H eadlines
RRC To Launch Race, Racism Initiative
L OCA L
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
THE CENTER FOR Jewish
Ethics at the Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College in Wyncote
is developing an initiative
to explore the roles of race
and racism in American
Jewish experiences after
receiving a grant from the
National Endowment for the
Humanities. The tentatively titled
“Race, Religion and American
Judaism: Cross-Disciplinary
Research, Public Scholarship
and Curriculum Development”
will support scholarship around
the country on race and racism
in American Jewry and create a
curriculum and online course
based on the research that can
be shared with members of the
Jewish community. The grant
money will be used, in part,
to hire a program coordinator
to spearhead the initiative’s
programming. The one-year $199,500 grant
is part of NEH’s American
Rescue Plan, an $87.8 million
grant program to assist 300
cultural institutions
in maintaining or expanding
Rabbi Mira Wasserman, director of the Center for Jewish Ethics
(left) at the 2019 Center for Jewish Ethics conference in Philadelphia
 Photo by Jordan Cassway
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Vice President of Academic
Affairs Amanda Mbuvi
Photo by Rachel Forth
programming and staffing that
may have been impacted by the
pandemic. “This funding will allow
us to encourage research and
scholarship that might not
otherwise have been able to
happen,” Center for Jewish
Ethics Director Rabbi Mira
Wasserman said. “A lot of
scholars in the humanities are
really squeezed for resources,
and so this is a small way that
we can help.”
The initiative was inspired
by a 2021 lecture series
the center conducted in
helped us do.”
The Center for Jewish Ethics
will recruit 10 scholars at the
beginning of 2022 who are
finishing degrees or who “would
otherwise have support for their
research,” Wasserman said.

Amanda Mbuvi, RRC vice
president for academic affairs,
said the study of race and
racism in the Jewish context
could create “the momentum
behind galvanizing this as a
field of study and as a basis for
action.” “I’ve been in contexts before
where I’ve been asked to choose
from a menu of my academic
expertise, and there wasn’t
even an option to indicate
Judaism and race,” Mbuvi said.

“That wasn’t within the field of
Jewish studies.”
With a team of 10 scholars
exploring four disciplines
within the subject of race and
racism in American Jewry,
the center intends to start a
“cross-disciplinary” discus-
sion in synagogues, religious
schools and Jewish summer
camps that aren’t just about
recognizing diversity in the
Jewish community.

“There’s a reckoning and
an attentiveness ... that creates
space for people to be more
nimble in — not just tolerating
people or having a better analyt-
ical perspective on social issues
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partnership with the Herbert
D. Katz Center for Advanced
Judaic Studies at the University
of Pennsylvania. The series,
“Jews, Race, and Religion,”
consisted of 11 lectures from
scholars, including “Is the
Talmud Racist?” with Katz
Center Director Professor Steve
Weitzman and “Black Power,
Jewish Politics: Reinventing
The Alliance in the 1960s” with
San Francisco State University
Jewish Studies and Social
Responsibility Chair and
Professor Marc Dollinger.

“The impetus for this series
came out of the awakening that
was happening throughout
American society in the wake
of the murder of George
Floyd,” Wasserman said. “And
it was happening, as we know,
for Jews as well.”
Believing that all ethical
issues, racism included, should
be looked at through a Jewish
lens, Wasserman thought
a Jewish perspective on race
and racism could help further
illuminate the impact of racism
on American society and that
tackling the issues was a Jewish
responsibility. “Jewish life has always been
multiracial, multicultural,”
Wasserman said. “Broadening
the view of what Jewishness
is now, in what can be, is
something that these scholars
JEWISH EXPONENT
— but in really recognizing
diverse humanity,” Mbuvi said.

As a Bible scholar, Mbuvi
sees the importance of evolving
Jewish identity as central in the
book of Genesis: There are 11
chapters before God’s call to
Avram, asking him to go forth
and create the nation of Israel,
she said.

“It emphasizes identity as
something that’s a work in
progress,” Mbuvi said.

Wasserman believes
similarly that the value of
Jewish teachings is what guides
the forthcoming initiative.

“The pursuit of knowledge
is a Jewish value, and a piece
of that is the pursuit of truth,
but there’s also a strong Jewish
tradition committed to the
pursuit of justice,” Wasserman
said. “And when it comes to
the problem of racism, it’s
hard to understand how to
pursue justice if we don’t get
a good grip on exactly what
the injustice is, so we need to
understand the problem.”
The Jewish Center for Ethics
was established in 1994 as a
means “to help people and
communities address the
diverse ethical challenges of
contemporary life,” according
to the RRC website. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
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