Monthly Archives: August 2022

PROVIDENCE, RI Mayor Jorge Elorza, Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris (Ward 11), Providence Cultural Equity Initiative CEO and Founder Raymond Two Hawks Watson, Reparations Commission Chairperson Rodney Davis, Reparations Commission member and Providence resident Wanda Brown, Congregation Beth Sholom Rabbi Barry Dolinger, 1696 Heritage Group Vice President and Providence Director of Business Development Keith Stokes, Founder and Executive Director of Higher Ground International Henrietta White-Holder, Senior Advisor to Mayor Elorza and Executive Director of the African American Ambassador Group Shawndell Burney-Speaks and community members Thursday announced the next steps in the City of Providences municipal reparations process.

Mayor Elorza on Thursday began taking action on the recommendations of the Municipal Reparations Commission. First, Mayor Elorza signed an Executive Order constituting a formal municipal apology for African enslavement, urban renewal policies and practices and acknowledgement of the harms to African Heritage and Indigenous communities caused by racial discrimination. In addition, Mayor Elorza signed a second Executive Order committing the City of Providence to continuing to support the work of the African American Ambassadors Group.

On behalf of the City of Providence, today I signed an Executive Order taking long overdue action toward acknowledging the deep wounds of racial injustice and creating a pathway forward to a more equitable future, said Mayor Jorge O. Elorza. Only by formally acknowledging the generational effects of discriminatory policies, bringing those impacted to the table as decision-makers, and making significant investments in the communities targeted by those policies, can we collectively move forward and each of us become full and equal members of our society.

Mayor Elorza and community members also unveiled a budget plan for the $10 million allocated for the COVID-19 Inequities Fund in the Citys approved American Rescue Plan Act budget. The budget Closing the Racial Wealth and Equity Gap: A Proposed Budget for Municipal Reparations, outlines investments in categories such as homeownership and financial literacy, education and healthcare. The full budget proposal can be found here. In the coming days and weeks, Mayor Elorza and community members will engage members of the City Council to discuss the findings of the Commission and the outlined budget.

I thank the Municipal Reparations Commission for their time and efforts to outline recommendations, and I know that the budget we are proposing is driven by the needs and priorities of the community. While we cannot undo the harm that has been done, I am confident these programs and investments will make great strides in closing the racial wealth and equity gaps that exist in Providence. said Mayor Jorge O. Elorza. I look forward to joining them in engaging with the City Council when they are back in session to advance these priority areas.

In July 2020, Mayor Elorza signed a community-driven Executive Order committing the City to a process of truth, reconciliation and municipal reparations. Since then, the City has been undergoing a process of research and community engagement, including the creation of the A Matter of Truth report and the City of Providences Reconciliation Framework. Earlier in the week, the Providence Municipal Reparations Commission submitted its final report to the Mayor and City Council, which detailed their recommendations for advancing reparations in Providence, as defined by the Commission as closing the present-day racial wealth and equity gap.

Over the past four months, the Commission was intentional in reaching out to community members throughout Providence, said Commission member and Providence resident Wanda Brown. Hosting 17 public meetings, 7 community town halls and informed by the historical evidence and engagement before us, we feel confident about the recommendations made to the city and look forward to even more action being taken to move them forward.

As beneficiaries of reparations after the Holocaust and as witness to the process of revolutionary healing they can foster, we wholeheartedly and enthusiastically promote the researched, thoughtful proposals in this report, said Rabbi Barry Dolinger, Congregation Beth Sholom. True healing comes from recognizing its not about scarcity and competition for resources, the very cause of these ills in the first instance, but about abundance and collectivity.

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Providence mayor signs executive order apologizing for slavery, racial discrimination; pledges $10 million in reparations - Fall River Reporter

GRAFTON, N.D. A project that will provide entrepreneurs in northeast North Dakota with a low-risk space to grow their businesses will move forward following the announcement of a $1.6 million federal grant for construction costs.

The 532 Hill Avenue project, led by the Red River Regional Council, will create a commercial kitchen and business incubator in Grafton, North Dakota, providing space and programming for budding entrepreneurs in the town.

On Aug. 23, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced that the Red River Regional Council will receive a $1.6 million grant from the Economic Development Administration for the project as part of the American Rescue Plan. The federal money is matched by $409,189 in local funds from partners like the Walsh County Job Development Authority, the city of Grafton, Marvin Windows and Polar Communications.

