The Gathering | Tools to build a more just world

As I experience the deep pain in the Jewish community caused by the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine along with rising antisemitism and Islamophobia, I find myself returning to the core work of the Avodah Institute for Social Change: tools that support and drive the Jewish community in the work of building a more just world even—and especially—during times when that becomes overwhelming. 

With that in mind, here are a few practices to help us find our way through moments like these without losing ourselves, our commitment to each other or our dedication to justice.

“Center yourself so that you don’t center yourself.” 

The wisdom of this phrasing, developed by friends of mine at IDEA, keeps reverberating for me. Of course we will each be activated and triggered by so much right now. The work is both not to deny those reactions and also not to let them become the entire lens we look through. Look to the somatic offerings from our colleagues at Mitsui Collective for practices that allow our feelings to take up the space they need without overtaking us, or watch Rabbi Koach Baruch Frazier’s Speak Torah to Power talk on lament to hear about how our grief can become part of our pathway to action. What helps you find your grounding?

Ask hard questions and allow for the reality of multiple answers and perspectives. 

Core to Judaism’s development and survival have been the concepts of machloket (respectful debate) and elu v’elu (these and these [are the words of holiness]). Jewish law emerged through collaborative work that depended on disagreement between trusted colleagues, the ability to challenge each other and find new ways forward. Of course that doesn’t mean that every perspective is reasonable or worthy of space. But it does remind me to operate from an assumption that there will be people who share my values and reach different understandings, and that ultimately both my activism and my empathy will be stronger by seeking those out and letting myself be changed by them while remaining true to what is at my core. Whose voices are you seeking out right now?

Draw wisdom from ritual. 

Shabbat dinners have been a particular lifeline for me this past month. There is a way that the high stakes of this violence can combine with the surreality of endlessly scrolling through news coverage (alongside the latest advertisements, no less) to create a kind of fog. There is a true gift in the opportunity to pause each week, to orient myself in time, to gather with friends and family to bless things, eat together, talk deeply, comfort each other, and replenish our strength for whatever the work will be in the week ahead. What are the ritual moments, Jewish or otherwise, that help you move through the world right now?

Reach for each other. 

Isolation will not help any of us weather these storms. I am finding deep comfort in connection, in both reaching out and receiving, in remembering to turn towards the shared values that ground my personal relationships and my broader communities. How can we each turn even more fully towards interdependence, seeing the ways that we need each other and that we can continue to rely on each other?

I hope that these practices can help guide you as they have guided me over the past weeks of heartbreak and that they can be a source of strength through all that’s to come.

In loving community,

— Sarra Alpert, Director of the Avodah Institute for Social Change