Podcast: Growing up as Rio Jews

Chatting with me over coconuts, two childhood friends, João and Rafi, introspect on their upbringing deeply immersed in Rio De Janeiro's Jewish community.

João and Rafi describe their community's beautiful mixture of Brazilian and Jewish culture and what it feels like to grow up in such a tight-knit Jewish community within a big city where most don't know the first thing about Judaism. Together we discuss topics like the patterns of community involvement in each age group, their nostalgia and pride for their Jewish summer camp experiences, powerful educational programs they led as young Jewish leaders, vacationing with the Jewish community in the mountains, and some challenges their community faces that are harder for an American Jew to understand.

Rafi, born in Pennsylvania and moved to Rio at age 12, also shares how the community helped him through a traumatic time in his life.

João is also a part of Rio's Lebanese Jewish community. He talks about his thesis project, interviewing his grandmother and 20 other Rio Jews who grew up in Beruit, creating cartography of Beruit's Jewish community.

Link to Episode on Spotify: Growing up as Rio Jews