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40 Days of Teshuva Short Film
Short Film Screenings for Tisha B'Av
We're so excited to share what we've been up to lately! Alongside filmmaker Hannah Roodman and IOWA Ovdim cohort member and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice organizer Yehudah Webster, we've been creating a short film about last summer's 40 Days of Teshuva protest. This action is a powerful example of what organizing for racial justice can look like when deeply rooted in spirituality. We have ancestral contemplative tools that can support our liberation work, allowing us to tap into more resilience in the fight against the oppressive systems that devalue black and brown life. Our social justice work can flourish when we're able to show up as our most grounded, full selves, especially in these incredibly hard moments.
Join along, and host your own screening by filling out this interest form: http://bit.ly/host-40daysfilm
40 Days of Teshuvah Trailer is Here!
Bring Screenings and Programming to Your Community
On Tisha B’Av we commemorate the darkest moments in our Jewish history and move from brokeness towards redemption. It is a universal redemption we seek and, by necessity, will come about through righteousness and justice as the prophet says, “צִיּ֖וֹן בְּמִשְׁפָּ֣ט תִּפָּדֶ֑ה/Zion will be redeemed through justice” (Isaiah 1:27). As we emerge from the destruction of the COVID pandemic we have a fresh opportunity to reengage in the work of repair both at the level of our intimate communities and in the broader society. Primary among these areas needing repair are the racial injustice and disparities laid bare by the pandemic and George Floyd’s brutal murder one year ago.
The 40 Days of Teshuva film offers a powerful model for integrating Jewish spiritual tools and technologies like prayer, teshuva and Mussar into the work of social change in general and racial justice in particular. Alongside the film, we'll be providing a discussion guide that will:
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Help viewers process their own thoughts and feelings about racial justice and create concrete action steps
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Identify and understand the spiritual tools used in the action and the tools they have access to in their own lives
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Think creatively about how Jewish spiritual practices can be integrated into their own efforts for repair and justice.
In addition to the short film and discussion, IOWA will be hosting a live panel with filmmaker Hannah Roodman, JFREJ organizer Yehudah Webster, IOWA Director Rabbi David Jaffe, and more on Tisha B’Av afternoon. All communities that host film screenings are welcome to attend.
Interested in bringing this to your community? We’ll be hosting two info sessions for folks interested in hosting film screenings. Fill out this form and let us know if you’d like to attend an info session to learn more about bringing this to your organization, religious institution, group, COVID pod, and more.
Join along, and host your own screening by filling out this interest form: http://bit.ly/host-40daysfilm
Facilitator Orientation
We'll be hosting two facilitator orientation sessions for folks interested in hosting screenings on the following dates:
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June 30th, 12 - 1:15pm est
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July 7th, 7 - 8:15pm est
During this orientation, we will screen the film, prepare facilitators in leading the follow-up discussion, and answering any questions. Register for the training below:
Register For Email Updates
Sign up for our email list for updates on screenings opportunities, info sessions, and more!
Donate to The IOWA Project
Our work is made possible by donations from our supporters. We have a lot of exciting work coming up in the coming months, and we need to resources to make that happen! Donate to our work today, to support short film screenings, our racial justice programming in the fall, and more. All funds raised will go towards diversifying our staff and consultants, and building capacity for our future racial justice programming at IOWA.
New to our work?
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We're the Inside Out Wisdom and Action (IOWA) Project, and we are a network of activists, educators, and spiritual leaders in the Jewish community supporting social justice leaders in exploring Jewish spiritual wisdom and developing Jewish spiritual practices. We believe that integrating deep spiritual wisdom into our justice work allows us to lead from a place that is more visionary, creative, sustainable, and grounded. In our community, we're helping people build bridges between their spiritual lives and their activist lives through study groups, leadership cohorts, facilitators cohorts to learn, practice, and grow into deeper Jewish spiritual practice through Mussar and Chassidut.
We hope you'll join us for film screenings and Tisha B'Av programming!
BBC Interview: Black Jewish Lives Matter
Learn more about the important and powerful work from Black Jewish social justice and spiritual leaders in our community in this BBC interview, below! In the interview, Yehudah shares that “Connecting to Torah isn’t just something that’s nice - it’s necessary.” We couldn’t agree more, and are excited to talk more about bringing spiritual wisdom to our justice work through this short film and Tisha B'Av programming.