Tamar Ghidalia and Jill Housen are addressing the unique challenges faced by Jews of Color through a transformative program grounded in Jewish spirituality, community, and the power of collective healing. “Our Journey Towards Healing” follows a customized curriculum over a series of monthly cohort sessions supporting a diverse group of JoC leaders. By connecting with one another in virtual healing spaces where Jewishness and other identities coexist, participants collectively embrace their deservingness of care and joy as they explore the depths of interconnected oppressions and strengthen their leadership.
Five weeks into leading “Our Journey Towards Healing,” Ghidalia and Housen are already seeing the powerful impact of nurturing connection and trust among the cohort. “There is a huge and dire need for this type of a space for Jews of Color to come together, and to be able to express themselves freely,” said Housen.
Ghidalia and Housen’s professional and personal experiences equip them with the skills and—at this stage in their ongoing professional partnership—intuition to holistically support those in navigating trauma rooted in experiences of oppression and exclusion. Their life stories and long-standing commitments to fostering racially equitable Jewish communities are invaluable to program participants.
Ghidalia was born in Tunisia to a Sephardic family, and eventually moved to Minnesota after some years living abroad. As a professional musician and educator with extensive experience in both educational and REDI (Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) spaces, Ghidalia’s experiences and perspectives enrich her approach to consulting and collective healing. Tamar also works with Edot Midwest to support JoC in the Midwest region.
Jill Housen, a Jewish woman of Color from California, draws upon a wealth of experience working to increase racial equity and support engagement, belonging, and leadership support for Jews of Color in Jewish communities: Housen has worked with Be’chol Lashon, URJ Audacious Hospitality, Project Shema, and Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network. She has worked extensively with People of Color who are in the process of converting with Judaism, and is also certified in traditional African Herbal medicine. Her wealth of knowledge about holistic methods of spiritual enrichment and healing is directly reflected in the work she does alongside Ghidalia at 3W Consulting.
“Our Journey Towards Healing” is grounded in Jewish spirituality and aims to create a supportive environment where participants can express and explore their experiences of trauma. “The purpose of the program is to come together as JoC; to be able to express the trauma we live with every day by giving and receiving tools to one another,” explains Ghidalia. “Whether through arts, music, meditation, or poetry, these tools are grounded in Jewish text and provide a spiritual foundation for participants.”
The program sessions incorporate a variety of practices and are designed to anticipate the need for flexibility into the session content: “We offer a lot of spaciousness and are not overly attached to our agenda,” said Housen. “We like to use different modalities, such as journaling, meditation, and music, to bring people together and elevate their consciousness.”
Each session begins on a unique note: participants take the “emotional temperature” using an “emotional wheel,” which helps set the tone for the session. The group then breaks into pairs, fostering deeper, more personal connections. Relationships built among participants are of central importance to the program. “Providing a space like this where people develop relationships and bonds allows them to say to themselves, ‘I’m not the only one who’s going through this,’” Ghidalia said. “To form that community that says that we’re not alone here, that is what helps us retain our Jewishness.” Housen noted that “We lose Jews of Color because people feel like they don’t belong or that there isn’t a place for them. Providing a space like this, where people develop relationships and bonds, helps them see that they are not alone.”
Leaders taking part in the program themselves echo the importance of forming deep connections: “The reframe away from being traumatized to having experienced trauma was a profound way to start,” one participant shared.
Looking ahead, 3W Consulting plans to develop a comprehensive toolkit that captures the lessons and materials from their sessions. This toolkit will be available for participants after the sessions as well as for other organizations and leaders interested in creating similar healing spaces for Jews of Color. “We want to develop a 90 minute workshop with all our processes developing this program and our entire curriculum for people to adapt and incorporate into their own communities,” says Ghidalia. “We want to reach as many people as possible… If there are congregations that want to support their JoC communities, we would be happy to come in, guide them through the toolkit, and show them how to use it,” says Tamar.
This expansive approach is the core of 3W consulting’s ethos. Creating formal materials that allow for Jews of Color—in any kind of organization or community—to come together and process their experiences is the crux of the healing work that Ghidalia and Housen hope to facilitate. This is the work that will eventually allow Jews of Color to show up as their authentic selves in communal spaces. “The key is not having to choose between your cultures,” says Housen. “It’s to be a hundred percent of both.”
