New Media Spotlight: YOUR JEWISH YOUR WAY WITH KAREN CINNAMON

As a Jewish convert, I often wonder if I’m “Jewish enough” in my day-to-day life. I will occasionally go to Kabbalat Shabbat services on Fridays after work. I have a mezuzah in my apartment. Most Shabbats, I will put on my kippah, light the candles, and say the traditional blessing…but I’ll continue to use electricity. (And sometimes, if the candles are still flickering by the time I go to bed, I blow them out, for fear of my apartment going on fire…) And even though my family isn’t Jewish, I always partake in the holidays, heading straight to my synagogue on Rosh Hashanah morning and geekily lighting my menorah every Hanukkah night. So I guess I’m doing everything right, or am I? Am I not doing a “good job” as a Jew? For podcaster and social media icon Karen Cinnamon, there’s no good or bad way to practice your Judaism. However you engage with it, from going to shul every week or not studying the Torah as much as you feel you should, you ARE Jewish, and that’s the most important thing to remember. In other words, there’s no need to sweat the small stuff.

Beautiful and British with the most optimistic point of view, we need more Karen Cinnamons in our lives! This lifestyle brand expert, busy with her own business and podcast, has grown into an international “queen of positivity.” In an interview with The Jewish Chronicle last year, she lays everything out.

“What I’ve realized is that I’m one of those people who just wants everybody to be happy,” she explains. “So often identity is something we have to hide or something we should be, and I’m stripping all that away. What I’m saying is: ‘There’s no right way to be Jewish. Do what brings you joy.’”

In her podcast, Your Jewish Life Your Way with Karen Cinnamon, her ultimate goal is for there to be no judgments whatsoever in her conversations and insights into ways to better our Jewish lives. Your Jewish Life explores what it feels like to be Jewish – or “Jew(ish),” as she emphasizes – in 2022. Karen stresses one thing: this isn’t a podcast about Jewish guilt. It is about Jewish joy.

“Being Jewish in today’s world is all about belonging and inclusivity.” she believes.

In a world of never-ending, increasingly dangerous political and religious dissent, Karen encourages discussions about our differences. For her, as well as for many Jewish individuals, it’s OK to disagree with certain customs or feel positive or uncomfortable with topics like Israel, fasting on Yom Kippur, shaking a lulav on Sukkot, etc. All we need to do is talk. One time, I confessed to my Reform Jewish rabbi that I wasn’t a fan of music at Kabbalat Shabbat services and that I much prefer attending “acapella” services where the only sounds are congregants’ singing. No instruments. A little worried about his reaction, he simply chuckled and said that was completely OK. I don’t need to love it just because he does. We can all love or prefer customs in Judaism more than others. We can celebrate the religion on our own terms.

Before I get ahead of myself – which I already have – let’s start from the beginning, shall we? Who exactly is Karen Cinnamon? Well, in addition to being a podcaster, she is a mother, wife, and a leading expert in Jewish weddings. In 2013, she founded Smashing the Glass, considered to be the world’s biggest Jewish wedding media platform. With offices in New York City and London, what started out as a wedding blog has now reached international acclaim, getting featured in publications like The New York Times, Elle Décor, and more. Karen also created Brides Club, a membership-based website for Jewish and Jew(ish) brides-to-be who receive discounts, resources, and all the advice they need to have the best wedding. We also can’t forget about Karen’s colorful, addictive Instagram account, @YourJewishLife, which has nearly 43,000 followers.

It is understandable that Karen’s mission is to not overthink how “Jewish” or “Jew(ish)” we’re supposed to be. As a child in London, her Sephardic mother barely ever went to synagogue, while her British Ashkenazi father was much more observant. This clash made it difficult for Karen to understand how “Jewish” she is or should already be. Is it bad or “not Jewish enough” to be Jewish but not go to synagogue? Is it bad to be Jewish but only celebrate the holidays?

Karen’s appreciation of Judaism grew when she waitressed at an Israeli-run café in Golders Green (a very Orthodox neighborhood of London) during college and made friends with many of the Israeli Jews working there. Following this, she spent a couple of years in Israel as a graphic designer, which further bolstered her love of her religion. In the end, she married and started a family with a Jewish lawyer. Her journey to embracing her Judaism more is so inspiring, proof that just a few adventures can really refine one’s outlook on life.

Karen’s podcast does its job: it makes me proud to be Jewish. Currently at 30 episodes and growing, Your Jewish Life Your Way contains interviews with Jewish and Jew(ish) celebrities, entrepreneurs, content creators, and more. Episode topics include Jewish mental health and intergenerational trauma, the magic of Jewish food, overcoming Jewish imposter syndrome, and interfaith marriage, the latter being a prominent part of Karen’s job as a wedding planner.

In a recent episode, “How to Raise Proud Jewish Children with Carrie Nachmani,” Karen speaks with the “Grandfluencer” chef herself about what made her love her Judaism more. As a child, Carrie was aware of her family’s Ashkenazic roots, but she didn’t have the most typical Jewish adolescence (no weekly Shabbat dinners, for example). Growing up, she never felt her Jewishness as much as she wished she did. Years later, a trip to Israel, along with her Israeli husband, changed everything.

“It consumed me,” she says of the trip. “The feeling of calm, warmth, love, belonging, religion, history… Every step of this journey was beshert [destiny].”

That trip was the elixir all along. Israel became a part of her identity as a Jewish mother. As she continued to bring her girls to the country every year, they too became enamored with their Jewishness. There was a freedom in Israel, not just for Jews, as Carrie explains, but Arabs and Christians, that made her family happy. And what should a parent do if their child is a rebel and may not like Judaism as much as them? It’s simple.

“Buckle up,” Carrie jokes. “As a mother, they just need to know that you’re there.”

With her positive, motivational words and insightful guests, Karen’s philosophy is there is no such thing as being “Jewish enough.” If you are Jewish – a Reform Jew, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, converted, secular, etc. – you ARE Jewish, and your Jewish culture is your own.

On an adorable endnote, what’s something that Karen and her family do that isn’t a traditional Hanukkah custom? They place a large plant in their living room and turn it into a “Hanukkah bush,” complete with home-made dreidels and “Hanukkah gnomes.”

OK, so this may not be inscribed in the Torah, but if it brings you joy, if it makes you happy to be Jewish, that’s all that matters!

Learn more about Karen at Your Jewish Life – The Only Podcast for Modern Jewish Women

Your Jewish Life Your Way with Karen Cinnamon is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

By Matthew Bussy, Program Director of PJFM