good morning and welcome to mosaic. i am honored to be host this morning. throughout the country, faith communities do a lot to pay attention to their own demographics. we would like to invite you into a wonderful conversation with alana coffman who is the executive director of the juice of color field building initiative. faith communities really pay attention to their own demographics. so you're involved in a fascinating aspect of our own jewish community locally and nationally.'s let's just jump in and ask what the field building initiative is?

>> thank you for and drop inviting us to this conversation. we've been around for about 19 months. we have three areas of focus. first of all we run the only full topic fund focus specifically on jewish people of color. we are interested in funding leadership development grassroots building and knowledge making. developing kind of new ideas and concepts in organizations. leadership organizations for the jewish community. advocating for those of color. the second thing we had the privilege of doing is conducting research for the entire national jewish community system. so in the last 18 months we conducted a study called consistencies with stanford university. is a demographic analysis of the united states. and the third thing we do is education the community.

is such a privilege. we get to work with fellowships and leadership teams and boards. with influencers in the ecosystem and there's an idea of helping to understand there's a multiracial community becoming even more multiracial. so we need to understand that demographics and planning forward. what the jewish community is and those who are we know we are going to be. >> that word refers specifically to jewish people of eastern european origin. in the context of the united states, jewish people were white. >> that is the origin of the word. in the field of practice we use the word that suggests jewish

community people largely express themselves with the culture. and on the one hand we might think that that flag and signal is white. but we figure out all the jewish families in the u.s. we have one white parents and one parents of color. so their kids are going to be both jewish people of color with that culture and ethnicity. it's not exclusively white but it does often code for white in the u.s. given what is projected is jewish in the united states. >>-yard touchdown saloon is so important. we all know race is so complex. so complex in north american and the united states contest. context. when we talk about normative that already says there's a way in which we kind of subtly aspire to something or something is declared as mainstream. no one if you could talk within the jewish context about this

complex question but what does it mean to assimilate to something perceived as normative. a jewish person of color is in just a person of a particular skin color who happens to want to simulate into this normative jewish life. there's a lot of complexity but i imagine the initiative works very seriously with that kind of an issue. >> that's impactful. so large that when the jewish people came tonight dates, there in the 1800s in the 1900s, into the 20th century the first wave that came in were often german juice. -- jewish people. fleeing not necessarily from the european environment. but we look at the largest wave that came to the u.s. were eastern european jewish people.

oppresd. target in their own countries. that whole group came to united states of the time when the u.s. did not identify them as white. so it is very important when we talk about the complexity of race, the u.s. is obsessed with race. from white as a normative and everything else in some way is not normal in the u.s. when the eastern european jewish people came to the united states they were not classified as white. they were classified as other. in overtime, because of u.s. politics around, eastern european jewish people had opportunity to observe privileges that came with whiteness. that was upward mobility like access to college education and bank loans and home loans and homes in the suburbs.

but before that moment, for the most part, they're running from anti-semitism. so it was a way to protect themselves from being targeted as jewish people. in overtime u.s. racial politics invited folks from eastern europe, greece, armenia, turkey, italy, ireland to all fade into a whiteness while the u.s. community further separated itself from blackness. >> that's fascinating. we need to take a quick break your mosaic.

>> good morning welcome back to mosaic. i am rabbi aaron weiss. we are in the middle of a wonderful conversation. there talking a lot about the complexity of race and color in the jewish community. in the whole landscape. i'm wondering if we think about it as a tech, why choose philanthropy in the initiative is a philanthropic fund to in some ways articulate the vision

and hopefully form change? >> what a great question. when we think about the pathways to leadership and the national community ecosystem and the pathways to be able to create programs or match policies with the people that we are trying to serve, there has to be some organizational vehicle to make all of that happened. the national ecosystem like many other sort of fields and ecosystems, one of the vehicles is philanthropy. that's like giving communal resources to programs and different vehicles to create change and programs policies and organizations that support the work of the field. in this case, there almost no communal leadership pathways for personages of color. there are two fellowships in the whole region that focus on those of color. every other one in the communal space has no juice of color or maybe one in a color or class.

there has been almost no communal philanthropic giving to those of color in the history of the jewish community center properties in the u.s. no focused effort and no real resources expressed in that area. some of the resources enable them to give away for example to $2 million week. in that context, we need to make sure that some of the resources for the jewish communal ecosystem are going to those of color until our fund opened up. there was no focused effort to bring anything to those of color. so it's a wonderful way to match amazing people and leaders. amazing programs with the resources to not only help them dole out those ideas but support the work and then knit together the leaders, the programs and experiences to create a field for the jewish community in the u.s.

