Systemic oppression conditions us to deny others’ and our own humanity. Many justice-seekers unwittingly perpetuate that dehumanization when they assume they must suffer, punish, or martyr themselves to dismantle oppression. At Joyous Justice, we're imagining and embodying a different way. Wholeness, love, and thriving are the antidotes to the brokenness in our world and in our own lives. Each week, April Baskin–with her friend and colleague, Tracie Guy-Decker–delves into theoretical and pra ...
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What do we all have in common? We all live - and balance - complex and nuanced identities, that, when braided together, make us wholly ourselves - and “Wholly Jewish.” Join April Baskin, the Union for Reform Judaism’s former vice president for audacious hospitality, as she speaks with Jews of Color who share their experiences, insights, and how their identities enrich and create a more vibrant Jewish community.
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The Newish Jewish provides thoughtful banter on intersectionality and modern social causes in an evolving religious and political landscape. Each episode includes interviews or discussions with this generations leading educators, artists, humanitarians and activists. Feel free to subscribe, review, share as you wish. Follow on Instagram @thenewishjewish #thenewishjewish
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EP 139: A New Dawn, Not a Farewell: April's Solo-Hosting Journey & Tracie’s Evolving Role
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In this captivating episode 139 of the Joyous Justice Podcast, a pivotal moment unfolds as April Baskin and Tracie Guy Decker delve into a heartfelt and transformative discussion: They unveil significant changes that will shape the future of the podcast, marking a new era in their journey of advocacy and growth. This episode is not just an update; …
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Ep. 138 - Accessing Onramps, Playing w Pilots, and Allowing Shift
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Summary In this episode, Kohenet April Nichole Baskin discusses the concept of on-ramps and piloting in relation to personal growth and transitions. She explores the idea of using the new year as an opportunity for reflection and experimentation, emphasizing the importance of spacious on-ramps and the value of piloting different practices as needed…
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Ep. 137: Intentional, Visionary Leadership IS Pragmatic and Practical!
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Join recently-ordained Kohenet April Nichole Baskin in a captivating examination and reconsideration of what often gets classified as "pragmatic" or "practical." April delves into the transformative power of mindfulness about language and advocates for a reframe, or at the least, thoughtful consideration of what we label as "pragmatic" and "practic…
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In this episode (recorded as an Instagram Live before April's Kohenet ordination), April unpacks and examines the buzzword term "trauma-informed." Thinking and talking about trauma has become more and more common. While this is, generally speaking, a good thing, it's important--especially with something fraught, fragile, and potentially triggering-…
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The limits our circumstances can place on us often creep in incrementally until we wake up one day and realize we aren’t allowing our full selves to shine. Originally an Instagram Live, this episode finds April reminding herself she can and has created space for what she wants and who she is. There is room for our whole selves in this big wide worl…
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In this contemplative episode, April reflects on key insights she gained while on vacation. Rest and fun opened up the truth that despite leaning into heart- and spirit-led living, there is still more room–and even an obligation–to be fully and truly oneself. Movement toward that truth can feel scary, since humans sometimes (often?) compromise who …
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Ep 133 (30 Reprise): Eight Passover Practices for Collective Liberation
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In this reprise of episode 30, April and Tracie reveal the liberatory wisdom in eight practices from Passover observance. Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director and Tracie is a senior partner: h…
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Ep 132: Reflections on Becoming, Healing, & Taking the Plunge
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In this vulnerable episode, April shares recent experiences uncovering and working to heal old wounds including feelings of rage, betrayal, and fear. She shares details of fear she’s been navigating and ways it’s been holding her back and that she’s ready to let go of. For April, transparency around her process of feeling and transmuting suffering …
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Resilience has gotten a bad rap recently. The ability to “bounce back” has been conflated with the requirement to bounce back into oppressive dynamics. But it’s those oppressive dynamics, not the bouncing back, that’s ultimately the problem. In this episode, April explores the difference between the gift of resilience and the ways in which it has b…
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Ep 130: Healing your relationship with thriving for long-term sustainability and success
