LISTEN: 

Deuter, Hands of Love 

JOURNAL & REFLECT:

Lao Tzu (Author of Tao Te Ching)

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

“Simplicity, patience, compassion- The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Sit quietly and bring to mind the experience of being in the presence of someone who has loved you. Try to re-experience the expression in their eyes, their body language, their tone, words, and actions with you. Imagine taking your next action to dismantle racism while this person beams love at you. How does this make your approach to taking action similar or different to what you have experienced in the past? Consider one way in which you will welcome the experience of love into developing your anti-racist practice this week.

LISTEN: 

Mapei, Don’t Wait  

JOURNAL & REFLECT:

Consider Mapei’s Lyrics:

“Not a thing in the world could get between what we share
No matter where you at, no worry I'll be there
No one's got your back like I do
Even when the business not going well, we still do
When I shine, you shine always on your side
All my life you'll have what's mine
Mark my word, we gon' be alright
My brother, my sister we gon' be just fine!

What would it mean for you practically to make a commitment based on these lyrics to one Black person in your life? As a result of making this commitment, what’s one thing that you would start doing, stop doing or do differently?

ACT:

Option 1

Sign up for Dear White People, Let’s Collect our Cousins, a SURJ 2020 Election Campaign for Antiracist White Folk.

Option 2

Read Calling People In About Violence Guide, and use it to call someone you have a relationship with.

LISTEN: 

Deuter, Escape from Gravity  

REFLECT:

A Teaching from Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation by Rev. Angel Kyodo Wiliams

Everything Begins by Leaving… (Babies, Flowers. Butterflies, Journeys) People always ask about beginnings. We strive after newness, the shiny, the acquisition of possibility. A proxy for our own longing to begin anew on the journey of finding ourselves because we haven’t yet gotten there. What we don’t often ask is, “What made me choose me?” “What has to end and what has to be left behind in order for me to be the me that I choose?”

JOURNAL:

In this journey to develop my anti-racist practice, “What made me choose me?” “What has to end and what has to be left behind in order for me to BE the ME that I choose?”

WATCH & LISTEN:

Jake Isaac, Brother  

REFLECT:

Assata Shakur, From Assata: An Autobiography

It is our duty to fight for our freedom.

It is our duty to win.

We must love each other and support each other

We have nothing to lose but our chains.

Jewish law emphasizes taking note of our proximity to injustice and taking action. Deuteronomy Chapter 4, verse 9 states: “But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children's children.”

ACT:

How am I using my voice, power and positionality to name and address realities of race that are specific to the Jewish community--a predominantly white community in the US? What language am I developing, what concepts am I learning and what practices am I embracing as the work of Jewish white folks? What language am I developing, what concepts am I learning and what practices am I embracing as the work of BIPOC-JOC? How has/does my work to become anti-racist acknowledge differences between paths to racial equity and liberation as relevant? What opportunities am I creating for myself and others to welcome and support the “Both AND” of combined and separate work for White Folks and BIPOC?

What’s one action I will take in coming days to integrate what I am learning from my answers to these questions within my personal and professional anti-racist practice?

SUPPORT:

Support organizations that are led by and for BIPOC-JOC directly. (The below are organizational members of JOC-SHINE, a coalition dedicated to collective leadership, empowerment and self-determination among BIPOC-Jews of Color.)

Jews in ALL Hues, Jarred Jackson

Jewish Multiracial Network, Chava Shervington

Dimensions Educational Consulting, Yavilah McCoy

BYM, Shoshanah Brown

Ammud JOC Torah Academy, Arielle Korman

Mixed Operations, Anike Tourse

Edot: Midwest Diversity Consortium

The Call of the Shofar: A Prophetic Call to Teshuvah, Anti-Racism & Restorative Justice

WATCH & LISTEN:

BIPOC Shofar Blowing

REFLECT:

The rabbis teach us that Elul is actually an acronym. Each of the Hebrew letters--alef, lamed, vav, lamed--stand for the beginning letter of each word in the phrase ani ledodi vedodi li /“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” This phrase is taken from Song of Songs 6:3, and signifies the time leading into the Jewish High Holidays when we are meant to reflect on the relationship between “self” and “others.”

How are you using this challenge to make explicit connections between the Jewish Practice of Teshuvah and your practice of Anti-Racism & Restorative Justice?

ACT.

Try on the following racial justice commitment statement, or create your own based on what you have been learning. What parts of the statement feel true for you personally, and professionally right, and what parts feel aspirational? What action will you take between now and the High Holidays to be able to make this, or your own racial justice commitment statement, true to your anti-racism practice?

Commitment Statement: I am making leadership choices that bring me into deeper relationship with BIPOC-JOC people and communities of color. What resources do I need to avoid White Supremacy habits in my behavior? In my relationships, I am checking in with BIPOC-JOC (including myself if this is my identity) and asking and centering what I/They explicitly say they need. I am using my power, combined with what I learn in relationship with BIPOC-JOC, to amend systems, policies and structures that have enacted harm. I am doing the visionary work of Teshuvah and restorative justice: I am admitting wrongdoing, seeking forgiveness from those I have wronged, and I am committing to changing my behavior so that historical racial inequities are addressed, healed and not repeated. I am building a world and beloved community where we can all experience our basic human right to life, dignity and value.

READ: 

Read through Yavliah McCoy's powerful Al Chet for the Sins of Racism  

ACT:  

Make a Healing and Forgiveness List based on as many categories listed as you can….

• Sins of Racism for which I need to ask forgiveness are: _______________, with whom________________.
• Sins of Racism that I am committed to engaging in alternative behaviors around are: _______________ and I am          committed to behaving differently in the following ways _______________________________________.
• Sins of Racism for which I need to forgive myself and renew by belief in my/our capacity for change are: ________________________________________________________.

For all these, we seek pardon, forgiveness, and atonement.