Initially started as a network of friends and families, Kamochah has emerged as a vital grassroots initiative supporting Black Orthodox Jews with programs, guidance, education, and resources. It gained momentum during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the need for connection and community became especially important. With initial funding from the Jews of Color Initiative, Kamochah has since launched formal programs to meet the needs of its growing community.
When JoCI opened a Request for Proposals for projects supporting new and emerging initiatives for Jews of Color in Los Angeles, Rabbi Yonosan Perry and longtime collaborator Chava Shervington saw an opportunity to provide new support for youth in the community. Their idea: a bar and bat mitzvah preparatory program designed specifically for older children in Torah-observant Black Jewish families.
“A lot of people don’t put their children in Torah-observant Jewish spaces because they worry there isn’t necessarily a place for their child if they’re Black,” said Rabbi Perry. “Will the child feel different, or will other children make fun of them? Maybe the parents themselves have had negative experiences as Black Jews in Torah-observant spaces. We want to get as many people who are Jewish involved in Judaism.”
While programming for Jews of Color, and Black Jews specifically, has grown in the last several years, few initiatives have centered the unique needs of Black Orthodox observant Jews. “There needed to be a frum option,” Rabbi Perry emphasized, especially for families with children nearing bar or bat mitzvah age.
He recalled one story in particular: “A woman I knew lived in Brooklyn and her son had a bar mitzvah coming up but didn’t feel prepared because he didn’t feel comfortable in his day school. I started training him and it worked because he felt comfortable with me. There’s definitely a need for it.”
That kind of personal connection with students is key to Rabbi Perry’s approach. “I have a handful of children in the community ready to start—they actually inspired this idea.” With the curriculum already developed, teachers lined up, and locations secured, Rabbi Perry is now seeking additional funding support in both Los Angeles and New York to launch the program.
At the heart of his work is a mission of helping Black Orthodox youth build a strong and joyful Jewish identity. “That’s actually the most important thing,” he said. “How they then integrate into their Jewishness and other Jewish communities…to connect with each other, maintain those connections, and then go into their communities and schools with a positive sense of self. With Kamochah, the idea is to give them a sense of comfort with their Jewish identity. That being Black does not go against your Jewish identity—it’s all part of who you are.”
“The idea is to create a situation where wherever they end up going, or are already, they’re going to be comfortable in their Judaism and their Jewish identity.”
This impact often goes beyond the students themselves. Rabbi Perry sees this youth-centered model as a catalyst for broader communal growth: “It’s like a trickle up effect—in times of Moshiach, it’s the parents who learn from the children in a lot of ways.”
Although the curriculum covers the same core components of bar and bat mitzvah preparation, Rabbi Perry says it makes a meaningful difference when students can see themselves reflected. “In the content they saw themselves represented—classrooms full of Jewish girls, this one’s a red-head, this one’s Mizrahi, there’s a Black girl, one of the rabbis is Black—to show them representation almost in an accidental way so it’s just normalized.”
What drives this work is “seeing children thrive and just be happy.” Often, Rabbi Perry hears about a child who’s been struggling in school or feels isolated in Jewish spaces before meeting them in the program. “Maybe I hear that they’re having trouble and then they come around other Black frum Jews and then they’re more comfortable, they’re engaged, they’re excited about doing Jewish things—it’s really all for the children, though of course the adults, too!” he added.
He’s seen firsthand the toll that exclusion can take. Growing up, he witnessed Black Jewish community members “drop Judaism all together because they felt so pushed out”— and that’s a reality Rabbi Perry hopes to prevent for future generations.
That sense of joy and confidence is the foundation for belonging, and starts with normalizing the presence of Black Jews in all aspects of Jewish life. “I’d love to see, in the whole Jewish world, that when you hear stories about a Black person at a day school it’s not just the janitor but rabbunim [rabbis]…as soon as there’s representation, there’s going to be less issues of children feeling out of place.”
His commitment to this work is also deeply personal. “With my own children, I have three daughters who are all close in age, so wherever they go, they have each other,” he said. His collaborator, Chava Shervington, who co-founded Kamochah with him, also has two daughters close in age. They’ve both seen how sibling support—a close connection to a family member or close friend around the same age—helps children feel more confident in their Black Jewish identities.
Rabbi Perry and Shervington hope that this program will not only support tweens and teens in preparation for bar and bat mitzvah, but will also set them up for a lifelong connection to their Jewishness, the larger Jewish community, and most importantly, foster a powerful experience of belonging.