We are giving Hillary, our Editor-in-Chief, a break for this issue, so you’re hearing from me instead! I want to share a bit about my role as Managing Editor, and some of the things you can expect to hear from me should you decide to contribute…
This happy photo shows mother and child reunited at JFK International Airport in New York, after many years apart. Daughter Michelle was last in school in Venezuela in early 2022…
We need co-conspirators in holding up respect for Native American peoples (and lands), liberation from oppression for Black Americans…
In addition to providing coverage on Kehilla’s member-led teams and one-by-one introductions to member leaders, Committee Connection now also aims to be a place to get quick updates…
The second annual “playshop,” titled “Many Ways to Get Involved in Kehilla,” was led by the Committee Leaders group at the annual community retreat on July 8 at Lake Temescal.
… Also, I have much more patience now than I did at 20, and I want to ask for your patience too. When asking for things from us news editors, keep in mind that Committee Connection itself is a Kehilla committee and does not have paid staff. We’re only two people keeping it going…
The eviction of the Wood Street homeless encampments by the City of Oakland was an intense, painful, exhausting process…
This is the story of one immigrant family “accompanied” by the Kehilla Immigration Committee for years…
[I’ve been a member of the Economic Justice Committee] since 2017–2018, when a group of us at Oakland Community Organizations…
Several months ago while playing pickleball, I fell, breaking my wrist, requiring surgery, and, as challenges have the potential to do, it allowed me to open the door to some very profound life learnings…
On May 19, the Community Educators Working Group held its first outing for Kehilla members: a group tour of the African American Museum and Library of Oakland (AAMLO), a unique branch of the Oakland Public Library…
… It doesn’t matter if you’re not a member of a Kehilla member-led team. … You might know someone who is active and would like you to interview them—or maybe you do a lot of member-led volunteering and could ask another Kehillan to interview you, so that all you have to do is talk. Or maybe you have great photos of a committee event or …
Back in 2008, Joseph and Rita Sklar, along with Jay and Ruth Koch, were looking for ways to connect with other Kehilla members. The organizers landed on the idea of a book group and picked a book that Ruth suggested …
… The BIPOC Congress produced the Make Space/Take Space statement, the core of which provides a concrete practice intended to be used at every Kehilla gathering. …
At this time last year, I didn’t expect to find myself banging on a pizza pan outside Santa Rita, Alameda County’s jail. It had been a long time since I had been active politically. …
… The nature of death is that it can’t really be predicted. We must gather with little notice to serve our community. …
As a kid, I watched the TV news with my mom nightly as she made dinner, and I remember seeing late 1970s network news coverage on Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization and hearing the word “terrorist” for the first time. …
…While on their sabbatical in January, Kehilla Senior Rabbi Dev Noily visited the rural Palestinian community with their wife and son…
On Wednesday February 15, about 75 activists gathered on University Avenue in Berkeley during rush hour to express that not all Jews are Zionists and… Read More »Kehillans Co-Organize Against Billboards Calling Anti-Zionism Antisemitism
Inspired by the spirit of youth-led resistance, the Chavurah for a Free Palestine collaborated with the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace to organize a winter fundraiser for the Palestinian Youth Movement-Bay Area…
“I would dare say that the creation of an ethnic Jewish majority state in historic Palestine has not made Jews any safer and it has also made things considerably less safe for Palestinians, to put it mildly… … and that is not to downplay the very real history and current reality of antisemitism throughout the world…
I’m inspired by Palestinians who demonstrate *sumud* (steadfastness) every day as they resist Israeli oppression and dispossession. Rabbi Burt inspires me as he continues to suggest different ways for us to think about this difficult work and how we can best support our Palestinian brothers and sisters…
It is with great excitement that I welcome you to Committee Connection: a new format of the Kehilla committee newsletter now available on the web. Our incredible social justice, community care, and affinity groups are Kehilla’s special sauce…
“I would love to see the stigma, the ugly, ugly, ugly, stigma of homelessness be taken off and seeing us for who we really are: artists, doctors, teachers, and most of all, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons.” …
Being a part of the Chevra Kadisha, having clear practices and rituals, touching, cleaning, dressing and caring for one who has passed, in community… It has been one of the great honors of my life…
