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Regional | Kura

Native Affairs Summer Series - Meet the Jewish-Māori 'He-bros'

Kadimah School in Auckland is the only Jewish kura in the country. It’s embraced te reo Māori for more than 40 years and has a new generation of Jewish-Māori ‘He-bros’ eager to learn te reo and their treasured Jewish culture.

Last year Native Affairs visited Kadimah School to meet some of the young 'He-bros' attending the school.

Since the day he was born, 8-year-old Dasan Paullay-Beazley has been immersed in te reo Māori.

He happily recites his pepeha. “Ko Dasan taku ingoa. No Ngāpuhi taku Pāpā. No Amerika taku Māmā. He Hūrai ahau,” he says.

But for the last two years, Dasans's focus has been on his Jewish heritage.

Dasan’s father, Kristian Beazley, is Ngāpuhi and Jewish, and has an affectionate nickname for his Jewish-Māori son.

“Now, this guy is the He-bro,” he says. “We've coined a new phrase. We've got a whole new whakapapa in the North and it’s the He-bro. So, [Dasan’s mother] Genice is the Jew from New York City and he's the He-bro,” he says.

With about 160 students enrolled from pre-school to Year 8, Dasan is one of six Jewish-Māori kids attending Kadimah School.  The only Jewish kura in Aotearoa. The school is a hidden gem in central Auckland where students and their whānau are encouraged to treasure Jewish values.

Dasan’s mother, Genice Paullay-Beazley, says it’s also important to value te reo Māori.

“We have always had to embrace our local culture, as well as try and retain our own,” she says. “So, I find that it's completely consistent that Kadimah not only helps retain our own culture as Jews but also embraces the reo, the culture of the Māori people that are the people of Aotearoa. So, that's really important for me as a Jew and as a mother.”

Kadimah School has taught te reo and tikanga Māori for more than 40 years.

Sue Meltzer, Acting Principal, says “About 7 years ago we integrated as a State Integrated School so the obligation was we had to immerse and have te reo within our school. But previously when we were a private school we actually did teach te reo as well, so it isn't a new thing within the school, we've always been doing it.”

Hebrew teacher, Hadas Orr, believes te reo Māori is an advantage for learning the native Jewish tongue.

“Any second language that you learn opens a window in your little head for the rest of the other languages to come in through and so definitely te reo Māori falls into that category,” she says.

Ariel and Noam Lazarus are twins who have been at Kadimah School for the past three years.  As seniors with Māori heritage, they help teach their peers how to speak te reo.

“Māori's kind of similar because it has the same letters as English but it has the vowels on top of some of the words,” says Noam.

Ariel says, “Yeah, but Hebrew is like a total, total, different language of different symbols to recognise the letters.”

Language differences aside, Ariel thinks Kadimah School is a supportive place to learn the reo.

“The Maori culture around here is really good for a Jewish school because the teachers do recognise that we're in New Zealand and we need to learn Māori for the religion. So, we do keep that and we do it every week or maybe twice a week,” he says.

The twins say te reo Māori is a little easier than learning the Torah for their impending Bar Mitzvah - the Jewish rite of passage into young adulthood.