(Jewish Group) Meet the Jews of color exploring what it means to be Black, Asian, Latino and Jewish

[Behind the Aegis]

From left to right, ADL Collaborative for Change fellows Jared Chiang-Zeizel, Isaac de Castro, Deitra Reiser, Carmel Tanaka, Sara Yacobi-Harris. Courtesy of Kamollio Bennett (for Jared Chiang-Zeizel); Isaac de Castro; Deitra Reiser; @manoa1 (for Carmel Tanaka); Sara Yacobi-Harris.

With the growing recognition of Jews of color in the broader Jewish community comes an increased understanding of the harm that racially diverse Jews all too often experience in mainstream Jewish spaces.

Now, the Anti-Defamation League is seeking to remedy that – and putting money behind it – via Collaborative for Change fellowships for Jews of color. The fellows’ mission is to create multimedia stories about their diverse groups.

Understanding antisemitism and racism
Tema Smith, who was appointed as ADL’s director of Jewish outreach and partnerships in January, helped to create and heads the fellowship program. “My role at ADL is about building relationships in the organized Jewish world and beyond,” she said. “This fellowship program is an opportunity for funding from a legacy organization to support the work of Jews of color. In addition, the fellows’ work will help us at ADL to increase our understanding of the intersections of antisemitism and racism that Jews of color face.”

Smith, a Black Jewish woman based in Toronto, recently received the 2022 JPro Young Professionals Award in recognition of her work on Jewish inclusion and diversity initiatives. With extensive experience in community engagement, training, research and advocacy, she has served as director of professional development at 18Doors (formerly InterfaithFamily), and worked as a synagogue professional, most recently as the director of community engagement at Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto’s oldest synagogue. She is also a contributing columnist at the Forward, and has been published in MYJewish Learning, The Globe and Mail and other publications.

Smith explained that the Collaborative for Change fellowships provide funding to build upon the fellows’ existing work to strengthen their efforts on topics of concerns to Jews generally, and Jews of color particularly.

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