The Joyous Justice Podcast
178 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 months ago - ★★★★★ - 24 ratingsSystemic 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 practical aspects of the pursuit of justice AND wellness.
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Episodes
Ep 101: Love after Brokenness
August 11, 2022 10:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBIn 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 Lauryn Hill’s wisdom, “How you gon’ win when you ain’t right within?”, and meditate on the Jewishness of Groucho Marx’s quip “I don’t want to be a...
Ep 100: Tish B’Av, Trauma, and Embodied Grief
August 04, 2022 10:00 - 13 minutes - 9.04 MBIn 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 celebrate our 100th episode and all the magic and amazing conversation from the past two years (and more importantly, YOU, our dear listeners!) Check ou...
Ep. 99: Meditation and Courage: Wholeness For the Win
July 28, 2022 10:00 - 24 minutes - 16.9 MBIn 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-being are integral to justice work. Interested in joining our Grounded & Growing, Shift Your Life in 60 Days cohort, or any of our other progra...
Ep 98: Yes, and…it’s complicated: A TikTok Conversation Starter
July 21, 2022 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MBIn 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 & Growing and Shift Your Life in 60 Days)! Use the code JTRJ22 at checkout. Registration closes this Friday July 22nd!. Email us at hello@joyousjusti...
Ep 97: Grounded & Growing: From our Joyous Justice Summer Series
July 14, 2022 11:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBThis 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 multi-disciplinary wisdom and knowledge, which provides a practical guide for a trauma-informed racial justice practice. This episode also featur...
Ep 96: Shift Your Life in 60 Days
July 07, 2022 10:00 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBToday, 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 what we want when we’re in an intentional and supportive community (like that of Shift Your Life!). She also tells us about her experience with s...
Ep 95: Asking about Asking: Decentering Yourself for Accountability
June 30, 2022 10:00 - 11 minutes - 7.93 MBThis 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-resourced allies and still seek feedback? How can we decenter ourselves in allyship? How can we be mindful of how from whom and how we are getting...
Ep 94: Attention as a Tool for a Racial and Social Justice Practice
June 21, 2022 19:00 - 27 minutes - 18.9 MBIn 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 identities and experiences, our social justice practices are not one-size-fits-all. Some of us need to protect ourselves from re-traumatization. Others ne...
Ep 93: Lessons in Loosening: Juneteenth, Summer, and Shmita
June 16, 2022 10:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MBAs 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 the benefits and need for loosening in our lives, as we work to expand and feel into joy and liberation this summer. Find April and Tracie's fu...
Ep 92: Countering Injustice-fueled Loneliness
June 09, 2022 10:00 - 15 minutes - 10.6 MBThis 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 creates a specific kind of loneliness that compounds both inherited and personal trauma and has many of us believing we can only rely on ourselve...
Ep 91: Honest Truth; Authentic Change
June 02, 2022 10:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBIn 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 organizational change and healing take honesty, courage, and healing for individual members and leaders of those organizations. We dig into what we see...
Ep 91: Honest Truth; Authentic Change
June 02, 2022 10:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBIn 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 organizational change and healing take honesty, courage, and healing for individual members and leaders of those organizations. We dig into what we see...
Ep 90: The Shmita Year, the Year of Release (MVP)
May 25, 2022 10:00 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MBWe'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 Hashanah. How does one live out the values of the Shmita year when most of us are no longer working as farmers in the fields? They discuss how we c...
Ep 89: Proximity Alone is NOT Antiracism (MVP)
May 19, 2022 10:00 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MBThis week, we’re airing an earlier MVP (most valuable podcast) where April and Tracie dig into and challenge the oft-repeated notion that proximity across a line of difference immunizes against bigotry or racism. In other words, the assertion “I can’t be racist, my (fill-in-the-blank) is Black." We discuss how the good/bad binary plays into this misconception about proximity and clarify the fact that power and privilege remain intact even in proximate relationships. Ultimately, we offer list...
