Coalition sponsors are organizations that endorse the work that the JMCP is doing and that contribute $101 towards the continued development of this project. Coalition Sponsors have the opportunity to implement finished pieces of our curriculum and receive hands-on curriculum training seminars beginning this Fall, a year before they are made available to the general public. In addition, Coalition Sponsors will be publicly honored on our curriculum guide as well as on our website,as organizations helping pioneer Jewish MultiCultural education in America.
The JMCP just began our formal coalition outreach in June 2002. We invite your organization to add its name to the growing list of Coalition Sponsors. To do so, please contact our Project Director,our East Coast Director or our Midwest Director. Following are organizations that have joined so far:
ALMAYA: Association for the Advancement of the Ethiopian Family and Child in Israel was established following "Operation Moses," the first large wave of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel. ALMAYA developed innovative, community-based, early childhood programs facilitated by Ethiopian-Israeli professionals, to empower the new immigrants. ALMAYA's programs quickly served as a national model for immigrant absorption. Today, the National ALMAYA Resource, Training and Dissemination Center supervises programs in 25 towns throughout Israel. The Center trains professionals, develops educational materials that incorporate Ethiopian cultural heritage, and offers seminars on Ethiopian Jewish history, culture, and current political struggles. The ALMAYA Home Visiting Program was awarded The Clore Foundation 50th Anniversary Prize in the category of absorption of Ethiopian immigrants in 1998. ALMAYA looks forward to working with the JMCP on promoting Ethiopian Jewish heritage throughout Israel and the United States.
Adat Ari El Day School is a Solomon Schechter School, affiliated with Adat Ari El synagogue, a Conservative congregation. The school is accredited with the California Association of Independent Schools and the Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education. Adat Ari El is dedicated to excellence in both Judaic and General Studies, and it offers a dynamic environment in which a student's Jewish life and life in American society co-exist in harmony. Given the increasing diversity of the Los Angeles area, Adat Ari El looks forward to exposing students to the study of MultiCulturalism through a Jewish lens.
American Jewish Committee of Milwaukee works to promote pluralism, with an emphasis on inter-group and inter-faith relations. The organization is eager to incorporate the JMCP educational methods of building bridges between the Jewish and non-Jewish communities in Milwaukee.
Anti Defamation League of Los Angeles is committed to fostering tolerance and inter-cultural dialogue. The organization offers anti-bias training to prepare students, adults and other community members to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse world. The ADL looks forward to implementing JMCP educational techniques, to promote awareness and celebration of diversity of the Los Angeles Jewish community.
The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center (BJHC) is both a research institute and a museum, with an impressive collection of ethnographic material, Judaica, archival documents, books and manuscripts. The BJHC publishes research work and journals, organizes exhibitions and holds cultural events and conferences. It has strong ties with Jews of Iraqi origin, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, and it is in the process of compiling an extensive genealogical database of families originating in Iraq. The JMCP has turned to the BJHC as a main source of materials about the Jewish community of Iraq, and the two organizations look forward to continuing to support each other's work.
Beth Chaim Chadashim,
"House of New Life" in Los Angeles, is the first synagogue founded for and by the GLBT community. The congregation is a diverse patchwork of individuals who have formed a welcoming and warm community. Beth Chaim Chadashim is a Reform synagogue that stresses the importance of sensitivity and diversity in its community, emphasizing the notion that all of us are formed B'tzelem Elohim (in G-d's image). The congregation looks forward to working with the JMCP in order to bring yet another level of diversity into its community.
Coalition for Jewish Learning (CJL) provides a support system for Milwaukee’s institutions of Jewish learning and makes excellence in Jewish education a top priority on the community's agenda. CJL achieves its mission by forging partnerships with an array of other community agencies, bringing together those who share common goals. The organization is excited to work with the JMCP in many capacities, including the newly-launched Milwaukee Jewish Diversity Initiative.