President Biden is dedicated to supporting communities as they seek to create new opportunities to spur business growth and create jobs, Raimondo said in the announcement. These EDA investments will support business and workforce efforts in North Dakota to help communities there build stronger, more robust local economies.

The space is planned for an existing building at 532 Hill Ave. in Grafton that has sat empty for about seven years. It is located in downtown Grafton, and when completed, will include a commercial kitchen, retail spaces, conference rooms, co-working spaces and offices. The project was designed by Prairie Centre Architecture, based in Park River, North Dakota.

It brings a very intentional space that is to grow and support entrepreneurship, inspiring new business development, with a heavy emphasis on food-based businesses, said Dawn Mandt, executive director of the Red River Regional Council. Our goal is to help repopulate some of our main streets with unique destination, niche businesses.

The shared commercial kitchen will be available for people developing their food-based business to rent. It will allow these business owners, many of whom have only worked in home kitchens, to scale up their business and become familiar with working in a commercial space without having to take the leap of investing in a commercial kitchen of their own, Mandt said.

Working out of a commercial kitchen also allows businesses to meet food safety and licensing regulations, which can open the door for businesses to be able to package and ship food products for sale. With retail areas in the building, business owners could set up shop to grow a local customer base.

Potentially, a food-based business could have a storefront and have limited hours or regular house to reach the public more readily than just with their online marketing, said Mandt.

Entrepreneurs that use the space will also have access to programming to guide them through the startup or growth of their businesses in preparation for running a business independently in the future.

Our goal is to graduate people out of an incubator setting so they can have their own storefront or a business setting of their very own, she said.

As well as a space to cultivate local business, Mandt envisions the Hill Avenue project as a community gathering space. The commercial kitchens could be used for food classes or by other organizations in Grafton when hosting events.

The 532 Hill Avenue project is not the only new development in Grafton in recent years. In 2021, a 36,000 square foot addition was completed at Unity Medical Center. This spring was the first year that water flowed through a new flood diversion , which was also completed in 2021. The city is working with ICON Architectural Group to develop a new apartment complex.

Paired with these recent developments, Chris West, mayor of Grafton, expects the 532 Hill Avenue project to make Grafton an even better place to live and work.

All these improvements that go into the footprint of our community poise Grafton as a smaller community that you are able to work from, said West. It provides a nice, smaller town atmosphere for those that dont want the hustle and bustle of a larger community.

Once the federal grant is awarded to the Red River Regional Council, the design for the space will be finalized, and the project will be posted for bids for construction. Renovating an existing building will shorten the construction process, says Mandt, and she expects the project will be completed by next summer or fall.

In the meantime, says Mandt, entrepreneurs and community leaders alike are excited about the opportunities the 532 Hill Avenue project will bring.

Theres a lot of great energy and people have a lot of great ideas, and it will give us more ability to nurture them in a meaningful way, said Mandt.

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Project for business development in Grafton to move forward with help of federal grant - Grand Forks Herald

A banner in the 2018 Lititz Halloween parade commemorating two students who died in a tragic car accident that fall read #WeAreWarwick. One community. One Family. In the spring of 2019, L-L League girls lacrosse players wore T-shirts reading Warwick Strong when they took the field against Warwick in honor of one of the victims of that tragic 2018 car accident. Instead of gathering for the Warwick High Schools 2018 Together at Christmas concert, students were offered counseling to help with the loss of a student who died by suicide.

In February of this year, after the tragic death of a fifth grade student, Warwick School District community members wrote messages of love and support on the sidewalks outside of Bonfield Elementary School and Warwick Middle School.

Then, of course, came 2020 and 2021 and the uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. And in May of this year, the school district, along with the nation, felt the shock and grief of the tragic school shooting that took place in Uvalde, Texas. The tragedy prompted the administration to send out resources to help families talk about tragedies with their children.

In each of those terrible instances, the school district and the community came together to grieve, share their feelings and offer support.

Our district has been through several tragedies, says superintendent April Hershey. And theyve hit very close to home for our entire community.

Hershey says after both the tragedies in 2018, the school district asked Patti Anewalt, director of the Pathways Center for Grief and Loss, to come in and hold what Anewalt calls a debrief with the staff. The sessions provided a chance for people to share their feelings with each other.

It was so healing to hear that other people were feeling the same things you were, Hershey says. After the sessions, Hershey began a therapy dog program at the school district to help children feel more comfortable discussing complex grief-related emotions.

