Colleagues have shared with me that with the passage of more than two years and the opportunity for reflection, many wish for a post-Oct. 7 “do-over” regarding some leadership decisions. Even in organizations led by the most intentional and compassionate leaders, the workplace is never a completely “safe space” because it is always infused with power dynamics. It is an enormous risk to ask colleagues what they really think and feel about issues most close to our souls, just as it is an enormous risk sometimes to answer those questions honestly.
Thought Leadership
Over the past year, JoCI has expanded our reach, sharpened our strategy, and continued to grow a thriving, multiracial Jewish community. From expanding our regional Pro Networks, to elevating JoC-led approaches to fighting antisemitism, to cultivating spaces of belonging and joy, this work is a reflection of all of you—your commitment, your creativity, and your care for our collective future.
Watch the recorded webinar between JoCI and JCPA on how strategic partnerships and diverse Jewish leadership can strengthen Jewish safety, solidarity, and civic engagement.
If we are serious about building a Jewish future grounded in belonging, we must stop treating reports like endpoints and start seeing them as starting points...What ultimately matters is not how we define and measure Jewish multiculturalism, but how we live it.
The term Jews of Color, like Bnai Israel, Beta Israel, Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi Jews, is a communal technology which enables Jewish communal cohesion, camaraderie and awareness of our distinctive cultural adaptations in a diasporic context. While impermanent and imperfect, the term helps Jews who also identify as People of Color to find ourselves and each other.
You’ve heard of the rabbi shortage, but have you heard of the untapped rabbinical talent pipeline? From my vantage point leading Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy, there are clear solutions in recruiting, cultivating and elevating untapped talent.
Building off of the Jews of Color Initiative’s landmark study “Beyond the Count” from 2021, “Threads of Identity” provides actionable steps for the Jewish community to take in order to create spaces where LGBTQ+ Jews of Color are not only acknowledged but fully embraced and supported.
Over the past 16 months, I have traveled throughout the country in my role leading the Jews of Color Initiative. I’ve visited rural communities in Nevada, Upstate New York, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, as well as metro regions like Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC and New York City. In hundreds and hundreds of deeply human interactions in transit, in hotels, in front of diverse audiences across dozens of regions and thousands of miles, I’ve listened to stories of being misunderstood and marginalized–because of who we are, and so often who we are perceived to be. I’ve also been moved by the antidotal power of what happens when identity, community, spiritual connection, and wholeness are actively cultivated–especially in young people.
"What stories could be told in school and media that demonstrated the joys and complexities of being Jewish, especially for this second-generation American Jew? What about the intersectionality of being Black, Jewish, and queer? Where is my representation in the media and in books?"
In this post October 7th world we are all managing sets of -isms that are making us feel less safe moving through the world as openly Jewish people. As a result, a narrative has emerged over the past several months that has called for a separation from ‘communities of color’ who are perceived as not being in ideological lockstep with the ‘Jewish community.’ This perspective assumes both that each community is monolithic in their views and that full agreement is a condition to working towards our shared liberation project.