Chapter 5: Current Efforts In DC Black-Jewish Community Cooperation
Tifereth Israel Neighborhood Tutoring, EBL Walk
“TI Sells Coffee | Ugandan Jewish, Christian, Muslim Cooperative” -Tifereth Israel Social Action Committee website
Tifereth Israel congregation (TI) continues to be known for its strong commitment to social justice and to working with the Shepherd Park community. TI, which has perhaps the largest number of multiracial Jewish members of any area synagogue apart from Temple Beth Emet, also hosts a number of Black church groups in the building. Since the Civil Rights era, when TI decided to stay in the neighborhood, the congregation has worked strongly with the local community. TI members work with the local neighborhood and the larger city in a variety of ways, including: “
Adult Projects
The membership of Tifereth Israel Congregation overlaps to an interesting extent with that of the nearby Washington Ethical Society, and cooperates in various annual events with the ethically minded Fabrangen Havurah. All three institutions espouse community cooperation and pride themselves on their social justice orientation. While they are all predominantly of European ancestral origin, these institutions have helped inspire the cause of multiracial, multi-ethnic and inter community cooperation. There are a few organizations in Washington, DC aimed specifically at Black-Jewish relations.
Sharing Points Of View
“My country ti's of thee … For thee We sing.” -Marian Anderson, 1939 Easter Concert
The Jewish Multiracial Network (JMN), like the Alliance of Black Jews before it, has been active in many cities, including Washington, DC, gathering Jews of varying ethnicities in a supportive environment, including an annual retreat, to allow sharing of the identity searching and building process that often goes with being a person of color in the Jewish community. The JMN works to counter the frequently mentioned sense of isolation accompanying African-American members of the Jewish community. The JMN also works to raise the profile of Jewish people of color, such as the recently crowned Ethiopian Miss Israel.
Another organization based on similar programs in other cities was Operation Understanding (OU). OU DC brings together Black and Jewish young people in Washington, DC, and endeavors to promote understanding of each culture by the other. In similar vein, the Community Cooperation walking tours of Black-Jewish Washington, DC were being offered by a recent endeavor to inspire the understanding of past cooperation and bridge building between communities.
SHIR Tours
“Tour Guiding should be about synthesizing the histories of inter-related communities, not just recounting facts about places and celebrities. ” -Shira D. Jones, Mphil, Founder SHIR Tours & DC Eco-Tourism Cooperative
In 2010 a seed was planted: the idea for walking tours of Washington, DC neighborhoods where cooperation between African-American and Jewish neighbors had taken place. Talking with older residents of the city, Black and Jewish, revealed a Washington, DC very different from that in which the author, born in 1969, had grown up. Post 1960's tensions between the Jewish and Black communities seemed to have buried the long-standing mutual respect and sharing that had taken place between the two communities for many years. As an academic author and lover of history, it was clear that this forgotten cooperation was a story that needed to be told in as many ways as possible, for the sake of both communities, and for the city at large. Many tours exist which view the history of one community or another in isolation from other communities and their historical context. This cuts off a crucial understanding of how we came to be where we are today, and how we can move forward by helping one another. Such cooperation, particularly in neighborhoods like the 7th Street business district and Shepherd Park, has been forgotten. This work of ordinary people, Black and Jewish, to forge trust, alliances and friendships set the stage for the rides, marches and ultimate success of the Civil Rights movement, which freed both communities. Two tours developed out of that idea are described next, in the hope of inspiring others to use these tours and songs to build more bridges.