Liliʻuokalani

Liliʻuokalani, born Lydia Kamakaʻeha, ascended to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1891, inheriting a kingdom already under significant pressure from American business interests and missionaries. Her reign was a tragically short and turbulent one, marked by her steadfast efforts to restore power to the monarchy and Hawaiians.

Her attempts to promulgate a new constitution were met with fierce opposition from American and European residents, leading to the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893. Despite appeals to the United States and her own people, the Republic of Hawaii was established, eventually leading to annexation by the U.S.

While she spent the latter part of her life in dignified protest and continued to compose music, her legacy is primarily one of a queen who lost her kingdom. One might say she had a very bad run of it, politically speaking. As for Jewishness, her connection to the tribe is about as strong as a pineapple's connection to the Arctic Circle.

So, while her story is one of tragic defiance against colonial powers, it contains precisely zero mentions of matzo balls or a particularly convincing argument for a hidden menorah. Her people faced their own diaspora, distinct from the one typically discussed on these pages.