Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 56: Simchat Torah, Essential Letters, and Why ALL of Our Life Curricula is Needed

In this week’s episode Tracie and April discuss some of the traditions related to the holiday of Simchat Torah (lit. “Joy of Torah”). The symbolism of the holiday--appreciating the totality of the Torah and starting the cycle anew--illuminates for ways we can do the same with our own life and racial justice curricula.

Read More

Reflections from April: What We Can Learn from the Sukkah This Year

Sukkot is one of the sweetest times of year because it possesses so much wisdom. We could fill a lifetime fully unpacking, living into, and savoring the profundity and power of Sukkot’s insight! (and, that’s certainly what we are doing!).

As I mentioned in my latest conversation with Tracie, I haven’t built a sukkah of my own yet. And while I won’t likely be building nor spending time in a traditional sukkah this year 😔, I’m thinking a lot about the lessons we can take from the physicality of the Sukkot experience, especially as we’re moving forward into this shmita year of release.

Read More

Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 55: Sukkot, Shelter, and Sacrifice

In this week’s episode, April and Tracie mark Sukkot and discuss themes around shelter, safety and security, and sacrifice, and the trade-offs that exist which this holiday helps to illuminate for us.

Content warning: descriptions of animal slaughter/sacrifice

Read More

Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 54: Yom Kippur and the Importance of Process

In this week’s episode, as we mark Yom Kippur, April and Tracie discuss the big concepts and ideas that can frame Yom Kippur and give some practical tips for how to work through our collective and individual yearly accounting of our souls by finding the joy in the process.

Read More

Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 53: Yom Kippur, T’shuvah, and the Load-Bearing Beam

As Yom Kippur approaches, April and Tracie reflect on T'shuvah. We specifically dig into what Jewish tradition teaches us about what to do when “return” requires us to ask how much of ourselves we are willing to dismantle, especially when it comes to perpetuating white supremacy and racism.

Read More

Jews Talk High Holidays 5782: Your Podcast Guide for the New Year

If you’re looking to reflect on this past year and on how you might bravely, yet compassionately practice t’shuvah (return) and healing during the High Holidays, we’ve put together a series of podcast episodes to spur thoughts, ideas, and imagination (and, stay tuned for more episodes!). 💜🍎🍯

Read More

Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 49: Elul, the Shofar, and Awakeness

In this week’s episode, we reflect on the meaning of Elul, the month in the Jewish calendar that leads up to Rosh HaShanah and the high holidays. This time of anticipation calls us to prepare ourselves spiritually for the new year. We talk about the symbolic meanings of the holiday and how the ritual of hearing the shofar can be a powerful call to being “awake.”

Read More