Cochin Jewry Heritage Center (011-972-8-623-8299) is located on Moshav Nevatim in the Negev Desert, where a community of Cochin Jews settled in Israel. The Center includes a museum and a synagogue, which together offer a multi-sensory experience of Jewish life in Cochin. The museum's permanent display features original objects from the cultural, religious, and daily life of the community. The synagogue strictly adheres to the prayers and customs of the Cochin tradition. The synagogue building follows the layout of the ancient synagogues in Cochin and includes the original teba (altar) and heikhal (Torah Ark) from Ernakulam, a suburb of Cochin. The Center looks forward to working with the JMCP on increasing awareness and celebration of Jewish heritage from East Asia.
Congregation Beth El is a liberal congregation guided by a reverence for tradition. The congregation extends a cordial invitation to all people interested in sharing the worship, educational, and social activities of a dynamic religious community. The curriculum of the Religious School includes instruction in the Siddur, the Torah, Jewish history, contemporary Jewish issues and values, religious rituals, and Hebrew language. It is supplemented by a rich program of extra-curricular activities including music, dramatics, and arts and crafts. Congregation Beth El is excited to work with the JMCP in diversifying its programming, and the Religious School plans to incorporate the JMCP curriculum beginning in Fall 2002.
Congregation B'nai Horin-Children of Freedom is a Jewish Renewal congregation affiliated with Aleph, the Alliance of Jewish Renewal Communities. The synagogue is dedicated to MultiCultural representation and celebration, weaving in traditions from the Ethiopian, Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi heritages. The community emphasizes joyous celebration of Judaism through music, dance, and and an open heart.
Congregation B'nai Shalom is the largest Conservative synagogue in Contra Costa County, emphasizing traditional Judaism while welcoming new forms of religious experiences. The synagogue is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and is observes kashrut, shabbat and Jewish holidays. The synagogue offers a high quality religious school with a dedicated professional staff, working to give each child an understanding and appreciation for Jewish history, culture, and religious traditions. The synagogue is eager to incorporate the JMCP curriculum and seminars into its current programming.
Congregation Emanu-El has a history of pioneering the frontiers of Jewish life. Established in 1850, it was the first synagogue built west of the Mississippi. In 1859, Emanu-El congregants raised several thousand dollars on behalf of persecuted Jews in Morocco, and the synagogue has since continued to be involved in the well-being of Jews around the world. In 1994, Congregation Emanu-El was one of the first Bay Area synagogues to incorporate Jewish MultiCultural programming, inviting Loolwa Khazzoom to give workshops about Jewish history, culture, and religious traditions from across the globe. These programs were offered through the adult education department, religious school, and women's group. Congregation Emanu-El is delighted to continue expanding its Jewish MultiCultural repertoire through working with the JMCP.
Congregation Netivot Shalom, "Paths of Peace", was established in 1987 and grew out the collective commitment to create an egalitarian spiritual home for Conservative Jews in the East Bay. Their goal is to provide a commitment to traditional Conservative Judaism in a participatory egalitarian context and to create a vibrant home for prayer, worship, learning and gemilut hasadim (acts of loving-kindness). Diversity, especially for a congregation located in Berkeley, is a challenge. Congregation Netivot Shalom looks forward to learning from the JMCP.
Congregation Sha'ar Zahav was established in 1977 to serve the GLBT community. Within this community, the congregation boasts a wide range of ethnic, class, and cultural backgrounds. The synagogue's leaders are committed to sustaining a safe environment to nuture and express the diverse values of the community, through creative prayer, study, mitzvot and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Sha'ar Zahav is eager to work with the JMCP, to further enhance its celebration of Jewish diversity.
Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos has received a $700 grant from
the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, to purchase the books, videos, and CDs needed to implement finished pieces of the JMCP curriculum in Fall 2002, for the elementary and middle school levels. In addition, the synagogue's high school teacher will be working with the project staff on adapting the existing curriculum to high school level and implementing it throughout the year.
Congregation Shir Hadash in Milwaukee looks forward to incorporating the JMCP curriculum into its Family Education program, as part of the Milwaukee Jewish Diversity Initiative (MJDI). MJDI is co-sponsored by the Black Holocaust Museum and the Milwaukee chapters of the JMCP, the Coalition on Jewish Learning, and the American Jewish Committee.
