Tzedek January 2022 Update

Happy secular New Year from Tzedek, the anti-racism group at Congregation Beth Shalom. This month, we bring you updates on tutoring, the upcoming Torah of Color course, and the winter coat drive. We are also still working on additional follow-up activities following the criminal justice system film and conversations of 2021, which we will discuss in a later issue.

Tutoring
CBS member, Vanessa Edrich, reports that she has started tutoring with Reading Partners at Martin Luther King Elementary School and is really impressed with their well-designed, evidence-based literacy program, which focuses on providing tutoring to Kindergarten through 3rd graders at Title 1 schools nationwide and at five schools in the Seattle area.

The tutoring normally is in-person at the school site in rooms set up as Reading Partner resource centers. However, in response to COVID 19, Reading Partners developed a virtual program as well. Reading Partners provides an orientation, extensive training videos, and detailed explicit instructions for each lesson plan in the series for each reading level. 

Learn more about Reading Partners here: https://readingpartners.org

Vanessa would be happy to have interested folks from CBS contact her for more information about the program, the onboarding process, or to discuss her experiences so far. 

Torah of Color Course 
We are working on the details for the Torah of Color course that is part of the Ignition grant that CBS and Tzedek received from the Jewish Federation of Seattle in 2021. While the plans are still in their infancy, the goal is to offer this class in 2022 in a way that connects our modern day anti-racism practice to a grounding in Torah learning. We are in conversation with a Black Jewish educator who would create a custom curriculum, with the perspectives of our community in mind. In addition to speaking with the Tzedek team about our goals, this includes welcoming input from Jews of Color. If you identify as someone who is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color (BIPOC) and Jewish, and you would like to share your perspectives with the educator, please contact Melani at: melanibaker@bethshalomseattle.org

Toddah Rabah
Thank you to everyone who donated for our Winter Coat drive in support of Byrd Barr Place. Byrd Barr directly distributed coats to adults in their programs, and worked with partners at the World School and Kandelia (a community-based organization reaching Vietnamese immigrants) to get coats to children who are homeless. This article was written before the end of the coat drive in December so the numbers may increase, but we can say for sure that CBS members donated over 100 coats to our neighbors in need of warmth. Our contact at Byrd Barr Place said of the coat drive, “Knowing that a young person will wear every single coat brings me a tremendous amount of joy.” We agree! While the needs are significant, so to is our community’s compassion and sense of tikkun olam. Thank you.