Anewalt, who holds a Ph.D. and has been working in mental health counseling and healthcare for 30 years, says collective grief occurs when a group of people like a school or work community, or people of a particular race or ethnicity share some kind of extreme loss.

Its the experience of sharing grief with others, Anewalt says. Its not just sympathy. Sympathy is when you feel bad for somebody. Its passive. Empathy is active. When youre empathetic you feel with somebody.

Anewalt began working with Hospice and Community Care in 1994, and shortly after, she developed the Pathways Center for Grief and Loss. Pathways is a free resource that offers support to anyone experiencing the complex emotions surrounding grief. They offer grief support, training and effective coping strategies to individuals and groups dealing with the loss of a loved one. There are special groups focusing on bereaved partners, those who have lost a parent and people coping with loss from suicide or overdoses. According to Anewalt, the organization serves about 9,000 people a year.

Pathways offers support, coping strategies and opportunities to share feelings with others that are going through similar experiences, but there is no magic formula to rid someone of grief.

Grief is as unique as our fingerprint. People call me a grief expert all the time, but I cant tell you what you need to do, Anewalt says. People need to always check in how they feel, pause, take deep breaths, share feelings, not keep it in.

Anewalt says sharing your feelings and connecting with others who are grieving is important.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon bonded over the loss of their mothers at a young age, Anewalt says. That song where Paul McCartney sings, Mother Mary come to me is about the loss of his mother.

In 1986, Anewalt was living in Concord, New Hampshire, when the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred. The disaster claimed the lives of seven astronauts including Concord native Christa McAuliffe.

Talk about collective grief. You could just feel it in the grocery store where (McAuliffe) would go, Anewalt says. People sent things to Concord High School from Japan and all over the world to show they care. It was powerful to see.

After 9/11, Anewalt traveled to Shanksville to be on the scene and offer support to the families of the grieving victims of the terrorist attack.

They needed to be together, Anewalt says. Theres something very powerful about that. Part of it is just knowing theres other people that feel the same way.

In 2006, Anewalt installed herself at the Bart Township fire hall where families were gathering and grieving after the Nickel Mines school shooting.

All the Amish families came to the fire hall just to be together, Anewalt says. We were picking up on conversations about what to say to children, so we pulled everybody together in a big meeting and facilitated questions they had about talking to their children.

Simply being with others who are grieving is a powerful way to deal with the extreme emotions of grief and loss. Sharing emotions and talking honestly especially with children is an overlooked tool that families and communities can use to cope together.

So often with tragic situations like shootings, the parents dont want the kids to know how they feel because theyre trying to protect them, but that really does a disservice to children, Anewalt says. Kids are actually more resilient than adults. They have more neuroplasticity. Theyre more flexible.

Some people, Anewalt says, may want to join together after a tragedy to channel their emotions into taking intentional actions to fight gun violence, climate change or create awareness of opioid abuse.

Each person has to make the decision that they want to do something intentional to make a difference, Anewalt says.

There is a reason the Pathways Center calls it a grief journey

Its a marathon, not a sprint Anewalt says.

Friendship Community House in Lancaster helped to honor Sarah Lance, a former resident who passed away earlier this year with a memorial tree that was planted in the backyard at Friendship on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022.

Jessica Schweers, an associate director of operations at the Friendship Community a faith-based organization that, among other things, operates 24 homes for individuals with intellectual disabilities to live and age-in-place, says they regularly work with Pathways.

They really help us look at the physical, spiritual and emotional areas of grieving and helping in the process when someone is passing away, Schweers says.

Schweers says representatives from Pathways will come into a group home and talk to residents when a housemate passes away. They facilitate conversations about feelings and ways to keep the an individuals memory alive.

We try to do something that honors that individual that passes away, Schweers says. In one of our homes, we got a bird house because (someone that passed) loved to sit out and watch birds. So we hung a bird house in his memory and the individuals in that house like to go out and sit by that bird house and see the birds.

Some of the Friendship Communities properties have butterfly bushes and memorial gardens planted in honor of people that have passed away. They also set up a memorial fund to provide educational training to staff members in honor of a co-worker that passed away.

Last year, when a Friendship Communities team member passed away, Pathways came in and helped co-workers cope with the loss. They also offered strategies on how to facilitate more conversations between team members and residents about loss. Team members decided to plant a memorial tree at one of the homes where their co-worker worked to honor their memory.

