This week on The Times of Israel's weekly podcast Times We Tell, we honor Black History Month and speak to three members of the Black and Jewish communities about their experiences, their struggles and their visions for the future in a panel, “Circles of Trust: Black and Jewish Communities Fight Together for Change.”

A little about our panelists: The Times of Israel readers may be familiar with Ed Gaskin through his stunning blog on The Times of Israel, “After the Tree of Life tragedy, I went to Shabbat services and never stopped.” Gaskin still attends services at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, Massachusetts, as well as the Roxbury Presbyterian Church in Roxbury. He is joining us from Randolph, Massachusetts.

Gaskin earned an M. Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and graduated as a Martin Trust fellow from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He has published several books on a range of topics with social justice themes, was a co-organizer of the first faith-based initiative on reducing gang violence at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, and has taught a seminary class on the topic of Christianity and the problem of racism for over 25 years.

Ginna Green is a political strategist, writer, movement-builder, and consultant, and partner and chief strategy officer at Uprise. A Schusterman senior fellow and a Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance notable woman, Green is also a fellow at the Kogod Research Center of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and sits on the boards of Women’s March, Political Research Associates, the Jews of Color Initiative, Bend the Arc, and the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable.

Green is a frequent speaker and writer on democracy, race, racism in the Jewish community, Jewish community diversity, and leadership. Green is Zooming into the panel from Columbia, South Carolina.

Our final panelist is Rabbi Shais Rishon, also known as MaNishtana. Rishon is an author, writer, educator, playwright, rabbi, and public speaker, whose work on racial and religious identity and culture – and how their intersections manifest in America – faces prejudice, bias, and ignorance head-on, asking the questions about humanity, race, religion, and social injustice that we all have (and maybe are afraid to talk about).

In February 2018, Rishon earned his first Orthodox rabbinical ordination. He lives in New York with his family, but is joining us from San Diego.

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