Explore featured essays from Evolve with our discussion and study guides. Created with adult education in mind, these resources offer framing materials, group exercises and prompts which you can tailor to your community’s needs. Join groundbreaking Jewish conversations about urgent issues of our day.
Rabbis Jessica Rosenberg and Mackenzie Reynolds, Jews & White Privilege
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Rabbis Jessica Rosenberg and Mackenzie Reynolds provides a brief overview of American Jewish history, antisemitism in the 21st century and big questions for challenging assumptions about Jews, whiteness and privilege in the United States.
Aurora Levins Morales, Radical Inclusion
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Aurora Levins Morales teaches how declarations that everyone is welcome in a community are insufficient for Jews who do not identify as white. Jewishness is not the sole or primary identity for those who are oppressed and endangered because of the color of their skin.
Rabbi Alex Weissman, Halleluyah
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Rabbi Alex Weissman explores how through practicing gratitude and recognizing the complexities of privilege, we are better suited to pursue the work of changing the world.
Rabbi Maurice Harris, Tikkun Olam Is an Authentic Jewish Value
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Rabbi Maurice Harris argues that liberal Jewish communities have the full right to use tikkun olam as an umbrella term, despite opposition voiced by conservative critics. The spiritual significance of the term is not undervalued by the use of it.
Rabbi Josh Lesser, Preparing Our Communities for Conversations About Race
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Rabbi Joshua Lesser writes frankly about leadership, representation and making assumptions about Jews of color in spaces dominated by white Jews.
Rabbi Jane Litman, Loving the Complexity of Our Identities
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Identity politics hold an increasingly defining role in the American social and political landscape of the 21st century. Jane Litman explores the complexity of holding Jewish identity in relationship to other identities.
Rabbis Toba Spitzer and Brant Rosen, Cultivating Constructive Conversations about Israel/Palestine
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Rabbis Toba Spitzer and Brant Rosen pull from their long term involvement with groups focused on Israel/Palestine, and explore models and possibilities for constructive, civil conversation on the topic.
Rabbi Toba Spitzer, Peoplehood Reconsidered
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Rabbi Toba Spitzer dives into the use of metaphors in framing a picture of the Jewish people that is encompassing and defining, drawing on three conceptual metaphors: “covenant,” “narrative” and “tribal.” This class will explore themes of identity and metaphor.
