Loolwa Khazzoom

Apply for a Blog

Apr 9, 2024, 1:59 PM

In Times of Darkness, Light Shines Brightest

I was born a musician, singing before I started speaking, and as a child, I had an uncanny knack of immediately and perfectly remembering rhythm and dance sequences. So during a tap dance recital, when I was six years...

Feb 6, 2024, 1:56 PM

The end of conversation

I don’t need someone to be like me to want to connect with them. In fact, I love difference, even on the Arab-Israeli conflict

Jan 17, 2024, 12:39 AM

My Reflections on the Bernie Sanders Bill

Children of my Israeli friends and family are on the frontlines of the war against Hamas, and I do not know one individual who wants to be fighting it. But given the current circumstances, it is a war of...

Jan 10, 2024, 9:15 AM

Dance as a radical act of solidarity

In the wake of the Oct 7 massacre of Israelis… And the celebrations that followed worldwide – glorifying the raping, burning, and decapitating of my people… And the subsequent mass destruction of posters raising awareness of Israeli hostages being tortured...

Jan 9, 2024, 12:49 AM

Yemen Blues Ignites Audience with Primal Howl

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been composing music, or “making stuff up,” as I called it when I was a little girl. During elementary school in San Francisco, I began studying classical piano, and my mother...

Oct 12, 2023, 6:30 AM

Instead of Comparing the Slaughter to Europe, Look Closer to Home

In 1941, my family survived the farhud - the pro-Nazi uprising and massacre of the Jews of Baghdad, where hundreds were murdered, thousands were injured, and Jewish homes, businesses, and property were destroyed. In the following weeks, dismembered bodies...

Oct 9, 2023, 7:53 AM

Watch Them Blame This on Israel

On 9/11, I was 20 blocks away from Ground Zero, sleeping in the living room of a friend, when she woke me up, screaming hysterically - something about terrorists and an airplane crashing into one of the Twin Towers....

Dec 2, 2021, 12:30 PM

At home in the Jewish body

I eventually realized that not only am I beautiful but that my 'JewNose' is a distinct part of my beauty – and I'm keeping the 'JewFro' and brown eyes too

Apr 30, 2020, 12:50 PM

Virtual Egalitarian Iraqi Shabbat Service – An Upside of Social Isolation

This Friday, I'm leading an egalitarian Iraqi Shabbat service, then teaching Iraqi Shabbat songs, in a virtual program on Zoom - sponsored by Tifereth Israel Congregation in Washington DC. I actually had plans in the works to offer a...

Jan 5, 2020, 4:00 PM

How we identify ourselves

Carmel Market, Tel Aviv, June 2019 (iStock)

It is the thread connecting me to all who came before me – from the nomadic tribe of Israel to my 80+-year-old relatives living in Tel Aviv

Load more

About Me

Loolwa Khazzoom (KHAZZOOM.com) is the frontwoman for the band Iraqis in Pajamas (IraqisInPajamas.com) and editor of The Flying Camel: Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage (TheFlyingCamelBook.com). She has been a pioneering Jewish multicultural educator since 1990, and her writing has been featured in The Washington Post, Marie Claire, Rolling Stone, and other top media worldwide.