Each year I look forward to coming together for a Shabbaton like nothing else, the Jews of Color Mishpacha Project’s annual cornerstone event brings together Jewish people of color and their ally beloveds for in-person spirituality, learning, laughing, and connection. This is a reset that nourishes me from year to year.
In addition to praying and communing together, the kosher Jewish retreat center hosting us is a working organic teaching farm that feeds guests and boasts an outdoor pool, lake, and hiking trails. It is a great place to recenter in nature and community.
There is still time to register and become part of the family.
Jews of Color Sanctuary partnership with Mayyim Hayyim entered its third year with the opening of Let Justice Well Up, a text study for Jewish women and nonbinary folks of color. This year we will explore our connection with the moon that moves tides, orders our Jewish calendar, and invites celebration of Shekhina, the female-centered aspect of the divine. Let the monthly blessing of Rosh Chodesh, birth of the new moon, wash over you through Jewish and secular texts welcoming us into ancient ritual and tradition to nourish our lives, creative practice, and personal ritual.
Register to join this affinity space for Jewish women and nonbinary folks of color on fourth Sundays through July between 9-10:30amPT / 12-1:30pmET / 6-7:30pmWAT / 7-8:30pmIT. Cost is self-determined sliding scale $36-$118. If cost is a barrier, please contact Soreh Ruffman at sorehr@mayyimhayyim.org.
Friday evening is erev Sigd; 29 Cheshvan 5785 in the Jewish calendar begining on November 29 in the 2024 Gregorian calendar. This holiday, preserved in the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) tradition, became a national Israeli holiday in 2008. Despite celebrating many Israeli holidays in the United States of America, Sigd was not among them. I learned of Sigd as my insistence on bringing my full self into my Judaism grew beyond the confines of Ashkenormative settings with too many moments conveying that I am not enough. Sigd was one small way to hold my Jewishness with threads towards other cultural identities, including an African-ness historically severed from everyday familial consciousness, like many affected by the transatlantic slave trade.
So, when Jews of Color Sanctuary launched in 2019, it happened during a small community event celebrating Sigd. The following year I was living in Israel and excited to celebrate Sigd again. The large gathering typically planned for the Tayelet promenade overlooking Jerusalem was affected by the coronavirus pandemic. It was challenging to find revised events as a visitor who is not a member of the Beta Israel community. I thought all of Israel would be celebrating, but found no outward signs. If you didn’t know it was Sigd, you wouldn’t know it was a holiday. Asking folks at my yeshiva revealed a belief that the holiday was cancelled. I was shocked because we had just gone through the high holy days which were changed, but not cancelled. I had even heard many stories of events like weddings, b-mitzvot, brit milot still happening. Why was it easy to believe that Sigd would just be skipped?
I thought of how some are happy to have a Martin Luther King Day off of work but don’t hold any part of the day in observance. Sigd appeared to be a national holiday in name with more to the story. Researching for the Jews of Color Sanctuary launch revealed a desire of Beta Israelim for all Jews to celebrate Sigd. I sensed a pride in having preserved this history for Judaism. That invitation made me feel brave in my previous observance. Now, far away from home, when I thought I would attend events out of many scheduled throughout Israel, I couldn’t find one. I was heartbroken and angry.
I took the day off of school and dedicated myself to figuring out something! Before traveling to Israel, I had found a North American Beta Israel organization. Through those attempts to connect with Jewish people of color in Israel before I arrived, I met a person who invited me into celebration and later became a friend. As with many things in life, despite the tragedy in the moment, I am grateful for gifts acquired through the journey.
I think of Sigd as a holiday of return. During Rosh Hashanah this year, I thought a lot about where I am returning to? More and more, my sense of return is less about a physical journey than an internal one, something I may spend a lifetime figuring out. In thinking about all of the things that had to come together to make me into the person I am today and bring me to the moment and place where I am at this very moment, gives me a lot of gratitude about the interrelationship between things. Without the events that caused my parents to meet, I would not be here. My reaching for Sigd as a way to hold my full self within Judaism happened along a trajectory that continues to reveal itself… or maybe, is my path of return. I am grateful that I have company along the way as I continue to figure it out.