Ep. 88: Conditional Whiteness is Still Whiteness (MVP)
May 12, 2022 10:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MBWe’re bringing back an oldie but a VERY important goodie! In this week’s episode (or MVP, “most valuable podcast,”) April and Tracie discuss Eric Ward’s Skin in the Game point about the conditional whiteness of Ashkenazi Jews, unpacking (with both/and thinking) the reaction some Jews have regarding their whiteness. April uses her experiences as a United States citizen living in Senegal to explain how conditional privilege operates. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this epi...
Ep 87: When You Overhear Microaggressions (MVP)
May 05, 2022 10:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBThis week, we’re re-releasing an MVP --one of our Most Valuable Podcasts. Way back in episode 2, April and Tracie spoke about better alternatives to some of the micro-aggressive things white-identified Jews often say to Jews of Color. So what happens if you overhear someone else saying a micro-aggressive question or comment? What can you do? What should you do? How can you interrupt the oppression without falling into saviorism? April and Tracie dig into this question and offer some strateg...
Ep 86: Facing the Unfaceable: Yom HaShoah, Reparations, and Trauma-healing
April 28, 2022 10:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MBAs we commemorate Yom HaShoah, the Jewish-community-designated Holocaust Memorial Day, we talk about balancing the incomprehensible nature of the Shoah with the need to continue to work to process and heal (comrehend?) the collective trauma of the Shoah and its intergenerational effects. What more would be possible if we were able to access capacity-expanding healing? We also explore differences and commonalities between post-WWII German reparations and truth-telling and post-emancipation U...
Ep 85: Cultural appropriation & should we let go of “Let My People Go”?
April 21, 2022 10:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBThis Passover, there was an ongoing–sometimes heated–conversation on social media about singing the Negro spiritual “Let My People Go” during the Passover seder. In our conversation this week, April explains why she will continue to sing this song at her Seder table and we get into the nuance and the nitty-gritty of the debate around appropriation vs. appreciation (and we add in a few more steps that folks often miss). When we become aware something we’re doing is appropriative, how can we n...
Ep 84: What if we’re the Egyptians?
April 14, 2022 10:00 - 40 minutes - 27.6 MBThis Passover, we’re noticing that folks are quick to identify with the Israelites, but what about the circumstances where we’re in the role of the Egyptians? How can we work to dismantle the binary of good and bad, victim and villain and move toward greater wholeness? Can we invite the intervention that will alter the circumstances and lead to freedom? Can we do it without drowning in the proverbial sea? A first step is to build courageous reflection into our Passover practice that acknowle...
Ep 83: Beyond the Brisket: Creating a Liberatory Passover Practice
April 07, 2022 10:00 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MBAs we approach Passover 5782, we’re thinking about the tension inherent in commemorating a moment of acute urgency with practices that require a lot of time, intention, and planning. The Passover story contains multiple moments when our ancestors and predecessors displayed both faith and radical imagination, but when ritual becomes rigid, it can limit beliefs and imagination. April and Tracie investigate how we can use the Passover holiday, ritual, and greater awareness, to nurture and apply...
Ep 83: Beyond the Brisket: Creating a Liberatory Passover Practice
April 07, 2022 10:00 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MBAs we approach Passover 5782, we’re thinking about the tension inherent in commemorating a moment of acute urgency with practices that require a lot of time, intention, and planning. The Passover story contains multiple moments when our ancestors and predecessors displayed both faith and radical imagination, but when ritual becomes rigid, it can limit beliefs and imagination. April and Tracie investigate how we can use the Passover holiday, ritual, and greater awareness, to nurture and apply...
Ep 82: Showing up for justice when life gets hard (Live)
March 31, 2022 10:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MBThis week, we’re bringing you our conversation from our live event on March 23. If we’re being real here (which we ALWAYS are), we know that many of us (especially in the Jewish community) are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and hurt by the state of the world. April and Tracie (and a couple of amazing community members!) give us some helpful framings and tips for processing and moving through our hurt, process our emotions, and get through to the other side. And spoiler alert: you don’t have ...