Memorial trees, special ceremonies or group sessions help honor a persons memory and provide opportunities for those who loved them to express their feelings, deal with grief and even feel gratitude.

People can rub off on each other. The more we can help each other the more resilient the community becomes, Anewalt says. People start to appreciate what they have as they connect with each other.

Pathways Center for Grief and Loss, a program of Hospice and Community Care, is a free community resource that provides one-on-one grief counseling, group counseling and on-site workplace and school sessions. Learn more about Pathways at hospiceandcommunitycare.org/grief-and-loss, or call 717-391-2413 or 888-282-2177.

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Pathways, a grief and loss center, encourages those coping with loss to lean on their community - LNP | LancasterOnline

Minority home owners are losing wealth because of an appraisal process that doesnt provide them with the true value of their homes and properties, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge says in a new interview.

She said HUD had been tasked by President Biden to look into appraisal bias during an appearance on CNN Tonight, telling host Laura Coates that it is a violation of theFair Housing Act and lending law for appraisers to discriminate against minority homebuyers.

And so, what HUD is doing, and what we have done already, is we were tasked by the president to look at appraisal bias. Because what we know is that it used to be that these things happen only in redlined communities, Fudge told Coates. But now it is pervasive, it is happening everywhere.

Fudge said the problems are systemic and pervasive and that minorities lose out because of how appraisers are trained and governed.

And so, what we did, in March, was to present a report that showed how deeply this whole bias situation is [engrained] across this country, Fudge said. It is systemic, and it is intentional to some degree.

Fudge said minority homebuyers suffer the most during the appraisal process, telling Coates that if homes are appraised the way that they should be, many minority homeowners will be able to pass down more resources and wealth to their children.

What the president has said is that we have to look at everything through a lens of equity. And so, what we have realized is that people selling homes, just as the persons you were talking about, and even people buying homes, if their appraisal is not correct, what we find, especially as Black people, in communities of color, and underserved communities, is we lose great wealth, just through the appraisal process, Fudge told Coates.

But if we are constantly undervaluing communities of color, either because they are communities of color, or that the person themselves is in a community that they dont think that we should be in, then we consistently lose wealth in our communities, Fudge added. And thats why this is so important, from an equity situation.

Fudges remarks come after President Biden announced the launch of the Property Appraisal Valuation Equity (PAVE) initiative last year. PAVE is a task force made up of 13 federal agencies, co-chaired by Fudge and Susan Rice, the chair of the Domestic Policy Council.

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HUD Secretary on homebuyers of color: We lose great wealth during the appraisal process - The Hill

Editors note: Dean Jacobs is a Fremont man, world traveler, photographer and author, who is writing a series of columns about his trip to Ecuador. There is a good reason I was not born a tree, even though my roots run deep in Nebraska. Staying in one place for an extended period is not what I was designed for, so the last couple of years of COVID have been a unique challenge. Traveling is one of the activities where I am at my best. It offers the opportunities to discover something new about the world and, at the same time, learn something new about myself. Venturing into something new livens us. It sparks the mental wires tired and dusty from repetition and engages us with life once again with a sense of wonder. It widens perspectives and helps us see new possibilities and expressions of life beyond the familiar. Traveling is often a topic of high importance and priority with my life coaching clients because the payoff is enormous. Its a dream many people have, but need some support to pursue. The last couple of years has covered us with a blanket of fear, which has taken a mental toll on our capacity and willingness to act and engage. Traveling can be a medicine for this condition and provide space to breathe deep, physically and mentally. With 58 countries under my belt, totaling eight years of independent travel abroad, I know what leaving the familiar behind offers. Traveling offers a chance to reboot, refresh and restart life in a healthy, intentional way. To allow undiscovered qualities to be revealed and experienced. To reboot the passion that comes with seeing something beautiful. To refresh in the pristine waterfalls deep in the Amazon Rainforest and have it wash away all the negative vibes navigated over the last few years. To restart and see with new eyes, from a new perspective and possibilities. So, instead of arguing for the walls that are supposed to keep me safe but playing small, I chose to travel again and lead a group of students from the University of Nebraska on a life-changing journey. Going abroad alone is one thing, but leading a group of 17 university students is a much higher responsibility. Since 2015, I have led journeys abroad, a natural growth from the school presentations for the last 20 years. Two years of COVID put much of this on pause. But if we are to break off the chains of fear that have hampered our connection to the world, we must take bold actions beyond what is comfortable. We must make a choice that living a life filled with wonder is worth the risks it requires. Ecuador is calling. Home to some of the sacred headwaters of the Amazon River, and the endless green horizon of the Amazon Rainforest, its call is irresistible to ignore. Packed into an area about the size of the state of Colorado are Andean Mountains, active volcanoes, rainforests, waterfalls, beaches, and indigenous communities still practicing the wisdom passed down through the ages. Travel creates fertile ground; it supports the space in the mind that allows us to grow. Therefore, I overlay the trip with life coaching conversations with the students; as we push back the noise and distractions, they can hear with their minds and hearts. They turn off their cell phones and turn on their dreamers. If we are going to move forward with intention and hope, we need to keep turning on our dreamers, especially the young members of our communities, for within them the future lives. Few things do this as powerfully then travel. So, with 17 Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity members at the University of Nebraska, we set off for two weeks to South America. To explore how the world has changed and how we have changed. I want to know how the indigenous communities deep in the Amazon Rainforest survived COVID using their traditional medicines. I want to laugh again with the Indigenous communities living in the Andean Mountains. I want to see again the place they call the land of everlasting spring. To stoke the internal fires of life again, to turn back on our dreamers. Ecuador is calling.