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In this episode of The Joyous Justice Podcast, host April Baskin talks about our relationship with thriving, why so many of us have a bad relationship, and how we can start healing it. Our relationship with the concept of thriving begins when we are very young and money is one of the core areas where we have the most negative programming. As adults…
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In today’s conversation, we’re thinking about the difference between making something happen, and making space to see what happens. We explore the transition journeys we are both on, the messaging that April is receiving from her body and the Divine while she navigates being sick, the need to slow down when in the midst of massive transformation. D…
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Ep. 128: A Season of Joyous Justice Transitions
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In this special conversation, we share some important announcements about transitions that all three members of the Joyous Justice team are embarking upon. In this season of emergence and introspection, all of our transitions are both unique, and sacredly timed and interwoven. April also describes how she’s releasing shame around how her mind works…
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Ep. 127: Shifting the focus to what we want
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In this episode, we're sharing segments from a live Grounded & Growing class on some key foundational elements of the Success System version of the S.H.E.M.A. Process. April discusses the foundational power of shifting our focus toward what we truly want. And for those of us who may have a hard time knowing what we want, she shares a tool (a Wheel …
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Honoring Nature & Navigating Networks: Understanding ChatGPT through the Lens of Trees & Tu B'Shevat
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In this episode, we dive into a unique and enriching conversation, blending the ancient wisdom of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees, with the cutting-edge realm of artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT and Lensa AI. Join us for a thought-provoking 'socratic seminar' style discussion as we explore the ethical dilemmas, biases…
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Ep. 125: Racial Justice IS a Jewish Issue (44 reprise)
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The past week or so have brought an unwelcome reminder that anti-Black racism is alive and well in 21st-century America. With this as backdrop, we’re reprising episode 44. In this conversation, we respond to a common question about racial justice work and explain that because the Jewish community is a global, multi-racial people, racial justice alr…
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Ep 124: Living in the Present with Blessings
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Tracie shares one of the ways she says present throughout the day amidst the immensity of the to-do list or the demands to be productive: saying blessings over daily rituals. She tells us about the blessings she says over things that may seem mundane–like a cup of coffee or a workout–-, and what effect this has had on her life. Interested in Ground…
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Inspired by April’s appearance on a panel entitled, “Religion is…divisive,” and in the shadow of Martin Luther King Jr Day, we dig into the ways religion can be used to defend or to dismantle systemic oppression. Together, we think through what we believe comes after the ellipses (we don’t LOVE ‘Religion is… divisive.’), weaving in our understandin…
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Ep. 122: Silly Rabbit, Joy is for Grown-Ups! (Part 2)
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In a follow up to our last episode, today’s conversation focuses on joy in adulthood. We talk about joy as abundance and about the ways we can weave joy into our everyday life and give it structure–not to squelch it, but to help it serve our best interests. April also explains how she has tweaked her habit tracker to weave in joy. And, we share oth…
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Ep. 121: Silly Rabbit, Joy is for Grown-Ups!
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We’re on the other side of 2022, and we're thinking about how we can cultivate joy in 2023. April recounts a moment from several years ago when she was struggling to even access joy and reflects on where she is with that journey now. Plus, we harken back to our childhoods and talk about what brought us joy then (and spoiler alert: what brought you …
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Ep. 120: Key Insights for Overcoming Systemic Oppression - The Candle Effect
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🌟 In Episode 120 of the Joyous Justice Podcast, during this season of short days where light becomes a precious commodity, hosts April Baskin and Tracie Guy Decker delve into the transformative power of light as a metaphor for change. This isn't just a conversation; it's a journey through the dynamics of personal and systemic transformation. Discov…
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Episode 119: Rededication over Resolutions
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Inspired by the Chanukah themes of rededicating the Temple, April and Tracie explore what it would look like to practice rededication, particularly as an alternative to New Years’ resolutions. While resolutions might feel transactional or center around deficit, rededication recognizes what we’re working for and builds upon it. And, we get into the …