Ep 81: Middle Agent Status, Alternatives to Whiteness, and Radical Imagination
March 24, 2022 10:00 - 48 minutes - 33.1 MBWe cover a LOT of ground in today’s conversation, where we get curious about what prevents some folks and groups from accessing joy. We talk about Black joy, the whiteness of white Jews and what often makes embracing joy difficult (and the impact of the historical middle agent role), individual and collective safety, and imagining our liberated selves and living into that. What would it look like for white Jews choose the side of liberation over whiteness? Check out our discussion/reflectio...
Ep 80: Cookies, Impact, and False Competition
March 17, 2022 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBInspired by the holiday of Purim, April and Tracie use the practice of giving mishloach manot or Purim baskets, to unpack the difference between intention and impact. (Who knew you could learn so much from fruit-filled cookies?) They also interrogate the relationship between Vashti and Esther, and use them as a metaphor for differently-positioned Jewish Leaders of Color today. The megillah (Scroll of Esther) positions them as competitors, but we imagine what it would look like if they recogn...
Ep 79: On Purim, Joy, and Liberation (25 Reprise)
March 10, 2022 11:00 - 24 minutes - 17.2 MBApril and Tracie think about some of the lessons of Purim: hidden identities, the power of 'no,' the power of being in the right place, the importance of joy, and the links between joy and liberation. Find discussion questions for this episode: joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-79 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...
Ep 78: Feeling Rage, Finding Joy (Reprise of Ep 10)
March 03, 2022 11:00 - 30 minutes - 20.9 MBWith all that’s going on in the world right now (and since we’re in the middle of two (2!) months of Adar, we thought it would be good to reprise Episode 10 from the conclusion of election season. Tracie asks April for advice on working through the negative emotions that sometimes accompany justice work. They unpack the ways we've been taught to associate anger or rage with justice work (and anxiety with intelligence), and April shares suggestions for achieving the positive effects of BOTH f...
Ep 77: When you think you’re The Good Place 😇 but you’re really Schitt’s Creek 😮
February 24, 2022 11:00 - 38 minutes - 26.1 MBA couple of weeks ago, we did a Facebook Live where we used popular tv shows to help us playfully make a point about how folks sometimes overestimate their skills when it comes to DEI work–or really anything. In this episode, we revisit that conversation and add some additional commentary. If you tuned in the first time around, stick around for a whole lot more. And, fair warning, there are some definite spoilers of the tv show the Good Place in our follow up conversation. Check out our dis...
Ep 76: Jewishness is a particle AND a wave
February 17, 2022 11:00 - 24 minutes - 16.9 MBIn today’s conversation, April and Tracie unpack white Jews’ whiteness, the history of race and Jewish racialized identities, and the benefits of getting clear about who is actually in the ingroup. Using metaphors from physics to sanctuaries, we talk about historic and contemporary intersections of the social construct of race and lived identities of Jews. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-76 Find Ap...
Ep 75: Whoopi Goldberg, the Oppression Scale, and the Emotional Thermometer
February 10, 2022 11:00 - 52 minutes - 36.3 MBIn this edited version of a Facebook live that April recorded after Whoopi Goldberg’s comments and the controversy that followed, April digs deep into her analysis of the reactions many in the Jewish community expressed. Internalized terror and persisting unhealed trauma–elicited by the Holocaust and centuries of persecution–among white Ashkenazi Jews has caused an understandable misalignment between those folks’ emotional thermometer and the actual thread of danger on the oppression scale. ...
Ep 74: Intellectual intimacy and interdependent intellectual independence
February 03, 2022 11:00 - 29 minutes - 20 MBMany of us are learning about racial justice and trying to implement DEI in our lives and workplaces, but sometimes we become so stuck in our questions that it keeps us distanced and prevents us from going–and staying–in the deep end. In this conversation, April and Tracie challenge us to get intellectually intimate with the learning and to use our systems of accountability and partnership to stay in this close relationship while also taking ownership of ourselves. Check out our discussion/...