I invite you to join me. One exciting opportunity is the Bilhah Zilpah Homecoming this Sunday December 1. We will prepare to welcome Bilhah and Zilpah for their return to the Torah during parashat Vayeitzei (anda little celebration of Sigd / JoC Sanctuary anniversary). Bilhah and Zilpah offer a rich lens to explore biblical experiences that remain a reality today, such as surviving marginalization, being in sisterhood, and striving towards abolition.
Wishing you a meaningful Sigd with engaged learning about the holiday and the Beta Israel. The image opening this post is by Hirut Yosef who emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel and has also lived in Turkey, the USA, and elsewhere. Hirut uses her art to explore the relationship between Ethiopia, Israel, and other places she has lived, as well as return in a variety of ways. May your return take you where you need to be.
I served as staff at Kirva’s recent Spiritual Immersive and was invited to share a short practice during the lead-up to Rosh Hashanah. Kirva’s social justice approach to mussar, an ancient Jewish ethical practice, is a valued collaborative partner with Jews of Color Sanctuary. The five days we spent together at Pearlstone strengthened our practice, reinforced bonds, and built community as we used mussar to align our actions with our values. Learn how to bring Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out into your community. Meanwhile, I hope this practice enriches your preparations for the High Holy Days.
Teshuvah Across the Waters (TAW) is an exciting opportunity to bridge African diasporic Jews/Hebrews with African Jewish/Hebrew communities.
As a Jewish person of unknown African and Indian heritage, I have deep yearnings to experience ancestral Jewish traditions that have been severed through colonization, enslavement, and assimilation. Supporting the connections that will be forged through this project will enhance global Jewry’s collective efforts of Teshuvah, aligning values and relationships with ourselves, God, and the world.
TAW seeks to strengthen bonds across the Jewish Diaspora by lifting up the traditions and histories of African Jewry within the global Jewish community needed for an holistic and thriving Jewish peoplehood on our path toward spiritual redemption. Please join the incredible support for this project to increase connection our collective Jewish ancestry. A financial contribution of any amount can help us bridge these waters.
guest blog by Tamar Ghidalia & Jill Housen, 3W Consulting
3W Consulting‘s work is anti racist and anti-oppression work and uses liberatory practice at its core. Since the work is significantly grounded in Jewish life, tradition, texts and values, it enriches the spiritual life of the participants and allows them to claim their Jewish identities.
We have served 20 organizations over the last 3 years: congregations, communal organizations, schools,camps, and presented at national conferences. We intentionally support and center JoC’ leadership.
We created JoC Journey Toward Healing because of the need of JoC to have places to just be and share their identities in a safe space. We believe that JoC are deserving of care and joy, feeling seen, heard and understood, feeling empowered and not alone…
By tapping into the wisdom of Jewish tradition and texts, we can find ways of healing from the traumas that we have faced and be able to bring forth all of our identities. Together we can build our sacred space through prayer, poetry, music, storytelling, meditation, comparing the BIPOC and Jewish oppression and liberation narratives, and sharing our dreams of liberation.
Keshet hosted Keshet Neshamot / Rainbow Souls Shabbaton: a Retreat of Radiant Belonging February 16 through 18, 2024 at Pearlstone Retreat Center in Reistertown Maryland. Attendance was aspirationally capped at 30 participants in the planning stages. Ultimately, 90 people completed the form to attend. We came from across the country for a taste of community. This was the first Shabbaton for some, a reunion for others, and a beautiful opportunity for all to bring our full selves into Jewish space.
If you have not heard Keshet, a national group working for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life, has a new Jews of Color Programs Manager in Sage Cassell-Rosenberg who collaborated with other keshet neshamot to create the best Shabbaton I have EVER attended!
HaMotzi led by Harriette Wimms over our challot (photo: Brittany Maxson)
It began with baking challah, a precious way to ground us in ritual and meaning while literally making Shabbat together with collective hands. This opening was shephered by Harriette Wimms, founder of the Jews of the Jews of Color Mishpacha Project (which has been hosting an annual Shabbaton since 2020, the next one coming up July 12-14, 2024) and Kohenet serving on the board of Beit Kohenet.
