Living Our Values

NSP is a multiracial Jewish community committed to dismantling racism and white supremacy. The Anti-Racism Working Group (ARWG), a multi-racial team of NSP leaders and members, works to institutionalize this commitment in the operations of NSP and the life of our community. The ARWG’s responsibilities include:

1. Define and achieve alignment – in partnership with NSP leadership – around a set of goals and priorities. 
2. Make plans for how we’ll meet our goals, including who takes responsibility for each goal/project (which may or may not be a member of the working group), what resources they’ll need, and how best to sequence steps and stages of this work.
3. Check in on progress – provide supportive accountability to those who are leading pieces of the work and our consultants, ensuring NSP is moving closer to the goals we’ve set to develop a thriving, not just a protective environment; evaluate/troubleshoot how it’s going; reflect on what we are learning; communicate regularly and transparently to leadership and the community.

If you’re interested in learning more, participating in a training or other anti-racism program, or contributing to this work in some way, please contact the ARWG at antiracism@newsynagogueproject.org.

Goals

In November 2021, the leadership of NSP adopted the following community goals proposed by the ARWG:

1. Within the next 12-18 months, establish anti-racism practices (e.g. redress for harm, accountability/enforcement, transparency) among NSP community, especially staff, leaders, and volunteers. 
   • Develop practices and provide training for leadership and community to address and learn from harms and build accountability with an understanding that processes must be unique to the context and attuned to level of commitment for each person involved.
   • Equip anyone taking a leadership role at NSP to do so with an understanding of the multicultural and antiracist space we want to build
2. Within the next 12-18 months, develop training and learning opportunities for members where at least 75% of the congregation is actively participating in or engaged in the work.
   • Develop content for member orientation to acculturate newcomers, including content oriented toward kids and parents.
   • Develop discussion groups and caucus spaces to build socialization of concepts and norms.
   • Establish practices to ensure all NSP content and programming, for both adults and kids, represents the diversity of the Jewish community and values the experiences and traditions of Jews of Color rather than centering whiteness as a default.
   • Develop structure around NSP messaging and content to such that everyone entering NSP spaces understands our vision for a multicultural community and is equipped to be an active participant in building it.
   • Ensure that all learning opportunities offered by NSP, including our kids education program, instill appreciation for the inherent multiracial identity of the Jewish community and include history of JOC communities around the world and historical figures who identified as Black and Jewish
3. Build a multiracial community in which Jewish and other people of color feel like they belong in NSP spaces, a reality reflected both in membership and leadership.  
   • Within 2-5 years, the NSP community, leadership, and Kollel will at least reflect the racial makeup of the U.S. Jewish population (>15%).
   • Assure that NSP program participation and attendance, including in our kids education program, is racially diverse and balanced by creating experiences valuable to Jews of Color, particularly Black and Indigenous Jews.

Resources

Below are links to resources for learning more about how we can all play our part in creating a community of belonging for everyone who shows up at NSP. If you have ideas for additional resources that would be helpful to share with our community, please write to antiracism@newsynagogueproject.org.

• Tips for welcoming each other with an open heart and mind – guide from NSP’s Anti-Racism Working Group
• Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color – report commissioned by the Jews of Color Initiative
• Audacious Hospitality Resources from the Union for Reform Judaism, including a White Ashkenazi Awareness Checklist and Microaggressions Resource
• Anti-Racism Bibliography from Tru’ah, including suggested books, articles, podcasts, trainings and trainers to continued learning
• Watch Eli Talks by MaNishtana and Stacey Flint and sermon by Rabbi Angela Buchdal below.