Asian, Latino and Jewish communities celebrate autumnal festivals

Diplomats from nine different countries joined leaders from Los Angeles’ Jewish, Asian and Latino communities on Sept. 28 to celebrate Asian and Jewish autumnal harvest festivals and commemorate the bicentennial of Mexico’s independence. Organized by the Pacific Southwest regional office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as part of its existing Asian Jewish Initiative and Latino Jewish Roundtable, the event was intended to help build bridges connecting three of the city’s communities that might not otherwise interact.

“I don’t think most people have any awareness of Sukkot,” said ADL Pacific Southwest Regional Director Amanda Susskind. “There have been a lot of interfaith seders, but I don’t think anyone has used Sukkot in this way. And yet it’s such a logical holiday to use as a bridge-building exercise.”

In the backyard of ADL board members Nicole and Allan Mutchnik, standing under a sukkah strewn with branches and armed with a lulav and etrog, Rabbi Larry Scheindlin, headmaster of Sinai Akiba Academy, gave a brief explanation of the holiday of Sukkot. Japan’s Consul General Junichi Ihara then told the approximately 50 people in attendance about Higan, the seven-day Buddhist holiday around the autumnal equinox when Japanese people traditionally visit the graves of their ancestors. Emily Wang, senior vice president and marketing director of East West Bank, followed with a few words about the Chinese Autumn Moon Festival, which fell on Sept. 22.

Over dinner, a few of the Korean Americans, who recently celebrated the autumnal festival of Chuseok, at one of the tables offered tips about where to find the best samgyetang, a ginseng soup made with a whole spring chicken. Some talked local and national politics, but overall, the mood was light and festive.

For the ADL, that’s exactly the point. Gathering members of different communities at times of celebration and joy, Susskind said, helps to foster understanding and establish relationships that can be helpful to everyone later on. “If there should be a crisis in one or another community, we’re a phone call away from each other,” Susskind said.