David Project works for peace and justice in the Middle East, through offering educational programs at universities throughout North America. Universities that have been served include Harvard, Yale, MIT, Wellesley, Brown, Georgetown, and McGill. A strong emphasis is on the history of Mizrahim, Jews indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. The Speakers Bureau consists of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and non-Jewish ethnic minorities of the Middle East. The David Project looks forward to incorporating JMCP materials into its training sessions, as part of raising awareness about Israel's and world Jewry's ethnic diversity.
Ethiopian Arts Center developed as a vehicle for empowering Ethiopian women in Be'er Sheva, Israel. Through this center, dozens of Ethiopian-Israeli women offer classes in traditional Ethiopian pottery, teaching people from all backgrounds how to sculpt elaborate objects from nothing but a stone and slab of clay. While teaching pottery classes, the women also teach about the history, culture, and daily life of Ethiopian Jews. The mission of the Ethiopian Arts Center is to open people's eyes to the richness of Ethiopian Jewish heritage, and to instill pride within the Ethiopian Jewish community. The Center looks forward to working closely with the JMCP, in spreading awareness and appreciation of Jewish art from Ethiopia.
Farbrangen Cheder is an alternative, cooperative Hebrew School in the Washington D.C. area, involving the whole family in the educational process. The community is passionate about music, social justice and Jewish diversity. The JMCP curriculum is of particular interest to the community, because of the numerous multi-racial Jewish famlies invovled in the school.
Jewish Multiracial Network is a national organization bringing Jewish multi-racial families and individuals together to learn about and celebrate Judaism. They create community for a large and growing part of
the Jewish community that often feels alienated from Jewish life. They are very excited to work with the JMCP in Jewish diversity outreach.
JIMENA works to educate the public
about the history, heritage, and social justice concerns of Jewish
refugees from Arab countries. They feel that a Jewish MultiCultural curriculum is central to this education and welcome the opportunity to work with the JMCP.
Kulanu is a national organization dedicated to finding and assisting lost and dispersed Jewish communities. Kulanu members travel to Uganda, Peru, Ghana, China, and many other countries across the globe, bringing Jewish friendship and learning to ancient Jewish communities struggling to reclaim their Judaism, as well as to isolated communities that have chosen Judaism in modern times. Kulanu has been indispensible to the JMCP in supplying information about the Lost Tribes and about Third World communities that have embraced Judaism. The JMCP is thrilled to have Kulanu on board.
Milwaukee Jewish Day School offers an integrated general and Jewish studies curriculum that provides each student with an outstanding academic and Jewish education. In addition to daily Hebrew and Jewish Studies classes, students receive comprehensive instruction in all aspects of language arts, science, math and social studies. Specialists in art, music, computers and physical education round out the students' education. The school's emphasis is on overall development and self-confidence of students. As part of this focus, MJDS is delighted to incorporate the JMCP curriculum, helping students of all ethnicities feel proud of and excited about their international Jewish heritage.
Moreshet Network is an outreach program of the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The program is dedicated to networking among Black Jews; coalition-building among Jews of diverse ethnic backgrounds and Jewish communities and Hebrew/Israelite communities; imparting accurate information about Jews of African heritage; and doing tikkun olam through through social justice work. The Network is delighted to implement JMCP strategies for promoting Jewish MultiCultural awareness and celebration.
Museum of Tolerance is a high tech, hands-on experiential museum that focuses on two central themes through unique interactive exhibits: the dynamics of racism and prejudice in America and the history of the Holocaust. The Museum, the educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, was founded to challenge visitors to confront bigotry and racism, and to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts. The Museum of Tolerance looks forward to developing new programs with the JMCP, through the Tools for Tolerance program.
