For Mitsui Collective, which works to build resilient communities through embodied Jewish practice, education and relationship-building has always been central to its work. Now, the organization is developing and piloting a new curriculum that explores the intersections of racism and antisemitism, with support from the Jews of Color Initiative’s Addressing Antisemitism Through a JoC Lens cohort.
The curriculum builds on the Mitsui Collective’s research released last year that “looked at the embodied impacts of racism and antisemitism as these dual vectors of oppression.” Yoshi Silverstein, founder and Executive Director of Mitsui Collective, explained, there are many layers to our identity and they aren’t just floating out there disembodied. We carry them with us. They are part of who we are in our physical bodies. For Jews of Color, we are at the receiving end of both racism and antisemitism at this particular intersection point that is unique.”
By approaching the topic through embodiment, the Mitsui team invites participants to connect intellectual understanding with the lived, felt experience of identity. The project aims to use the research findings to design a curriculum that helps people navigate these confluences “through this lens of embodiment.”
“Curriculum and pedagogy has been a core part of our work, so it was a really natural fit to take this research and really build it into a curriculum that we can then share with others,” Silverstein added. The project incorporates findings and exercises from the earlier study, including a body map activity that invites participants to identify and reflect on the physical sensations associated with racism, antisemitism, and their intersections. Drawing on nearly six years of experimenting with body-based and relational tools in workshops, programs, and research, the team is translating these practices into an adaptable educational framework.
Designed for adults, the curriculum is intended for Jews of Color, white and non-JoC Jews, and non-Jewish People of Color—but, as Silverstein noted, “we also know that racism and antisemitism impact everyone, just as all other forms of oppression do, regardless of different identities. Though of course it impacts us in varied ways.” He elaborated, saying that witnessing instances of racism and the flattening of white identity all have “deep psychological, psychic, and embodied impact for white folks happening concurrently to the psychological, psychic, and embodied experiences of racism for people of color.”
“It’s really important for us to keep that JoC-centered lens and put JoC front and center as we think about who will use and benefit from this research,” Silverstein emphasized. While the curriculum centers Jews of Color, the team is intentional about ensuring that it can be used widely, acknowledging that every participant arrives with different experiences of privilege, marginalization, and awareness. The structure of the curriculum allows for customization depending on prior familiarity with embodiment work, community context, and the identity of group members.
Silverstein said racism and antisemitism are “almost like acupuncture points. They hold particular charge.” Like acupuncture, “if you address unique points they can have a broader systemic impact.” Silverstein believes that antisemitism is part of a larger network of interconnected oppressions and that, as acupuncture points can have wide-reaching effects on the body as a whole, addressing antisemitism “could have some real ripple effects across the whole body of American society.”
For Mitsui Collective, this work is part of a broader vision of communal healing that is rooted in the human capacity to attune to our bodies and inner worlds. “We already have so much of what we actually need to better navigate and heal from and transform how we relate to these oppressive ideologies and ultimately to ourselves and each other,” Silverstein said.
That philosophy underscores why embodiment is essential to addressing antisemitism. “Even when we conceptualize antisemitism and lean towards intellectualization, the impacts and reactions are still felt viscerally in our bodies,” he explained. Silverstein emphasizes that embodiment adds something essential to the conversation about antisemitism—an opportunity to understand how oppression is experienced internally. For him, documenting instances of antisemitism is a key component of addressing it but “doesn’t always help us to actually navigate it.”
Embodiment, he explains, supports people in recognizing and working with the physical and emotional responses that arise in moments of bias, danger, or marginalization. “We need to give people tools and resources and support to be able to work with their bodies and spirits and hearts and minds…otherwise we will be more shut down and overwhelmed.”
Silverstein is clear that embodiment is not meant to replace existing methods. Instead, it fills a gap by equipping participants with skills for resilience, grounding, and presence. “Embodiment work is just part of it, and policy-level and institutional-level efforts are just as necessary and should be part of a multi-pronged approach.”
Participation in the Addressing Antisemitism Through a JoC Lens cohort has amplified this sense of holistic, ecosystem-wide collaboration. “We’ve long had a partnership with JoCI and really value the organization’s work in the ecosystem, as well as the ways you’ve supported Mitsui Collective,” Silverstein shared. A recipient of previous JoCI grants, Silverstein has a clear view of the relevance of bringing this set of grantees together as a cohort.
“I appreciated seeing some of the different approaches that folks are taking. I think racism and antisemitism are not anything that just one organization or just one project can solve by itself, and I think having a cohort of other organizations and leaders who are all tackling this from separate angles at the same time is really powerful…This is actually the kind of ecosystem we need to be building and supporting—lifting up all the boats at once.”
The diversity of perspectives, methodologies, and communities within the grantee cohort exemplifies a broader strategy: the cohort’s collaborative impact, and the shared vision that binds this unique set of projects, points toward something larger—an evolving Jewish communal ecosystem that learns, heals, and grows together.
