TischPDX Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out Hybrid Course, Feb-June 2025

TischPDX is joining with the Kirva Institute to offer “Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out,” a six month cohort study open to the  Portland Jewish community.

 Form antiracist habits and behaviors through Jewish spiritual practice in our course, Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out. This cohort is open to all. Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out is a course and community of practice that equips participants with daily concrete Jewish spiritual tools of Mussar to confront, subvert, and heal implicit and internalized racism within ourselves and others, supporting the collective organizing, advocacy and service-work efforts to dismantle racism systemically.

Our first of 14 sessions begins on February 4, 2025 and end on June 26th, 2025. See full course schedule here

Efforts to dismantle racism are often comprised of education, advocacy, and systemic change. These efforts are not enough —it’s crucial that we also do the inner work necessary to change our habits of mind, body, and spirit to wholly dismantle racism. Indeed, it's through strengthening our habits of mind, body and spirit that we’ll be most effective and successful in our advocacy and organizing to dismantle racism systemically. We have ancestral wisdom available to support this change; Mussar is the Jewish spiritual discipline designed to integrate what the head understands with what the heart feels through daily practice. Emerge from this program with renewed ability and resilience to disrupt racism, a regular spiritual practice, and a set of concrete tools to support your antiracism efforts. 

Impact: 80% of respondents share they're better able to resist burnout and sustain themselves in the fight for racial justice, and over 85% share they feel more equipped to confront and undo racism within themselves, others and communal spaces.

The Course: This is a 14-sesssion hybrid Zoom/in person training from January-June 2025 and includes: two 135-min orientation sessions; five 135-minute monthly learning and practice sessions; and six 90-min monthly anti-racist group-exercise sessions. The full course schedule can be found below.

Level: Intermediate -- This course builds on an existing understanding of systemic racism and focuses on the application of antiracism through communities of practice.

We know that this work of building our antiracist muscle and integrating Jewish spiritual practice is best done in partnership with others from your community. We encourage you to come to this learning with a co-conspirator or ally that’s also committed to racial justice in your communal spaces.

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This course and community of practice was developed by Yehudah Webster and Rabbi David Jaffe of Kirva, a network of activists, educators, and spiritual leaders in the Jewish community that supports activists in exploring Jewish spiritual wisdom and developing Jewish spiritual practice. Learn more about this course and their work at Kirva.org.

This cohort is being offered in partnership between TischPDX and Kirva and will be co-facilitated with a faculty member of Kirva (R' David Jaffe or Yehudah Webster) along with TischPDX leaders Rabbi Ariel Stone, Eleyna Fugman and Sabina Spicer.