1. LIMMUD UK How can we promote inclusivity in our multiracial, intersectional Jewish future? ilana kaufman public affairs and civic engagement director

2. Our Community Ecosystem. Where are the Jews. Who are the Jews
Our Community Ecosystem. Where are the Jews? Who are the Jews? Why does it Matter to the Future of US Jewry?
Opportunities?
Challenges?
You can’t stop the diversity, the intermarriage, the inclusive perspectives. So do you push Jews away or broaden the tent?
When you consider all of the organizations for LGBT, Disabled, Jews of Color….what is the Tent? What is Peoplehood? What is a centralized Jewish identity? And has the idea of the organized Jewish community forcing Jews to identify, practice and feel one way about important issues, (Like interpretation of Halacha and Israel) pushed Jews away from organized, centralized Judaism? What’s the cost? Can a more inclusive, intersectional approach actually expand and strengthen the Jewish community?

3. Intersectionality, the term and theory was coined in 1989 by legal scholar and critical theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw; professor of law at Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles, law schools
Intersectionality is the study of overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination. Intersectionality is the idea that multiple identities intersect to create a whole that is different from the component identities.
These identities that can intersect include gender, race, social class, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, age, mental disability, physical disability, mental illness, and physical illness as well as other forms of identity.
These aspects of identity are not “unitary, mutually exclusive entities, but rather…reciprocally constructing phenomena.

4. What is Intersectionality*?
Intersectionality simply exists. Everyone is intersectional. Everyone has the multiple, inseparable identities of their gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race….
Intersectionality is not a movement. It is a theory designed to react to monodimensional identity domination.
Intersectionality (verb); Unification of multiple identities in a non competitive and non hierarchical way.  Intersectionality (noun); A conceptual framework, theory, mindset and capacity that frames a process, situation, issue or community dynamic through multiple, unified, non competitive and non hierarchical identity lenses.
We can learn from the white dominated US feminist movement that did not acknowledge or address the issues and concerns of women of color and the queer women. The diverse US Jewish community must understand the diversity within and among, address the needs of those communities, and then unify diverse Jewish communities across common ground (Judaism? Israel?). But there is no US Jewish group that now simply accepts a monolithic,. Monodimensional approach to Jewish identity in the US.

5. Why Does Intersectionality Matter to Us as Professionals Working across Racially Diverse Communities, Coalitions and Identity Groups?
When in the field, we often hear:
From many White/Ashkenazi identified Jews concern that Intersectionality is anti-Semitic and something to fear. The fear makes it hard to feel safe. The notion of elevating all identities to Jewish identity is wonderful and presents challenges for how the organized Jewish community focuses energy and the concept of Peoplehood.
From many Jews of Color, Jewish LGBTQI and Jews who are of multiple identities (including diverse political perspectives) that without the Jewish community operating in intersectional ways there is no space for them to engage as whole people. That they are forced by the Jewish community to separate identities which creates pain, conflict and distance from the faith community they hold dear.
Not demonstrating understanding of intersectionality as Jews presents us with a credibility issue among non Jewish identity communities that value and harness intersectionality as a strength.
Racially diverse communities includes Jewish communities

6. Community Context: focus on race, understanding the future….
By 2042, Only every one hundred folks in the US will look like this, and just two will be Jewish.
Super generous and say 2% of the US is Jewish. And what do we know about those two Jews? What kind of context will they exist within? And what kinds of capacities and skills will they need to advocate for Jews within this context?

7. Jewish Population by Age
18-24: 9.6%
24-34: 15.6% %
35-44: 13%
45-54: 16.6%
55-64: 19.6%
65+: %

8. What do We Know About Jews Under 35?
Jews under 35 are intolerant of injustice and oppression of any kind
Intolerant of Antisemitism yet see it within a larger context of power, privilege and in/justice
Ambivalent about Israel, concerned about some settlement activity and see Palestinians as People of Color
Racial Justice means fighting White domination and supremacy
The Holocaust is a global atrocity among other global atrocities

9. Jewish Identity and Intermarriage

10. What Does it Mean to Be Jewish?

11. US Jews by Denomination

12. Raised as, but Switched to….

13. Jews of Color, Gender White non-Hispanic Black non-Hispanic Hispanic
Other non-Hispanic
Jewish
88.8% 3,765,500
1.7% 72,000
6.2% 263,100
3.3% 141,100
Total
65% 154,706,444
11.9% 28,373,892
15.6% 37,034,138
7.6% 18,014,481
Male
Female
Jewish
47% 1,994,600
53% 2,247,000
Total
48.6% 115,706,392
51.4% 122,422,562

14. A Finer Point on Jews of Color and Ethnicity

15. Parties and Politics Democrat Republican Other Jewish 54.2% 2,298,900
14.1% 596,200
31.7% 1,346,500
Total
36.3% 86,376,100
25.1% 59,694,200
38.7% 92,058,600
Liberal
Moderate
Conservative
Jewish
43% 1,824,100
36.1% 1,532,200
20.9% 885,300
Total
23.8% 56,577,900
37% 88,024,100
39.3% 93,527,000

16. Jews and LGBTQ… Community
Pew Research surveys conducted in find that 78% of Jews by religion favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally.
The current survey of U.S. Jews finds that about eight-in-ten (82%) say homosexuality should be accepted by society, while just 13% say it should be discouraged by society.
Eight-in-ten Jews by religion and nine-in-ten Jews of no religion say homosexuality should be accepted by society.
Jewish Republicans are less accepting of homosexuality than Jewish Democrats and independents at 51%.

18. What do we mean by Peoplehood?
Who are the Jews?
What do we mean by Peoplehood?
What’s the cost of exclusive, non-Intersectional approaches to nurturing the organized Jewish community ecosystem and to US Judaism?
You can’t stop the diversity, the intermarriage, the inclusive perspectives. So do you push Jews away or broaden the tent?

19. What is Intersectionality*?
Intersectionality simply exists. Everyone is intersectional. Everyone has the multiple, inseparable identities of their gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race….
Intersectionality is not a movement. It is a theory designed to react to monodimensional identity domination.
Intersectionality (verb); Unification of multiple identities in a non competitive and non hierarchical way.  Intersectionality (noun); A conceptual framework, theory, mindset and capacity that frames a process, situation, issue or community dynamic through multiple, unified, non competitive and non hierarchical identity lenses.
We can learn from the white dominated US feminist movement that did not acknowledge or address the issues and concerns of women of color and the queer women. The diverse US Jewish community must understand the diversity within and among, address the needs of those communities, and then unify diverse Jewish communities across common ground (Judaism? Israel?). But there is no US Jewish group that now simply accepts a monolithic,. Monodimensional approach to Jewish identity in the US.

20. Skills, tools and capacities to lean toward intersectional approaches:
-Develop disciplined and ultimately reflexive ways to approach problem solving that integrate an intersectional approach from the start. -Use inquiry rather than opinion and assumption. -Employ multiple lenses and perspectives. The benefits of intersectional approaches, mindsets and ways of operating as community professionals: -More inclusive. -Honors vs. makes competitive multiple identities. Keeps people whole. -Gives credibility and builds trust among diverse coalition partners. -For Jewish communities, makes space for supporting social justice of all kinds alongside fighting Anti-Semitism, including social justice movements inside of the Jewish community. -Keeps Jews of color, LGBTQI Jews, Jews of diverse identities inside the Jewish community as engaged community members, ambassadors, and role models.
Racially diverse communities includes Jewish communities

21. Questions, Answers, Discussion…

22. Thank You ikaufman@jcrc.org