Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

In this week’s episode, April and Tracie unpack the false assumption that some folks have expressed--that April “hates America” since she has chosen to relocate out of the States, and to West Africa, no less. This question leads April and Tracie to think about the hierarchies and racism built into conventional assessments of different cultures both within and outside of America.

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode:  https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-61 

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Read Tracie’s initial reflections on D. Watkins: https://www.bmoreincremental.com/post/2017/03/14/stoop-stories-too-poor-for-pop-culture

And a return to his work more recently: https://www.bmoreincremental.com/post/representation-matters-what-d-watkins-helped-me-understand-about-museums

D. Watkins’ memoir identifies Sister Souljah’s book The Coldest Winter Ever as what set him on his path as a writer and teacher. Learn more about the book: https://bookshop.org/books/the-coldest-winter-ever/9780743270106

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Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

In this week’s episode, April and Tracie discuss the dangers of making that “diversity hire” when the organization hasn’t done the necessary work of deconstructing dynamics of oppression, so that “diversity hire” needs to endure unhealthy and unsustainable microaggressions and worse. They discuss strategies for how to avoid this and set up new colleagues for success.  

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode:  https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-60

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Learn more about the concept of Tokenism here: https://www.racialequitytools.org/glossary

Learn more about Racial Justice Launchpad here:  https://joyousjustice.com/racial-justice-launch-pad

Learn more about Barbara Love here: https://www.barbarajlove.com/about-us

Support the show

Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

On this week’s episode, Tracie and April discuss the recent discussion on the concept of “Jewface” that followed a recent podcast by Sarah Silverman on the topic. They discuss a few different perspectives on the topic and reflect on the patterns within the portrayal of Jewish characters in media. 

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode:  https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-59

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Check out the original Sarah Silverman podcast on Jewface here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jewface-iron-dome-mr-mom/id1533130572?i=1000537086147

Read the Forward article by Benjamin Ivry about Sarah Silverman here: https://forward.com/culture/476527/does-sarah-silverman-actually-have-a-point-about-jewface/

Check out Manishtana’s response to Sarah Silverman here: https://www.jta.org/2021/10/13/opinion/the-jewface-debate-about-casting-non-jews-as-jews-betrays-an-ashkenazi-bias 

Read more about what spawned Sarah Silverman’s critique, here: https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/kathryn-hahn-jo an-rivers-showtime-1235069552/

Learn more about the cast of Black-ish here: https://abc.com/shows/blackish/cast

Learn more about Suits and Jewish identity here: https://forward.com/life/169757/the-jews-in-suits/

Learn more about the history of Blackface here: https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/blackface-birth-american-stereotype

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Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

In this week’s episode, April shares more about her ongoing exploration around her Indigenous, Cherokee heritage and the impact a healing workshop had on her desire to live and embody this aspect of her identity. Tracie and April use this exploration to reflect on the ways in which we are the products of our ancestors’ choices to survive the oppressions they faced. 

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode:  https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-58

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Listen to our Thanksgiving episode, part 1 here: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-12-jews-talk-thanksgiving-part-1 

Listen to our Thanksgiving episode, part 2 here: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-12-jews-talk-thanksgiving-part-2

Learn more about the Cherokee Nation here: https://www.cherokee.org/

Support the show

Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

In our current pandemic-, racism-, and climate-change-ravaged times, April and Tracie talk about the Shmita Year, or Sabbatical Year, which we just began at Rosh Hashanah. How does one live out the values of the Shmita year when most of us are no longer working as farmers in the fields? They discuss how we can use this particular moment to lean into its themes, reconnect with the Earth, and find greater balance in what we endeavor to control and what we allow to happen organically. 

Learn more about the Shmita year here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/

Check out  the 5 genders in the Talmud here: https://www.keshetonline.org/resources/gender-diversity-in-jewish-sacred-texts/

Read more about Hayim Nahman Bialik here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hayim-nahman-bialik/
The essay “Halacha and Aggadah” can be found in Revealment and Concealment: Five Essays.

Check out Judaism Unbound’s episode on the Shmita year here: https://www.judaismunbound.com/podcast/episode-287-shmita-project

Listen to our episode on Teshuvah here: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-53 

Listen to our episode about Elul here:
https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-49

Learn more about Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife here: https://www.keshirahalev.com/about

Learn more about Rabbi Elissa Sachs-Kohen here: https://www.jewishtimes.com/tag/rabbi-elissa-sachs-kohen/

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Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

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. 