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Editors note: Dean Jacobs is a Fremont man, world traveler, photographer and author, who is writing a series of columns about his trip to Ecuador.

There is a good reason I was not born a tree, even though my roots run deep in Nebraska.

Staying in one place for an extended period is not what I was designed for, so the last couple of years of COVID have been a unique challenge.

Traveling is one of the activities where I am at my best. It offers the opportunities to discover something new about the world and, at the same time, learn something new about myself.

Venturing into something new livens us. It sparks the mental wires tired and dusty from repetition and engages us with life once again with a sense of wonder.

It widens perspectives and helps us see new possibilities and expressions of life beyond the familiar.

Traveling is often a topic of high importance and priority with my life coaching clients because the payoff is enormous. Its a dream many people have, but need some support to pursue.

The last couple of years has covered us with a blanket of fear, which has taken a mental toll on our capacity and willingness to act and engage. Traveling can be a medicine for this condition and provide space to breathe deep, physically and mentally.

With 58 countries under my belt, totaling eight years of independent travel abroad, I know what leaving the familiar behind offers.

Traveling offers a chance to reboot, refresh and restart life in a healthy, intentional way. To allow undiscovered qualities to be revealed and experienced. To reboot the passion that comes with seeing something beautiful. To refresh in the pristine waterfalls deep in the Amazon Rainforest and have it wash away all the negative vibes navigated over the last few years.

To restart and see with new eyes, from a new perspective and possibilities.

So, instead of arguing for the walls that are supposed to keep me safe but playing small, I chose to travel again and lead a group of students from the University of Nebraska on a life-changing journey.

Going abroad alone is one thing, but leading a group of 17 university students is a much higher responsibility.

Since 2015, I have led journeys abroad, a natural growth from the school presentations for the last 20 years. Two years of COVID put much of this on pause. But if we are to break off the chains of fear that have hampered our connection to the world, we must take bold actions beyond what is comfortable. We must make a choice that living a life filled with wonder is worth the risks it requires.

Home to some of the sacred headwaters of the Amazon River, and the endless green horizon of the Amazon Rainforest, its call is irresistible to ignore.

Packed into an area about the size of the state of Colorado are Andean Mountains, active volcanoes, rainforests, waterfalls, beaches, and indigenous communities still practicing the wisdom passed down through the ages.

Travel creates fertile ground; it supports the space in the mind that allows us to grow. Therefore, I overlay the trip with life coaching conversations with the students; as we push back the noise and distractions, they can hear with their minds and hearts.

They turn off their cell phones and turn on their dreamers.

If we are going to move forward with intention and hope, we need to keep turning on our dreamers, especially the young members of our communities, for within them the future lives.

Few things do this as powerfully then travel.

So, with 17 Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity members at the University of Nebraska, we set off for two weeks to South America. To explore how the world has changed and how we have changed. I want to know how the indigenous communities deep in the Amazon Rainforest survived COVID using their traditional medicines. I want to laugh again with the Indigenous communities living in the Andean Mountains. I want to see again the place they call the land of everlasting spring.

To stoke the internal fires of life again, to turn back on our dreamers.