Kabbalat Shabbat was led by Joshua Maxey, Executive Director of Bet Mishpacha of Washington DC using their amazing siddur from this egalitarian queer community founded in 1975. We used the Shabbat and Havdalah Guide for BIMPoC & BIMPoC LGBTQIA+ Jews on Shabbat morning, led by the guide’s creator, Kadijah Spence. Version 2 of the Shabbat and Havdalah Guide has been updated to include transliteration for Hebrew and the Hebrew alphabet.
Shabbat Guide created by Kadijah Spence & Shavat va-Yinafash siddur of Bet Mishpacha (photo: Brittany Maxson)
Shabbat afternoon was filled with more activities of connection and belonging. Is Perlman, Keshet Youth Intern, led a powerful, rich, and inclusive Identity Mapping session to embrace the richness of our diverse intersectional identities. Enzi Tanner staff of Bend the Arc and somatic fellow with Mitsui Collective led a session focused on caring for ourselves and our communities, bridging Jewish text, wisdom, and tradition with modern physical and psychological well-being practices. Sage invited us into one-on-one engaged sichot (conversation) sessions with guided prompts.
Later, Sage wove in Jewish teachings as our hands made our own Havdalah candles which ignited our closing of Shabbat. Story District highlighted the importance of our stories through a group activity before featuring Stories For Liberation told by five of the Shabbaton participants: Sage Cassell-Rosenberg, Samiah Fulcher, Is Perlman, Kadijah Spence, and Harriette Wimms. We celebrated new and deepened connections late into the night. Our departing Sunday morning closing session, titled Shrugging Off Imposter Syndrome and Owning Your Badassery by Kiyomi Kowalski, was sadly cancelled due to illness. There are plans to reschedule this session virtually which can expand the Shabbaton community.
Storytellers: Harriette Wimms, Sage Cassell-Rosenberg, Kadijah Spence, Samiach Fulcher, Is Perlman with Scott Hollingsworth of Story District (photo: Brittany Maxson)Havdalah over handmade braided candles (photo: Brittany Maxson)
Jews of Color Sanctuary is proud to be a connected partner in the national Jewish people of color landscape, bringing a taste of the community we can have here in Cincinnati and the Midwest. We are just finishing the Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out, Midwest JoC affinity mussar va’ad, in collaboration with Kol Or of the Council on Jewish Affairs in Chicago and Edot in Milwaukee, with support from Jews of Color Cleveland. Jews of Color Sanctuary is considering launching an open in-person Cincinnati cohort or a virtual Ohio cohort and we’d love to talk with you about it. There is so much possibility and we get to chart our present into the future!
Affinity space supports deepening what we do in such spaces through the nature of being among peers in ways that can foster connection, insight, and healing. Affinity space has a long history across cultural traditions, including Judaism. Affinity by gender, age, trade, skill level are so common, we may no longer see them as such. Our time in affinity enhances when we are together.
Learning is a foundational activity that has experienced perhaps every kind of affinity filter that can be imagined. My inquisitive nature fuels a love for learning, and my love for learning embraces my curiosity. I pour all of this love into the sessions I facilitate, seeing these moments as opportunities to celebrate the learn/teach balance in each person, idea, and question. The chance to learn in female and nonbinary people of color space is among the rarest of learning affinity space I get to inhabit, either as learner or teacher.
This is why I am delighted to once again be leading text study for Jewish women and non-binary folks of color for the Mayyim Hayyim Let Justice Well Up text study series supported by the Miriam Fund. Six sessions will be offered on second Wednesdays, starting February 14, through June with a special closing siyum on July 3. We will bring in the wisdom of water, ritual, and more as we explore justice through the power of our perspective as Jewish women and non-binary folks of color. Our cultural communities have rich foundations of female and tum tum ancestral wisdom that has birthed and nurtured our communities. That is the legacy we are rippling into.
Register for one session or all six, but don’t miss this opportunity to learn together in this rare affinity space that I believe will feed our souls in ways that truly enrich the other spaces we inhabit. All you need is yourself, some creative practice materials at hand, and an openness to allow the text to tap into your innate wisdom that already connects you with Torah through your lived experiences. Get ready to fall in love with text study, and please share this with the women and non-binary folks of color you are in solidarity with. Collectively, we will make this space what we need it to be. I’m excited to learn together again!