Ep 73: Colleyville, Community Healing, and Showing Up
January 27, 2022 11:00 - 40 minutes - 27.6 MBIt’s been almost two weeks since the Colleyville synagogue hostage situation, an antisemitic event that was incredibly scary for Jewish communities. During this conversation from just a few days after, we dive into the feelings of isolation that many of us are experiencing, the all-encompassing nature of grief, our internalized terror and communal need for healing, and what it looks likes when we show up and support one another across lines of difference. Check out our discussion/reflectio...
Ep 72: If Enoughness is a Carrot It Can Be an Obstacle
January 20, 2022 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBA few weeks into 2022, April and Tracie share with us what they’ve learned about how to set intentions and their best practices for succeeding. Referencing the conversation they had in Episode 70, they chat about achieving goals versus implementing systems. They unpack some of the patterns around setting intentions and assumptions of our own enoughness. Tracie shares her personal 10 commandments for the upcoming year. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https:...
Ep 71: Tu B’Shvat and MLK Day: Deepening the Roots of Racial Justice
January 13, 2022 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.8 MBAs MLK Day and Tu B'Shvat overlap this coming week, April and Tracie unpack the lessons we can learn from trees and their growth in our racial justice journeys. They get into the nuances and differences between treating the symptoms of oppression and injustice – often addressed through “service” – and diagnosing and healing the root causes. And, they think about what we can do to genuinely honor Dr. King’s legacy. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joy...
Ep 70: Why Do So Many Resolutions “Fail”?
January 06, 2022 11:00 - 33 minutes - 23.3 MBIt’s the first week of January and April and Tracie are thinking about resolutions. We delve into willpower, habits, and mindset, and discuss the role of American individualism in the culture of New Year’s Resolutions. Ultimately, we look for a better way to change our habits–and stop beating ourselves up with flawed systems. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-70 Find April and Tracie's full bios and s...
Ep 69: Q&A Or Q&Stay?
December 30, 2021 11:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBIn this week’s episode, April and Tracie talk about how questions around racial justice often come from a place of “stuckness,” keeping us from making real progress on racial justice. They discuss ways in which you can work through your questions to get past this stuckness. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-69 Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalk...
Ep 68: Stay Humble and Keep Going
December 23, 2021 11:00 - 20 minutes - 14.5 MBIn this week’s episode, Tracie and April discuss the phrase, “stay humble and keep going,” the final words of the podcast every week. They explore why they chose this simple phrase and what it means to them. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-67 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 t...
Ep 67: When “Helpful” Feedback is Hurtful
December 16, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 17.2 MBThis week, we’re sharing an excerpt from one of our “Shared Agreements” videos of Racial Justice Launch Pad, a recently-released Joyous Justice program. April and Tracie discuss the dynamics of power and privilege baked into the well-known phrase “the customer is always right.” They also unpack the pattern of being “helpful” by giving (critical) feedback. They teach us what it can look like when we give feedback that is mindful and relational. Check out our discussion/reflection questions f...
Ep 66: Shleimut - Wholeness and JOC’s Multi-dimensional Consciousness
December 09, 2021 11:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBIn this week’s episode, Tracie and April reflect on the concept of Shleimut, Wholeness, and how it was a driving force for April when she created the Ko’ach Fellowship, supported by Rise Up. April shares more about the Ko’ach Fellowship and together with Tracie, they discuss how healing, wholeness, and peace are all interconnected. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-66 Find April and Tracie's full bio...
Ep 65: Chanukah: Light and Darkness
December 02, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 15.9 MBIn this week’s episode, April and Tracie use the Talmudic debate on how to light the Chanukah menorah to reflect on light, darkness, and what this holiday can teach us about navigating the difficult times in our lives. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-65 Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com Learn more about Joyous Justice where...
Ep 64: Grateful Family Day
November 25, 2021 11:00 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MBIn this week’s episode April and Tracie continue to explore their thoughts around Thanksgiving and the tension between a holiday about gratitude and family and its racist, genocidal origins. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-64 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 f...
