The need for this space is palpable.  We know that as white Jews our identities are complex--holding  identity both as targets of white supremacy and as perpetrators of it. We know that avowed white supremacists don’t see us as white and spend a lot of time creating doctrine about us; we also know that these same people might see us on the street and murder a Black person in our names.    

Whiteness is an exclusionary category. We are not supposed to be white and something else-- and yet, here we are holding the both/and,  showing up in justice spaces with all of ourselves.   We may be seen by others (and perhaps ourselves) as both the oppressed and the oppressor, holding both power and vulnerability.  

In social justice spaces, we may want to minimize our Jewish identity. But that marginalization exists, and it’s directly related to white supremacy.  We may feel we need to choose between our Jewish identity and our white anti-racist identity. Let’s not.  

As two white Jewish women in racial justice circles, we’ve created the space we have longed for, to unpack our concerns and questions about

1. Our own identities and values as white Jewish genderqueer people and women 

2. The impact of antisemitism and our ancestors’ stories of becoming American and white

3. How to confront, as Jews, the racism of Israel toward Palestinians

4. Experiences of antisemitism in racial justice/anti-racist spaces and ways to resist the pressure to choose between our Jewish identity and our anti-racist identity

5. How we feel these tensions in our bodies and how we can get even more brave in the work of showing up whole everywhere we are

This workshop opens up a space for us to identify the emotional, interpersonal, and political barriers in our own hearts and communities so we can move forward with our full identity in the fight for racial justice held every Thursday in August.