate a broad reach of people from all walks of life. I love inviting guests for Shabbat and holidays to give them a Jewish experience. I am an open book, happy to talk about Jews and Israel to anybody who wants to learn. My family and I escaped Russia so that we wouldn’t have to hide who we were. We came to America to practice Judaism freely, to be ourselves, and to seek out a better life. I never could have imagined that a few decades later, someone would try to murder Jews in Pico-Robertson, our little slice of Jewish paradise.

I know you’re probably scared right now. But Hashem is on our side. He saved those two men who were shot and He has saved us over and over again throughout the centuries.

Don’t stop being visibly Jewish. Don’t stop being proud of who you are. Double down on it. Be louder about it. Show the world that you aren’t going anywhere.

This is how our “Little Israel” can bring Moshiach – one good deed, one mitzvah at a time.

Yulia Medovoy Edelshtain is married with three beautiful children and has lived in the Pico-Robertson community for 15 years. She has been a Yoga teacher for 25 years, and a doula for 10, and loves to be a resource and inspiration for health, wellness, balance, and self-care.www.coachyulia.com @coachyulia