>> that is fascinating. so philanthropy is such a complex topic. am certain we talk about any group of people that is other, the rise in the society especially in the capitalistic society is economic. use of philanthropy inside this society has a very strong force behind it. for how we as the jewish people make ourselves capable in society. i'm wondering if you know in any way which this example is been followed by other faith communities where there are other folks of color like in the catholic church or in the muslim world. or the buddhist world and etc. are there ways in which this example has been followed in any way for those other particular communities of color? >> i'm not aware of any

specific example. but i will respond with two brief points. some of what we are learning that the field is about how conduct our philanthropy is informed by outside of the jewish world. we work with networks of color in philanthropy to inform some of our practices and approaches. part of what is going on is we're learning from outside the jewish space from our colleagues of color out there so that is truly important. and when i think about parlaying that into the faith world, i was working with some muslim colleagues and we had this conversation. is that we need a version of this for the muslim community. any community in the u.s. has been a faith-based community that has multiracial dynamics at play. it needs the attention of navigating its own race and racism issues. the u.s. creates race and racism issues. it is not something to be blamed for. but every faith group in the u.s. is multiracial. and every faith group that is multiracial is affeby racism. >> thank you so much. we will continue this

conversation in just a moment your mosaic.

>> welcome back to mosaic. i am honored to be your host here. and we're having a wonderful conversation with elana kaufman. welcome back. >> thank you. >> so i'm wondering if we can talk a bit about more of a personal or individual level, what is the spiritual, jewish drive for commonly to make jewish people of color or maybe all of us spiritually nourished in our own jewish communities?

among ourselves? >> that's what a beautiful question. ab we will respond with a personal story here. and that is, that being in the jewish community and being involved in our spiritual life and faith life gives us tools to navigate life. and for those of color it is so important that we don't push them so far beyond jewish life that we can't access the tools of spiritual growth. or spiritual nourishment. i had a conversation with a colleague where a racist thing had happened and i knew this colleague who is wonderful, she was unaware the situation that happened and i said to myself, i'm going to make sure that i talk with her before yom kippur. so that she has an opportunity to reflect on this and we can come back into a relationship around this incident that happened. i thought to myself annexes said this to the rabbi, if it had not been ti preparing for

yom kippur, eyewitness been able to come back and had this conversation. and it occurred to me how important it was for me to be in a relationship with toto ayt relationship and never get a moment that was awkward and clunky and felt bart around racism. and help with escrow because we were community together. it means we get to being community. access to jewish spiritual life meant when we have hard times we do choose to grow or grieve or reflect. and what does that mean in the u.s. contacts that is quite frankly so marred by negativity or around politics. and identity and conflicts out there in the land. this is even more important over time for jewish people in general to be connected to spiritual tools and pathways. what a shame if racism keeps those of color way from the jewish community and our spiritual tools and pathways. >> you're my me that every faith community essentially

rescue rests on a theological foundation. whether someone is faith adherent as a believer or secular. in the jewish context to curse me we have this notion that everyone is created uniquely in god's image. so for myself, it seems to me that if that is true, then it must be that our diversity is a testament to god's unfathomable creativity. and so i just wondered if part of our inside work is that let's say in an odd way, our theology has been oscar normative. and that part of the work of our faith community and other faith communities may say differently. with the theology that somehow there is an internal theological repair for us to do

and understand our own selves as a diversity of god's creativity. and then of course god's not white. he's not a lot of things. we think of god as ineffable anyway. some just wondering i don't know what your flexion is on that but it just seems to me that all these ways about what it is to belong and go in or feel welcome has a lot to do with how we actually understand what our core theological foundation really is. and maybe that's where the pair is. >> i would just add as i'm unable to ask us the human the hebrew phrase right now. but we never know for whom we stand. and if we understood ourselves, as diverse and as multifaceted and multidimensional it would remind us that each time we see someone are charges to not size them up and make sense of them.

to figure out what kind of jewish they are or whose parent is jewish in that context. are they really jewish if they don't look familiar. the invitation is to remember that god is in everyone of us. and we are each a reflection of that. so the dimensions are as diverse as we are. the facets are as diverse as we are and we must never forget that we do not know who is in front of us. we must be careful and loving and kind. >> may be racism is a wound that theology heals. >> and somehow we also need access to tools and connections to bridge that gap. >> absolutely. we'll be right back to this wonderful conversation in just a moment.

