Kuwaiti Muslim Uncovers Jewish Identity
Mordechai Halawa, 34, was raised in Kuwait as a Muslim.
Several years ago, a small twist of fate led him to discover his Jewish roots.
Halawa, who told his story to Channel 2’s M magazine, was
studying in Ontario, Canada, eight years ago. One day his cell phone was not
working, and he went outside to a pay phone to make a call.
At the pay phone, he saw a man in hareidi Jewish garb. He
found himself unable to ignore the unusual sight, and began talking to the man,
a professor of philosophy by the name of Dr. Yitzchak Block. “I find it hard to
believe that what they say [in Kuwait]
about the Jews is really true,” he found himself telling Block. “My grandmother
was Jewish too, and converted to Islam to marry my grandfather.”
Block carefully informed Halawa that according to Jewish
law, his grandmother was still Jewish despite her conversion – and that Jewish
status goes by the matrilineal line, making Halawa’s mother and himself Jews as
well.
Halawa decided to research the family connection to
Judaism. Before he could finish, he slipped and fell while on roller blades,
leading to a new connection to the Jewish community.
“I couldn’t function normally. I had some extra time, so
I decided it was a good opportunity to visit a synagogue,” he explained. The
Jews at the synagogue greeted him with warmth, he said, “I couldn’t help
thinking to myself, ‘are these the cruel Jews they always told us about in
school in Kuwait? Is this who they meant?’”
Halawa spoke to his grandmother, who confirmed that she
is from a Jewish family. He continued to grow closer to the Jewish community.
Twenty months ago, he came on a tour to Israel – and decided he did not want to
go home.
“When I came here, no soldier waved a gun in my face, and
the truth is, that really surprised me,” he recalled. “When I visited the
Western Wall for the first time I cried. I saw secular Jews, Chassidic, Jews of
every kind. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Halawa is currently living in the Old City of Jerusalem,
where he spends much of his time learning Torah at the Aish HaTorah yeshiva. He
hopes to marry soon.
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