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Ep. 118: Attention as a Tool for a Racial and Social Justice Practice (Reprise 94)
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As we’re hosting our Roadmap to Resilience workshop, we’re feeling reflective and appreciative about where we are and where we’ve been. So, we’re sharing a conversation from last spring inspired by a session of Grounded & Growing, the program on which Roadmap to Resilience is based. April and Tracie recently realized they have different practices i…
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Episode 117: The 5 Core Challenges We See in Justice Work
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There are MANY amazing people doing change-making work, and there are some chronic challenges playing out. In this week’s conversation, we’re digging into these five core barriers: stress and anxiety, lack of confidence, isolation and loneliness, not knowing the next steps or how to move forward, and the fragmentation and compartmentalization of ou…
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Ep. 116: Reflecting upon & Reimagining Thanksgiving
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For the third year in a row, we’re bringing mindful attention to the American holiday on the fourth Thursday of November, commonly known as Thanksgiving. We think (and grieve) together about how Americans talk and think about the holiday and the Indigenous people who Thanksgiving by turn whitewashes or simply ignores. We’re also thinking about ways…
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We dig into a phrase (attributed to Ricardo Levins Morales) that we can and should apply to social justice movements and our lives more broadly: slow, deep, and irreversible. Mainstream American/Western society often prioritizes speed and urgency. This conversation gets into why that’s often ineffective and can even be harmful. Anchoring in the “sl…
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In our first official episode as the Joyous Justice Podcast, we take a moment to reflect on what the phrase “joyous justice” means–in both our lives and leadership. While the phrase itself might seem oxymoronic in a world where many assume that pursuing justice requires the justice-seeker to suffer, we know that joy and justice must be paired toget…
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Ep 113: How to proceed in the overwhelm of it all
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We’re sensing that for many of you, the present moment is filled with overwhelm and despair. In this week's episode, we’re sharing some insights for how to navigate it all. We talk about acknowledging the state we’re in, determining the level of intervention we need based upon the oppression/danger scale, and engaging in the important rituals of em…
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As we reflect on the high holidays, we delve into lessons we can glean from this past season and the moment we’re in now (and all the heaviness many of us are feeling). How can we align ourselves with the future we want by being aware of ALL of our vibes and nurturing and holding ourselves in whatever we’re feeling? Join our mailing list at https:/…
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Ep 111: There is no Jewish space laser. Period. (Reprise)
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After Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's tweet about the 2018 California Wildfires being caused by a space laser controlled by the Rothschild family ignited a slew of jokes on social media, April and Tracie take some time to think about different reactions to antisemitism. Join our mailing list at https://joyousjustice.com Check out our offerin…
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Ep 110: Simchat Torah, Essential Letters, and Why ALL of Our Life Curricula is Needed (Reprise)
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This week, we’re bringing back last year’s juicy conversation about Simchat Torah (lit. “Joy of Torah”) where Tracie and April discuss some of the holiday’s traditions. The symbolism of the holiday--appreciating the totality of the Torah and starting the cycle anew--illuminates for ways we can do the same with our own life and racial justice curric…
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Ep 109: Sukkot, Black Panther, and Gratitude in the Wilderness (Reprise)
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This week we’re sharing an oldie but (definitely) a goodie! Sukkot proves a rich holiday for April and Tracie's meaning-making. Together they discuss the importance of gratitude, *especially* in the wilderness, what Black Panther can teach us about Sukkot, and the holiness and sovereignty of the body. Join our mailing list at https://joyousjustice.…
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A few days into the new Jewish year, we connect to reflect on what we learned in our Elul offerings, and to offer some lessons about the practice of cheshbon hanefesh, or accounting of the soul. Taking cues from the English word accounting, we play with what it means to have an accurate assessment of our liabilities and our strengths. How can we co…
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“You are not obligated to forgive someone who has offered neither apology nor repair.” This opinion is one both April and Tracie have received at different points in their lives, and which is surfacing now as we approach the high holy days. And though we both needed to hear that message when it was delivered, we’re also realizing that it is not the…
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Ep 106: “Oh, the world (and Joyous Justice) is changing!”