morning and welcome back to mosaic. we would like to welcome back the executive director of the jewish people of color field initiative. welcome back. as we talked to so much about the work of the initiative and the vision and philosophy. let's go over the numbers. >> what are we talking about? >> the united states according to the date in the research, there are about 7.2 million jewish people in the u.s. and that number comprises both adults and young people ages 18 and under. of that number, the study tells us that at a minimum, 12 to 15% of that number are jewish people of color. said very minimum in the united

states, 1 million of the 7 million jewish people are people of color. so just putting in the context, when you are opening your eyes at least one person should be a person of color. overtime, in the u.s., the general population of the united states the new generations born here is going to be increasingly people of color. so more and more, each generation of jewish people will be people of color. the community is becoming more people of color and just like national data, while the timing is not the same the data tells us that someday, the majority of u.s. citizens will be people of color. it is not just a theoretical intellectual opportunity to grapple with racial diversity and racism. the u.s. jewish community is multiracial and it is going to become more racially diverse. we want to make sure that they are connected and strong in providing in their own diversity in the you jewish

community. >> minion is the hebrew word for the core of 10 folks in the form of prayer. for formal prayer. so are most of our jewish people of color in the urban environment? >> so we looked at 15 national studies and another five that talked about and looked at the jewish community from other angles. what we can tell you is that there is a majority of those in general here that are of color on the coasts. but our research and relationships are even in like omaha nebraska and raleigh north carolina and seattle and in wisconsin. in cleveland. so there are pockets of jewish people of color where there are people of color in the u.s. because the other thing is that racism makes people move to environments that are more hospitable and diverse. everywhere that you see people of color and communities in

usec those jewish people of color. interviewing see them there jewish people of color so we are over representative on the coasts but also in some ways they're really robust populations in those same communities that provide hospitality and safety for people of color when they've been in racist communities across the u.s. historically. >> in the jewish community itself, you know we have just an ongoing conversation about who is a jewish person and how does someone say there jewish whether they are converted, born in the jewish community or in a jewish family. those of this perspective, does it encompass what we might think of as a mainstream understanding of the jewish family if you are intermarried? or how does it work for those of color? from respectively? >> it works the same weight as for the general community. you have families that are interfaith. you have families that may have

adopted someone, you have families where they may be jewish adjacent. you have families that might be generationally jewish over time. each one of these different expressions are jewish family include people of color. and so we have families in the u.s. and people of color who are african-american or mono racial meaning both parents are african-american. and the judaism goes by generation after generation in the u.s. we have some families are they became an jewish person by choice in the last few years. and her living a focused and observant jewish life. and they have some families just like the rest of the community in the u.s. to identify strongly is jewish and do-nothing religious. nothing in their spiritual life. but for their jewish identity may be cultural or based on different kinds of practices that may fall out of what some may view as a religious life and they are still jewish. you see people coming across the jewish community in

different ways. he see that mirrored among those of color. but the one thumbtack that i want to put in there, is that when jewish people of color on communal spaces are here because people challenge our judaism based on identity and how they perceive our identities very often they know a tremendous amount of text. they tend to be very observant in some cases. they tend to be very communicative and focused in the community in ways that sometimes you don't see with the general community. >> believer not come to the end of our time together. i want to ask you a big question here the moments, where do you want us to be in 10 years? >> where i want us to be, is i want us to comfortably understand ourselves is multiracial. i want us to comfortably embrace the idea that when we look at the jewish space we should see people of color. and i want us to not only be colorful with it but i want us to be authentically part of a dynamic where the we understand

that race is complicated. racism israel and we understand the jewish community is intact. and together we really need to be communicative and have the access to the torah. i want to see that as who we are. >> thank you so much for being with us. please continue this conversation in the community. have a wonderful day.

game days here. 49ers versus the packers for the trip to the super bowl on the line. fans of both teams getting ready for a showdown in the phi stadium. women are taking to the streets to defend their rights. the annual march as strong political messages this year especially in a presidential election year. several airports are now screening passengers from china for a serious virus that has sickened dozens. it's just about 6 am on sunday, january 19. good morning. billy turner has the day off. we are less than 10 hours away from kickoff of the nfc championam