Dean Jacobs is a world traveler and a Fremont Tribune correspondent.

Dean Jacobs is a world traveler and a Fremont Tribune correspondent.

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Traveling from the perspective of a wonderer | Columnists | fremonttribune.com - Fremont Tribune

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By Dr. Laura McGuire

Judaism and Unitarian Universalism have deep intertwining roots. Their inherent commonalities have laid a strong foundation, past and present. For those of us who identify as Jewish UUs, these commonality currents take on more meaningful importance.

So why have UU spaces long been a spiritual haven for progressive-minded Jews and how this relationship can continue to evolve into the future?

Going back to the dawn of the Unitarian movement in Eastern Europe, Jews have been able to find fellowship with Unitarians, who faced persecution and hostility from trinitarian Christian groups that sought to divide themselves from Jesus Jewishness. Understanding the history of the UU communitys ties to Judaism allows us to forge a path forward for the future. As more and more rabbis become UU faith leaders and additional resources for Jewish interfaith families expand, we see just how important it is to strengthen these connections for the good of both the UU and Judaism.

On a personal note, I formulated my roots in the Unitarian Universalism because of my journey back to my ancestral home in the tribe of Israel. In the fall of 2021, I began my journey as a seminarian, quite certain that I would serve as an interfaith Christian in the Quaker community. A few months later, as I explored scapegoat atonement theory and ancestor veneration, I started to feel my already loose grip on Christianity letting go.

As I released this idea that Jesus was some form of a God or a savior of humanity, I came to have a more profound longing to answer the questions that kept popping up about my mothers ancestral line. I soon gathered information that would fully affirm that her ancestors were Jews who lived in the Mediterranean during the Inquisition. Long-held traditions, recipes, and superstitions- that we had not previously been able to explain- now made sense as the realization of their crypto-Jewish culture came into the light. I knew that the fact that I had decided to go to seminary while working at a Jewish school was no coincidence, but evidence of the divine intervention of my ancestors led me to this moment.

This new information led me to the rationale that I needed to walk through this door of personal transformation, despite my fears and hesitations about making such a significant life change.

As I continue on my journey in earning my Master of Divinity and looking into rabbinical schools afterward, I continue to find unbounded peace in being a UU faith leader in the near future. When I begin working in community ministry, I need to make sure that I am in a space that embraces people like myself. As DNA testing increases, more and more people realize that they are part of the Bnei Anusim or the descendants of forced Jewish converts. It has led to a tidal wave of returns/conversions, which is wonderful news. I sincerely believe that people returning to their Jewish heritage is part of the vital work that is decolonizing religion. I feel strongly that this process is integral to healing epigenetic ancestral wounds. For this to occur, there needs to be more discussion around creating spaces where people can come up with challenging questions and complex identities and be included in these nuances.

The Unitarian community, founded in the 16th century in Eastern Europe, was initially a space of intentional bridge-building between the new Christian communities and their Jewish and Muslim neighbors. Unitarians rejected the idea that Christ was God or that there was a way to have multiple gods in one. This provided them with the ability to hold space for their Abrahamic siblings and discuss what it meant to worship the same God in such a similar way. Where other Christian communities were building walls, primarily founded on their perspective that there was only one way to enter eternity with the God of Abraham, Unitarians could sit in a place of spiritual humility that was an open the door to their Jewish neighbors.

When the Trinitarian doctrine was commented as mainline belief, first by creating the first Christian creed at the Council of Nicaea and then officially named as three distinct persons at The Council of Constantinople, this formed a desire for the further distinction of Christianity from its extended religious family. After the Council of Nicaea, Emperor Constantine, whose prerogative was likely a mix of religious fervor and empire-building ideologies, officially severed ties with Jesus religion by no longer allowing Christians to follow the Jewish calendar and encouraging followers to no longer have any relationship to the detestable company of Jews (Percival pg. 54).

The shadows of these councils still cast a harmful image on the face of global Christianity today. These sentiments have sewn seeds of hatred for generations to come. For a Jewish rabbis legacy to become one of antisemitism is a sin that has yet to be fully addressed, much less atone for, by the Christian majority. We cannot separate our Christian roots from how Jews the world over have been targeted by hatred and genocideunderstanding where this cruelty manifested is the first step in addressing it holistically.

