The Latest From The Foundation
Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Judaism teaches us that within loss there is joy, and within joy there is loss. So, my friends, be kind to yourselves as we accept and mourn all of these losses, and take our first tentative steps towards joy, individually and communally.
Our tradition requires us to honor loss, to share loss, to memorialize loss, to let suffering speak and to build rituals around loss. And, at the right moment, to find hope despite loss, and even to find hope in loss.
We need to get more honest about what we are going through to normalize sitting with brokenness.
Staying committed as allies to reflection and “an active, consistent, and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating,” will hopefully lead us to taking more smart risks and experimentation over the coming year, and the years ahead.
I belong to many Jewish communities, so it is hard to generalize about the positive changes I have seen in racial representation over this past year. Nevertheless, I see progress that has been made.
If you are tired of talking about racial justice in the Jewish community, good. So am I. However, we are fatigued for different reasons.
Even within our own communities, we can flatten and simplify other people’s experiences and narratives without considering the complexity and diversity among us.
Organizations who value representation over tokenism encourage feedback, see change as vital to growth and empower everyone to feel as if they have a central role in advancing institutional goals.
To walk in someone’s shoes is to feel empathy. I want to take this maxim and go farther – all the way to Ethiopia in the winter of 2023.