Ep 63: Proximity is NOT Antiracism
November 18, 2021 11:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBApril and Tracie dig into and challenge the oft-repeated notion that proximity across a line of difference immunizes against bigotry or racism. In other words, the assertion “I can’t be racist, my (fill-in-the-blank) is Black." We discuss how the good/bad binary plays into this misconception about proximity and clarify the fact that power and privilege remain intact even in proximate relationships. Ultimately, we offer listeners thoughts on how to counter these normal impulses and ultimately...
Ep 63: Proximity Alone is NOT Antiracism
November 18, 2021 11:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBApril and Tracie dig into and challenge the oft-repeated notion that proximity across a line of difference immunizes against bigotry or racism. In other words, the assertion “I can’t be racist, my (fill-in-the-blank) is Black." We discuss how the good/bad binary plays into this misconception about proximity and clarify the fact that power and privilege remain intact even in proximate relationships. Ultimately, we offer listeners thoughts on how to counter these normal impulses and ultimately...
Ep 62: Support People Support Peace
November 11, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBApril and Tracie spend Veterans’ Day reflecting on their family connections to veterans and the ways in which our country has treated veterans throughout our history. The political conversations that happen around war and policy often employ either/or thinking that leads us to forget the human beings and all those connected to them, who are forever changed by these military policies. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-r...
Ep 62: Support People Support Peace
November 11, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBApril and Tracie spend Veterans’ Day reflecting on their family connections to veterans and the ways in which our country has treated veterans throughout our history. The political conversations that happen around war and policy often employ either/or thinking that leads us to forget the human beings and all those connected to them, who are forever changed by these military policies. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-r...
Ep 61: Does April hate America?
November 04, 2021 10:00 - 33 minutes - 23.2 MBIn this week’s episode, April and Tracie unpack the false assumption that some folks have expressed--that April “hates America” since she has chosen to relocate out of the States, and to West Africa, no less. This question leads April and Tracie to think about the hierarchies and racism built into conventional assessments of different cultures both within and outside of America. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-...
Ep 60: You Can’t Hire Your Way to Racial Justice
October 28, 2021 10:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MBIn this week’s episode, April and Tracie discuss the dangers of making that “diversity hire” when the organization hasn’t done the necessary work of deconstructing dynamics of oppression, so that “diversity hire” needs to endure unhealthy and unsustainable microaggressions and worse. They discuss strategies for how to avoid this and set up new colleagues for success. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep...
Ep 59: Jewface and Jewish Characters in Media
October 21, 2021 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.4 MBOn this week’s episode, Tracie and April discuss the recent discussion on the concept of “Jewface” that followed a recent podcast by Sarah Silverman on the topic. They discuss a few different perspectives on the topic and reflect on the patterns within the portrayal of Jewish characters in media. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-59 Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for t...
Ep 58: We are the Product of Our Ancestor’s Choices
October 14, 2021 10:00 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MBIn this week’s episode, April shares more about her ongoing exploration around her Indigenous, Cherokee heritage and the impact a healing workshop had on her desire to live and embody this aspect of her identity. Tracie and April use this exploration to reflect on the ways in which we are the products of our ancestors’ choices to survive the oppressions they faced. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-58...
Ep 57: The Shmita Year, the Year of Release
October 07, 2021 10:00 - 34 minutes - 24.1 MBIn 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 Hashanah. How does one live out the values of the Shmita year when most of us are no longer working as farmers in the fields? They discuss how we can use this particular moment to lean into its themes, reconnect with the Earth, and find greater balance in what we endeavor to control and what we allow to happen organically. Learn m...
Ep 56: Simchat Torah, Essential Letters, and Why ALL of Our Life Curricula is Needed
September 30, 2021 10:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBIn this week’s episode Tracie and April discuss some of the traditions related to the holiday of Simchat Torah (lit. “Joy of Torah”). 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 curricula. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-56 Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit t...