So for context I am a Jewish artist in a small-ish industry. The bulk of sales in the industry happens around Christmas time and consists of ornaments, etc.
Because I am Jewish I don’t make anything else except judaica. I don’t personally find it appropriate.
A couple of non Jewish designers have reached out to me over the past couple of weeks asking me for feedback on some Jewish designs they want to release. The first one, I was nice and offered feedback but i definitely did it with hesitation.
Then today I get another message from a different (albeit incredibly successful) non Jewish artist who wants to release a line of challah covers etc/ Tallis bags this spring and was asking me questions bc she admittedly was in new territory.
My thoughts (raw and unfiltered) – she has an entire market to appeal to. She does very well. Why does she need to partake in making judaica? It feels like a money grab – both artists failed to recognize their privilege. Being Jewish and in the public eye welcomes antisemitism and harassment. They create and sell without this fear and without any awareness. – I find it insensitive considering everything we have gone through since 10/7. – things like happy Hanukkah don’t bother me. But challah covers, Tallis bags, things with Hebrew writing bothers me. This is my ethnicity. It’s not a “product”. I design from my heart. From my life experiences. – I recognize that selfishly I do not want her eating into what is already a very small market share. This is selfish of me and I do not want it to be a part of why I am upset. But it’s hard to ignore. I am all for JEWISH artists dominating this space. Not non Jewish artists looking for their next success.
Anyways am I overreacting??? How do I even handle this?
I don’t want to burn a bridge but I need to know if this is a ME problem or if I am being rational…
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Source: Reditt
