Bread of Affliction: Matzah, Hunger, and Race

This Passover, utilize this conversation guide to explore the relationship between vulnerable communities and lack of access to nutritious food.

“The barriers to buying, cooking, and eating healthy foods are real.” This Passover dinner conversation guide engages the oppression of the Israelites in the book of Exodus as a launchpad to discuss a lack of access to healthy and sustainable foods in modern communities. Utilize this guide in a group setting to discuss and explore your, and your community’s, relationship to food insecurity while considering the Passover season as an invitation to think about those experiencing food insecurity today.

This guide was created in partnership with Hazon, dedicated to creating healthier and more sustainable communities in the Jewish world and beyond.

Guide to Respectful Conversations

This guide provides tools to utilize when facilitating a space for difficult conversations surrounding identity.

“The first step in speaking about race and racism, and recognizing how it plays a role in our own lives and communities, is to talk about it openly and honestly.” In this resource you will find tips and tricks for facilitating difficult conversations. Whether you are discussing racial justice, or other potentially uncomfortable conversations surrounding class, gender, etc., you can utilize this resource to set ground rules and be aware of the vulnerability in which you and your participants are sharing.

General Facilitation Tips

Facilitating vulnerable conversations requires practice. Here are some tips to create a brave space in which valuable discussion can take place.

To be a facilitator, you do not need to be the expert in the room, but you do need to make space for folks to feel comfortable to share. This resource provides you with tips and guidance on facilitation; from framing, during the conversation, and how to respond when challenging situations arise.

Jews and the Civil Rights Movement

Jewish people were heavily represented in the individuals that participated in the Civil Rights Movement, what effect did this have?

The narrative of being slaves in Egypt was one prominently referenced as theJewish obligation for involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. How and where did Jewish people show up during this time, and what effect did it have on both the Black and Jewish communities? This Turn the Tables guide, intended to be utilized in chevruta (partnered learning), walks you through various points of view on this relationship. Explore your relationship to Black liberation through various narratives and discussions.

Addressing Hunger Together

Thanksgiving is often a time of indulgent eating for many. This Thanksgiving consider taking a look at food injustices in our society and the impact of food insecurity on those who experience it.

“Millions of people are living in hunger in the United States of America. For every given or chosen family that gathers around Thanksgiving dinner tonight, there are many who approach another meal with anxiety and hopelessness.” When expressing gratitude for what you have this holiday season, consider those in your community and across the country who might not experience abundance or even certainty around the source of their next meal. This Turn the Tables Thanksgiving guide discusses the root causes of hunger, who is impacted, and ways to address it.

Role of Love in Service

What does love have to do with social justice and service? Dive deeper into the connections in this resource.

The great Jewish sage, Rabbi Akiva, writes that the fundamental principle of the Torah is “Love your fellow as yourself.” Through three case studies, dive deeper into the connections between love and service in your community, explore showing love and humility to people of various backgrounds and identities, and consider what love for others means to you.

Racial Justice Service Learning

What role can service learning play in the creation of a more just and equitable world? What action and learning must we participate in to help in such a process?

Jewish tradition teaches that the first human was created from dust of the four corners of the world in order for one to not be able to tell an individual to go back from where they came. Oppression and disenfranchisement exist in our society today and how can we combat systemic injustices through moments of learning? This comparative text study explores our relationship to those in our community that come from different backgrounds, and envisions a world of unity through service.

Nurturing a Lifetime of Volunteering: A Toolkit for Families Volunteering Together (ages 12-15)

This toolkit serves as guiding learning and reflections for families of 12-15 year olds in their service journey.

This guide is intended for parents who would like to serve as a family and offers tools to curate this experience. Through seven units , learn alongside your teens and pre-teens about how to serve meaningfully in your community, explore your relationship to service, and the Jewish values that may inform your path.

Repair the World gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Partnership for Effective Learning and Innovative Education (PELIE) and the Isaac and Carol Auerbach Family Foundation for their flagship role in the creation of the Family Volunteering Initiative and the production of this manual.

Nurturing a Lifetime of Volunteering: A Toolkit for Families Volunteering Together (ages 8-11)

This toolkit serves as guiding learning and reflections for families of 8-11 year olds in their service journey.

This guide is intended for parents who would like to engage in service with their family and offers tools to curate the experience. Through seven units of this toolkit, learn alongside your children about how to serve meaningfully in your community, explore your relationship to service, and the Jewish values that may inform your path.

Repair the World gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Partnership for Effective Learning and Innovative Education (PELIE) and the Isaac and Carol Auerbach Family Foundation for their flagship role in the creation of the Family Volunteering Initiative and the production of this manual.