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode:  https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-56

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Learn more about Simchat Torah here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shemini-atzeretsimchat-torah-101/

Remember Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z”l, and learn more about his work here: https://rabbisacks.org/

Check out, This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared, by Alan Lew, here: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/alan-lew/this-is-real-and-you-are-completely-unprepared/9780316739085/

Check out more from Yoshi Silverstein here: https://mitsuicollective.org/who-we-are/

Learn more about the history of the Mourner’s Kaddish and Rabbi Akiva here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/282142?lang=bi

Listen to our previous episode about our Life Curricula here: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-53

Support the show

Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

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

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode:  https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-55

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Learn more about Sukkot here:https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/sukkot-101/

Check out, This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared, by Alan Lew, here: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/alan-lew/this-is-real-and-you-are-completely-unprepared/9780316739085/

Learn more about the Shmita year here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/

Learn more about MaNishtana (Rabbi Shais Rishon) here: https://manishtana.net/

Check out Brené Brown’s work on fragility here: https://brenebrown.com/

April and Tracie talk about Aurora Levins Morales’ forthcoming poem “Do Not Rise,” in which the poet unpacks the idea of “please rise” during worship and offers an alternate, earth-based, downward-striving spirituality. Learn more about Aurora Levins Morales here: http://www.auroralevinsmorales.com/

Support the show

Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

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. 

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode:  www.joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-54

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Learn more about Yom Kippur and its meaning here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/yom-kippur-101/

Listen to last week’s episode here: www.joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-53

Reflect on the Al Chet here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/255454?lang=bi

Learn more about the “4 I’s of Oppression (Love, Change, Power, etc)”:  https://www.grcc.edu/sites/default/files/docs/diversity/the_four_is_of_oppression.pdf

Read more about Alan Morinis and the book Everyday Holiness here: https://mussarinstitute.org/books-by-alan-morinis-faculty/

Learn more about Ronnie Coleman here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Coleman

Learn more about Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horwitz, the Alter of Novardok here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosef_Yozel_Horwitz

Watch Verna Myers’s TedTalk here:  https://www.ted.com/talks/verna_myers_how_to_overcome_our_biases_walk_boldly_toward_them

Check out the book No Sweat by Michelle Segar here: https://michellesegar.com/book/

Learn more about Wolof here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolof_language

Check out Atomic Habits by James Clear here: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits

Support the show

Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

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. 

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: www.joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-53

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Read more about what T'shuvah means here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/repentance/

Read from the Talmud (Gittin 55a) about an exchange regarding what to do with a stolen Load-Bearing Beam of a house here: https://www.sefaria.org/Gittin.55a.5?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en

Read more about Alan Morinis and the book Everyday Holiness here: https://mussarinstitute.org/books-by-alan-morinis-faculty/

Learn more about Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horwitz, the Alter of Novardok here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosef_Yozel_Horwitz

Check out more from Yavilah McCoy here: https://twitter.com/yavilah?lang=en

The leprosy that can affect the stones of houses is mainly mentioned in Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. It is discussed in the Talmud in Sanhedrin 71a:20 (among other places):
https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.71a.20?ven=William_Davidson_Edition_-_English&lang=en

Listen to our past discussion about DARVO here: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-6-white-fragility-darvo-and-accepting-feedback 

Listen to last week’s episode and learn more about our “life curriculum” here:
www.joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-52

Support the show

Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?

Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅

As the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, approaches, we think about the year that was, and reflect on ways to improve while still holding ourselves tenderly. 

Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: www.joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-52

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Check out our first ever episode of Jews Talk Racial Justice here: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-1-join-the-conversation-from-the-beginning

Learn more about Rosh HaShanah and its traditions here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/rosh-hashanah-101/

Read more about Alan Morinis and the book Everyday Holiness here: https://mussarinstitute.org/books-by-alan-morinis-faculty/

Learn more about the origins of the phrase “gamzu l’tovah” here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachum_Ish_Gamzu

Preview what a Shemita year is here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/

Support the show

Discussion and reflection questions:

1. What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?
2. What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?
3. What, if anything feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?
4. If relevant. what feelings and sensations are arising as you reflect on themes from this episode, and where in your body do you feel them?
5. What key insights or strategies are you carrying forward and how do you want to weave them into your living and/or leadership?