Jews of Color (JoC) Sanctuary was born on Sigd in November 2019. The date was a nascent expression to bring Jewish reflections from communities of color into deeper relationship with a vision to create a sanctuary for Jewish people of color in Cincinnati and the Midwest. Like all things in development, the idea of JoC Sanctuary had been brewing for many years before emerging. April Baskin and the 2018 JewV’Nation cohort were particularly supportive in fostering early dreaming of Midwestern JoC space. We have grown slowly over the last four years of infancy and 2023 has been an exciting year of growth as we enter toddlerhood.
We were awarded our first formal grant through ArtsWave, made possible through our fiscal sponsor, ish Cincinnati. JoC Ritual Studio was an invitation to claim our right to Jewish ritual that reflects the fullness of who we are and offers meaningful marking of important transitions. JoC Sanctuary was a featured speaker at the Rising Tide Conference and supported facilitation of a Seven Steps Mikveh Guide Training, including original ritual creation (a new cohort starts in February!^). We learned and taught Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out (DRIO).
We co-sponsored events with the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. We collaborated with Birds of a Feather, Black Jewish Liberation Collective, ish Cincinnati, Jewish Community Library, Jewish Spiritual Leadership Convening, Jewish Women’s Archive, Kirva, Mayyim Hayyim, and Rising Tide. We were supported by ArtsWave, Jewish Bridge Project, in-kind contributions, and individual donations.
This year has welcomed the Bilhah Zilpah Project and Parasha Play as special projects of JoC Sanctuary. Parasha Play is an improv-based Torah exploration and the Bilhah Zilpah Project seeks to reclaim these Jewish matriarchs, and listen for the wisdom that their silenced voices can teach us into our modern lives. 2023 closed with the inaugural launching of the Bilhah Zilpah Project through a series of homecoming events. Parashat Vayeitzei falls shortly after Sigd every year, sweetening welcoming this project as a poetic return to our beginning.
Sincere gratitude goes out to all the individuals and organizations who have fostered the growth of Jews of Color Sanctuary through participation and co-creation. We look forward to continuing creating sanctuary in 2024. If you have skills you would like to share with us, please email danserica@gmail.com and if you would like to provide financial support, contribute through our fiscal sponsor’s webpage: noting the funds are for Jews of Color Sanctuary.
Joyful Gregorian New Year celebrations for continued sweetness in your Jewish year!
Kwanzukkah attendees pose for a mid-celebration photograph (photo by Christine Ngeo Katzman)
Sixteen people across a wide spectrum of ages and backgrounds came together to create a space where we can bring the fullness of our fabulous Jewish selves, including all of the messiness that makes us each who we are as individuals.
Kwaanzukka was an opportunity to bring all of the intersectional realities that people of color are never allowed to forget, but that is a reality of every life on this planet. Something evident in the rich conversation that ensued after bridging the land acknowledgment into an invitation to name the geographic places referenced at the event. From lands our ancestors originated, whether we had ever stepped foot on that land or not, to the cultural communities connected to the dishes we brought, whether those were our culture or not.
The responses were messy, full, and rich… from EVERY attendee. Affinity space is important. It is also important to have periodic open full-community events where Jewish people of color can show up in our fullness along with all of the people who love and support us, whatever their race or spiritual affiliation. To still center the voices and experiences of Jewish people of color and break down anti-blackness.
Jews of Color Sanctuary has done national virtual events which have been deeply meaningful for me. However, Kwanzukkah may be the only time I have ever felt like every part of me was welcome at an in-person event where I live. A simultaneously heart-breaking and exuberant statement. I lead this work because I need it in my life. I know it’s important because I see how powerful this work is in other settings across the country. Special thanks go to the JCRC and Federation for understanding the importance of creating events like this, and especially to each attendee… we created this space together and it could not have happened without you.
Jews of color… what kinds of events would be meaningful for your lives? Allies… please let the Jews of color you love know that JoC Sanctuary is their local resource and an opportunity to plug into the national networks of Jewish people of color from many backgrounds who are claiming their right to celebrate their Jewishness with the rest of their fabulous selves. We’re here for us.
Jews of Color Sanctuary 