This report is the first of its kind to comprehensively explore the unique experiences, challenges, and resilience of LGBTQ+ Jews of Color in Jewish spaces. “Threads of Identity” is both a love letter to LGBTQ+ Jews of Color and all the parts of who they are, as well as an offering of actionable steps for the Jewish community to honor the full spectrum of its members by creating spaces where all Jews feel like they belong and that fully embrace LGBTQ+ community members of Color.
Grantee Research
The "Shades of Belonging" study examines the unique experiences of Jewish adoptees of color, highlighting the intersections of race, religion, and adoption for this understudied community.
In October 2022, a group of Jewish people of color advisors with clergy, ritual, and nonprofit experience convened to reflect on their experiences navigating Jewish end-of-life practices and rituals, and explore the idea of creating resources to support Jewish people of color during life’s most challenging moments.
We invite Jewish communal leaders and community members to engage deeply with our 2023 research grantees’ findings. Their research brings clarity to intersectionality in various sectors of Jewish life, painting a beautifully expansive picture of JoC experiences.
Being both Jewish and people of color, Jews of Color are dually impacted by racism and antisemitism as interwoven vectors of trauma. Yet no known prior research has studied the unique ways in which Jews of Color experience and are impacted by them together. The primary objective of this project — led by an all-JOC team of researchers, educators, and community organizers through the Mitsui Institute — is therefore to increase our collective knowledge and understanding of racism and antisemitism as intersectional impact forces on Jewish bodies — especially but not limited to Jews of Color.
Watch as Dr. David McCarty-Caplan presents the findings of this groundbreaking research, Shades of Belonging: Exploring Religious Identity and Sense of Belonging Among Jewish Adoptees of Color, and interviews two JoC adoptee survey participants on their experiences. This research project utilized qualitative and quantitative data to gain insight on the experiences of JoC adoptees and their racialized Jewish identity formation. The data collected from this research will work to expand our understanding of transracial adoption and racial equity.
Tiyuv partnered with TischPDX, JOC Collective, and Jews of Color Initiative and launched a survey to gain valuable insights into the demographics and interests of JOCs in the PNW, including affiliations, interests, and engagement in Jewish communal life.