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As April sings at the beginning of the episode, “Oh, the world (and Joyous Justice) is changing, and I am changing too.” This week, we’re getting a glimpse into April’s mind and spirit around the multi-year journey she’s been on to shape Joyous Justice as a bold, leading-edge organization in and for the Jewish community. Follow along as April descr…
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As we move through this sacred and deeply reflective Jewish month of Elul, it is the perfect time to look backward at what has been and forward at what can be. We’re inviting you to engage in some meaningful reflection and let us know how you’re doing and what’s been on your mind and heart (we have a form for you! Click the link below.) And, you’re…
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Ep 104: Elul, the Shofar, and Awakeness (Reprise)
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In this week’s episode, we’re bringing back some wisdom from last year’s Elul episode and reflecting on the meaning of this month in the Jewish calendar that leads up to Rosh HaShanah and the high holidays. This time of anticipation calls us to prepare ourselves spiritually for the new year. We talk about the symbolic meanings of the holiday and ho…
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This week, we’re having this big and exciting conversation in the same room (a first for the podcast!). We’re entering the next iteration for Joyous Justice and the podcast and opening up about our thinking. Reflecting our growth, Jews Talk Racial Justice will soon have a new name: the Joyous Justice Podcast. We also get into how they developed the…
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Ep 102: You Can’t Fight Oppression with Oppression
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In part inspired by behavior we’ve seen on social media, April and Tracie discuss the importance of recognizing and holding multiple truths, even when some truths are less-than-savory. Western/American society pushes either/or dynamics in many facets of life, including in understanding oppression: we’ve been taught you can be oppressor or oppressed…
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In a continuation of the conversation started in the last episode, April and Tracie talk about the rupture Tish B’Av marks and the meaning we can glean from the proximity of Tish B’Av and Tu B’Av, the Jewish holiday of love. In an extended conversation about love and healing, we use the Japanese art of kintsugi as a metaphor, resonate (again) with …
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Ep 100: Tish B’Av, Trauma, and Embodied Grief
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In our 100th episode, we dig into the holiday of Tish B’Av, the ninth of Av, and its commemoration of the Jewish people’s collective trauma and grief. April and Tracie interrogate the intellectual and embodied grief processing inherited in Tish B’Av, and talk about what resonates and what just doesn’t. Plus, we’re taking this opportunity to celebra…
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Ep. 99: Meditation and Courage: Wholeness For the Win
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In today’s conversation, Tracie recounts how the meditation practice that is part of her karate class–and the transcendence that has eventually come with it–is a growing edge for her. It validated something April has known and been teaching for a while – that spiritual work is not divorced from justice work. In fact, spirituality, healing, and well…
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Ep 98: Yes, and…it’s complicated: A TikTok Conversation Starter
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In a return to the studio, April and Tracie use a TikTok video as a jumping off point for a conversation about Jewishness and whiteness, solidarity, the effects of trauma, and the ways that all of these change and shift over time. We’ve extended the registration deadline (and the listener discount!) for BOTH of our summer offerings (Grounded & Grow…
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Ep 97: Grounded & Growing: From our Joyous Justice Summer Series
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This week’s episode is an excerpt of our recent Taste of Grounded & Growing, in advance of the kick-off of the program later this month. This group-coaching, cohort experience is designed to help you develop or deepen your trauma-informed, Jewish social justice practice. You’ll do so through our S.H.E.M.A. Process, a series of practices integrating…
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Today, we’re giving you a preview of our program, Shift Your Life in 60 Days and sharing our “Taste of” event from this past Sunday. In this call, April gets into some juicy lessons about the importance of micro-movements and the magic that can happen when we clarify what matters most, support our well-being, and create an energetic pathway towards…
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Ep 95: Asking about Asking: Decentering Yourself for Accountability
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This week, take a sneak peek of a recent session of our program “Grounded & Growing.” After a lesson about accountability, April and Tracie field a participant's question. Navigating accountable relationships in the context of social justice work, especially when we’re in an oppressor group, can be complicated. How can we avoid burdening our under-…
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Ep 94: Attention as a Tool for a Racial and Social Justice Practice
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In a recent session of our program Grounded & Growing, April and Tracie realized they have different practices in response to injustices. Though their actual behaviors diverge, what they have in common is that they are using intentional and strategic attention as a form of a social and racial justice practice. Because of our many different identiti…
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Ep 93: Lessons in Loosening: Juneteenth, Summer, and Shmita
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As we celebrate Juneteenth, enter the summer and welcome the concluding months of the Shmita year, we think about all the lessons we can learn from this season. There are internal and external insights to be gained from the confluence of these holidays and this season. We can work to balance the desire to control different aspects of our lives with…
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Ep 92: Countering Injustice-fueled Loneliness
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This week, we’re bringing you Tracie and Joyous Justice’s wisdom from a recent presentation at a colloquium entitled “Jewish Responses to the Loneliness Epidemic.” These past few years have seen a layering of multiple pandemics: Covid exacerbated and made plain so many injustices. Grappling with the weight of the world’s sickness, grief, and trauma…
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In this week’s episode, April and Tracie talk about what it looks like when organizations and communities take on the difficult work of facing the honest truth about racism and oppression within their walls. There is so much shame and fear about problematic dynamics in our communities, it can prevent us from making real progress. Community or organ…
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Ep 90: The Shmita Year, the Year of Release (MVP)
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We're rounding off this month's MVPs (most valuable podcasts) with a conversation about the Shmita year (if you haven't been commemorating it, don't worry! There's still time!). As we’re In our current pandemic-, racism-, and climate-change-ravaged times, April and Tracie talk about the Shmita Year, or Sabbatical Year, which we just began at Rosh H…
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