Islam mindfully made Jewish traditions and Christianitys Prophet interwoven into their emerging faith. In the Islamic state of Medina, the Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed his citizens to be at one with one another (Ritchie pg. 3). The Quran has a book explicitly dedicated to Jesuss mother, Mary, and tells many stories, not in the gospels, about Jesus life. Yet these emerging Christian communities chose not to return the favor to acknowledge Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as anything but a problem and cut any lingering connections to their Jewish forebearers.

Resources from this time also reflect the beauty of the connection shared between the monotheistic communities. We see evidence of Unitarian, Jewish, and Muslim theologians having intellectual discussions around their commonalities more than their differences in the Ottoman empire. Theologian and traveler, Paleologos wrote of a time and places where this Abrahamic family broke bread together in fellowship instead of division. This reality would be fleeting and not often reproduced (Ritchie, pg. 18 &19).

Continuing in Europe, theologian innovators such as Michael Servetus and Erasmus sought to carve out spaces that would benefit reform Jews, Unitarians inspired by the life of Christ, and those, like the Bnei Anusim, who existed in the margins. Erasmus and Servetus were instrumental in decolonizing the Torah from the New Testament (Ritchie pg. 40 & 41). Through extensive research and documentation, they proved that much of what was said to be a foreshadowing of Jesus messianic prophecy was based on additions to holy texts that came centuries after they were initially written. Servetus was particularly keen at deciphering what was rooted in anti-Jewish antisemitic beliefs and what was scripturally founded. Because of this work, he became a Unitarian, vehemently denying the ability to embrace a Trinity as a purportedly monotheistic religion.

Universalism began with the enlightenment, primarily its foundation in North America. In a similar vein, Reform Judaism began to emerge from the enlightenment in Germany. The German enlightenment embraced theism and religious integration with rational thought and scientific paradigms. German enlightenment philosophers, such as Christian Thomasius, believed that scientific revelation should revitalize religion, not be its demise (Anhert). Universalisms ability to embrace all faith paths, including humanism which does not include deity frameworks, made it an additional safe haven for those seeking a new way of communing with religion and/or God.

In this time and place, Jewish scholars began to reimagine their own faith. Rabbi Sonnenschein was one of the instrumental bridge builders between the Unitarian Church in The United States and Reform Judaism (Hart-Landsberg & Keller pg. 38). In the 1860s, he pointed out the essential parallels between reform Judaism and Unitarianism- that each was founded on a desire to ring tolerance, freedom, and the religion of humanity to the larger world. Like many Jewish UUs today, he found several obstacles in pursuing this path; debates between founding figures, holy days, and Zionism continued to plague his efforts. Universalist faith leader, but for reasons undisclosed was denied (Hart-Landsberg pg. 41).

When the Universalist and Unitarian communities came together, they both had already set a foundation for Jewish inclusion in their spaces. As Jews sought to continue to rethink the way that they connected with Hashem, many additional parts or forged to combine these different communities. Reform Judaism, founded by Moses Mendelssohn, sought to reimagine how Jews connected to their history and their loss-making the Jewish experience more personal and willing to evolve with scientific innovation.

The reform Judaism website echoes the history of universalism in liberal Jewish movements, The universalist tendency stressed the common values and behaviors they shared with their non-Jewish neighbors (Englander).

Today, many Jewish UUs continue to embrace the historical fellowship between these Semites and UUs and find ever-evolving reasons to remain in these borderlands. Jewish Voices in Unitarian Universalism (2014) is a collection of essays that provide insight into the common desires and difficulties experienced by those who identify as Jewish and UUs. Typical desires, or experiences, that cause people who identify as Jewish to come into the Unitarian Universalist fold are centralized on an experience to defy limiting boundaries. Faith should be liberatory; it should allow us to break free from other societal constraints. Yet, far too often, religion only feeds into human limiting beliefs and adds layers of gatekeeping that inhibit our ability to express our authentic selves.

Those who grew up in interfaith families or had internal interface leanings are told that this is not acceptable. To be a good Jew is to choose a singular path, worship among only those who follow the Torah, and practice the mitzvot.

As one Jewish Universalist states in the book Jewish Voices in Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalists are the only people I know who will let me be the Jew I am (pg. 13). For children and families, this is particularly painful. To ask them to choose one faith tradition exclusively is to choose one parent, one family, in their mosaic of familial connection. The Unitarian Universalist Church is a space where they can finally exhale. No one asked them what they believed and required to turn off all is around that. Instead, walls are broken down, and new pathways for intersecting beliefs are forged.

