Tzedek April 2022 Update

Greetings from Tzedek, the anti-racism group at Congregation Beth Shalom. This month, we bring you updates on the Torah of Color course starting soon, a summer film screening, and our tutoring program.

Torah of Color course: We are offering a course on the Torah of Color, to deepen our understanding of anti-racism and gain inspiration from—and root anti-racism action in—Torah learning. This course is funded by an Ignition grant from the Jewish Federation of Seattle, and led by educator Shoshana Brown. You can get a preview of Shoshana’s teaching via a video d’var Torah (April 9 for Metzora/Shabbat HaGadol). The course will occur over several sessions in May aligning to the counting of the omer and culminate in a final session marking Shavuot with studying the Shavuot for Black Lives guide from the Jews for Racial & Economic Justice organization. Three of the sessions will be open to everyone, and a fourth session will be specifically for Jews of Color in our community.

Film: Tzedek is organizing a film showing and discussion about a 30-minute documentary film, titled Roosevelt High School: Beyond Black and White, produced by Roosevelt Alumni for Racial Equity (RARE). Learn how we can do better in this documentary about race and education, based on the experiences of Roosevelt High School yesterday and today. We learned about this film from Nancy Fisher-Allison, a CBS member and spouse of RARE co-chair Tony Allison. We are confirming availability of film representatives to join us for an after-film discussion, and hope to share a date for an early summer viewing. We’ll post updates to Facebook and Cybershul.

Tzedek Tutoring update: It’s so exciting to see more Beth Shalom members making their way through the process to schedule and take the orientation and start tutoring. We are involved with Martin Luther King Elementary School through the Reading Partners program in Seattle’s Title 1 schools, as well as having a relationship with Bailey Gatzert Elementary School through an introduction by Byrd Barr Place. To learn more about what it’s like to be a tutor and how to get involved, contact CBS member Vanessa Edrich.