These sessions will present anti-racism as a spiritual practice by weaving together personal storytelling, historical study, and wisdom teachings. We will bring in diverse guests to learn from their experiences and expertise. The first portion will be devoted to listening, the second portion will be devoted to internalizing. As Ibram Kendi says in Becoming an Anti-Racist, these two ways of engaging are central to anti-racist practice. Sikh Religious Life Adviser, Simran Jeet Singh, will open by facilitating an intimate conversation with a leader in the space on their own experiences with becoming conscious of race (personal), particular aspectz of how racism manifests itself in our world (knowledge), and what we all can do about it (practical).
We will then move into interactive Q&A. At the close of the hour, we will engage with the material to personalize it in various, interactive ways: reflection exercises, pairing and sharing, small group discussions, close readings. We will mold our exercises each week to fit the subject matter for each session. Our guest on October 15th is Rabbi Angela Buchdahl. Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, the first woman to lead the large Reform congregation in its 180-year history. Rabbi Buchdahl first joined Central Synagogue as Senior Cantor in 2006, and was chosen as Senior Rabbi in 2014. Rabbi Buchdahl was invested as a cantor and also ordained as a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where she was a Wexner Graduate fellow. She earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale University in 1994.
Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Rabbi Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as cantor or rabbi in North America. Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, which draw large crowds both in the congregation’s historic Main Sanctuary and via live stream and cable broadcast to viewers in more than 100 countries. Rabbi Buchdahl has been featured in dozens of news outlets including the Today Show, NPR, PBS and was listed as one of Newsweek’s “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis.” She serves on the boards of AJC, Avodah Jewish Service Corps, and the UJA-Federation of NY.
