Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 3: Yom Kippur, Cows, and Collective Accountability
QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW
April and Tracie consider the meaning of the Yom Kippur fast and its relation to racial justice work. Drawing on resources and stories from their own lives, Brené Brown's work, and the rabbis of the Talmud, they delve into the ways that perfectionism, hanger, individualism, and white fragility can sometimes get in the way of our sacred opportunities.
Content warning: Fasting
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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April and Tracie share what they are missing most about in-person Yom Kippur this year and how they’ve been adjusting to virtual High Holidays. How have you adjusted to virtual events this year? How has your personal t’shuvah shifted in terms of individual and collective reflection? And, how might you have grown from this experience?
Tracie and April reflect on how collective and individual moments of atonement intersect on Yom Kippur, specifically in in-person community gatherings. In your eyes, how do collective and individual atonement relate to one another, whether on Yom Kippur or during other points of the year? Is one more important than the other?
In your experience, how do you go about collective and individual accountability outside of Yom Kippur? How might we learn to practice accountability from the teachings of Yom Kippur? How might we apply non-Yom-Kippur-related practices of accountability to our observance of Yom Kippur and the High Holidays in general?
Tracie introduces us to a section of the Talmud where the Rabbis recount different scenarios in which another person’s cattle does harm to another person’s property and the appropriate next steps to correct the harm. She then makes the connection between the scenario of the regel, or leg - when one’s cow or oxen unintentionally harms another by the way it moves - and individualism as a characteristic of white supremacy culture. How might internalized individualism show up on your life and language? When might individualism be helpful? When is it harmful?
How can you practice accountability as an individual in racial justice work without invoking individualism as a characteristic of white supremacy and centering yourself - especially if you are white and/or have white privilege?
April and Tracie make parallels between “hanger” and white discomfort when interrogating their own racism, which, in the end, is harmful. What might these moments of “hanger” look like in other scenarios? How might you be able to “nourish” yourself in these moments to prevent harm being done to both yourself and others?
INSIGHTS FROM THE EPISODE
“Perfectionism can get in the way of people stepping into a sacred opportunity, whether it’s the sacred opportunity of doing anti-racist work and really sitting with the discomfort, or fasting.”
“I have definitely seen white people who are so about saying just the right thing or doing just the right thing that they don’t do anything and don’t engage at all. It’s about the importance of continuing to show up rather than getting it exactly right.”
“I want to invite you to set the intention that you have a meaningful Yom Kippur, and that if you’re up for it, that you stretch yourself and embrace the sacred invitation to do reflection in your life. ”
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
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