Renanot Institute for Jewish Music The Renanot Institute for Jewish Music was established in 1958 to preserve Jewish music from around the world. The Institute publishes CDs, cassettes, books, and booklets and holds Jewish music concerts across Israel. It also offers teacher training seminars, cantor classes, and Torah trope classes, providing a solid foundation in Eastern and Western Jewish music traditions. The JMCP has relied heavily on Renanot for international Jewish music recordings, and the two organizations look forward to continuing to support each other's work.
San Francisco Jewish Community Center, founded in 1877, is the oldest Jewish center on the west coast. The SFJCC aims to serve the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Community with religious, social, educational, cultural and athletic programming. The SFJCC prides itself on its instilling of the importance of Jewish Identity to its participants. The SFJCC, through working with the Jewish MultiCultural Project, will be able to create programs that reflect another of its intentions -- to facilitate connections with Jews worldwide.
Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel is a non-denominational Sephardic synagogue, where Sephardic tradition interfaces with modern American Jewish expression. Founded by a small group of Sephardic, Ladino speaking immigrants in 1920, the synagogue has blossomed into a full service congregation, with a membership that reflects the diversity of the Jewish community. Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel's central focus is on youth education, to ensure continuity of the spiritual and intellectual heritage of Sephardim. The congregation was part of the One People Many Voices Coalition, directed by Loolwa Khazzoom from 1993-1994, and the synagogue is pleased to now work with the JMCP on bringing Sephardic heritage into the Jewish mainstream.
Sinai Akiba Academy is a day school is Los Angeles, with a focus on inspired teaching, high academic standards, and Judaic commitment. The school is ethnically diverse and boasts one of the largest Iranian-American student bodies in American Jewish schools. The school looks forward to incorporating JMCP studies about Jews across the globe.
Swirl, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving as a support, social, and educational network for trans-racial adoptees, inter-racial couples, mixed-race adults, and mixed-race families. Their organization is eager to help the JMCP educate the Jewish world about mixed race Jewish families and individuals.
Tehiyah Day School serves as the fiscal sponsor of the JMCP, as we apply for our own tax-exempt status. Rabbi Tsipi Gabai, the Assistant Director of the school, is on the JMCP Board of Directors and is a volunteer JMCP staff member, working as a curriculum consultant and liaison between the JMCP and the school. Tehiyah boasts a diverse staff and student body, with a significant number of Mizrahim, Sephardim, and Ashkneazi Jews of color. Through Gabai's leadership, the school developed a cutting edge middle school curriculum on North African and Middle Eastern Jews, and student work was displayed at an exhibit in the Oakland Museum. The JMCP has incorporated this curriculum and is now expanding and ehancing it, to include the study of Jewish communities from Ethiopia, Central and East Asia, Latin America, and Southern Europe.
Temple Israel of Hollywood was founded in 1926 by eight men, five of whom were prominent in the then-infant film industry. Since its inception, Temple Israel has been grounded in the spirit of social activism and prophetic justice. working to express Judaism1s highest ethical and moral ideals through prayer, education, study, and community involvement. The synagogue is led by the first female rabbi from the Iranian community, Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh, and the congregation looks forward to working with the JMCP on increasing awareness and celebration of Jewish diversity.
Yachad B'Shalom (YBS) promotes awareness of multi-racial Jewish families and Jewish heritage from around the world. The organization helps provide a broad-based perspective on the Jewish community, through a collection of resources on Jewish diversity and Cafe Ami, a new magazine dedicated to Jewish MultiCultural identity. YBS is eager to work with the JMCP on strengthening each other's impact on our community.
has established itself as one of the world's most dynamic Jewish cultural institutions, and is among the most prominent cultural venues in the United States. Its mission is to explore the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals. It seeks to welcome and inspire people of every ethnic and cultural identity in American life and build a society in which everyone can feel at home. Skirball Cultural Center offers numerous interactive student tours, including Jews Around the World, Archaeology of the Near East, and Americans and Their Family Stories. The education department has also created outreach materials for schools, including a slide show on Ethiopian Jews, and it looks forward to working with the JMCP on collaborative educational efforts.
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©2002 by the Jewish MultiCultural Project.™
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