Common obstacles faced by Jewish UUs are a feeling of not being able to voice their Jewishness in its fullness within the Unitarian Universalist community. For example, wanting to worship on Shabbat might not be an easy option in Unitarian Universalist spaces with predominantly Christian attendees. Kosher food options are often not available at Unitarian Universalist events. And Christianese, or vernacular based on Christian normatively, is far too familiar. Simply calling a Unitarian Universalist faith community a church can be problematic if not painful in and of itself. The challenge here is to think expensively. To offer more options based on awareness of what Jewish attendees need. And to reimagine the language that we use around the space that we hold on to the beliefs that we share.

One community I have not seen discussed in the UU resources I encountered is the Bnei Anusim, descendants of crypto-Jews/Marranos/Conversos. Current books on the Bnei Anusim experience are positioned from an Orthodox Jewish lens (Leon). Authors such as Rabbi Stephen Leon operate from an Ashkenazi lens and see the Bnei Anusim as vital to fulfilling the prophecy that Abrahams descendants would be scattered and as numerous as the stars (Leon, pg. 49-51). Yet, in the same breath, they deny that these crypto-Jews should be welcomed into the tribe easily, requiring them to do extensive research on their genealogy and go through numerous requirements to be entirely accepted. But as Rabbi David Kunin explains, this is hurtful to the Jewish people as a whole and does not include Sephardic perspectives on halacha (Jewish law) around returning Jews (Kunin).

He states, Due to the unique history of the Anusim who have maintained their Jewish identity, beliefs, and practices secretly and often to their peril, and since in the words of R. Solomon Duran, the Anusim for all time are part of the Jewish people, no conversion ceremony is necessary, nor is it necessary to investigate the genealogy of the returning Anusim to demonstrate a clear matrilineal line of descent. It is advisable, however, to provide and encourage ongoing adult education as we do for all Jews, so that the returning Anusim can play a full and fulfilling role in synagogue life. It may also be useful to develop a ritual of return within the congregation as a form of celebration and formalization of the return.

Others are personal narratives, such as Rabbi Elisheva Diazs bookWrestling for my Jewish Identity, but which do not have Halachic guidelines for how to return to Judaism. Neither explains how to merge ones former faith identity, mainly in Christianity, with the new Jewish mindset. Interestingly, in Rabbi Diazs personal narrative, the author, who professes to have proudly left Christianity far behind her, also mentions that she still feels there is power in the name of Jesus. There is no further context for this, but I am sure others feel similar kinds of internal theological conflict.

Other Bnei Anusim who have returned to Judaism but still love much of what they gleaned from Christianity has been denied Aliyah (the law of return to Israel) and told the Israeli government that they are not Jewish enough to be welcomed home.

We, the Bnei Anusim, are complicated Jews, no matter how passionately we embrace Judaism and deny Jesus of Nazareth as a divine being. He is still a pivotal figure in many of our lives and a visual representation of love-made flesh. Trying to connect to a deity with no visual representation is profoundly challenging. We may also miss other relics of our Christian upbringing, such as the Saints or Blessed Mother. Singing songs in English with modern tempos and meaning can also feel a significant loss. If we express these feelings, we are told not to return to Judaism, that being a Jew is too much for us if we have these internal conflicts.

We are also often isolated in this journey from our family and community. Many who learn of their Jewish ancestry do not wish to return and may feel fearful of family members denying Jesus as Christ. The emotional tug of war between familial genetics and a desire to avoid hellfire can create fissures in kinship dynamics. This additional emotional upheaval means that reverts to Judaism need support more than most Jews and other kinds of converts. As more and more Bnei Anusim find their Jewish roots through genealogy, particularly in South and Central America, the need for space to explore these inherent misgivings is paramount to spiritual wellness and Jewish identity.

For this reason, I wish to call on the Unitarian Universalist community to make new inroads for these reverts. Only in a UU faith community can Bnei Anusim make peace with holding space for what would otherwise be seen as dichotomous theologies. No one will tell you that specific thoughts or longings for familiar traditions make you less of a Jew, nor will they pressure you to have your family come along on the same spiritual journey. As the only returning Bnei Anusim in my family, I say this from a place of painful personal experience. In a synagogue, I must remind family members not to wear a cross or bring up their beliefs in the trinity.

When I try to visit my family members churches, I can no longer sing the familiar songs that focus on Jesus as God-head or substitutionary atonement. In a UU space, we can all take a deep exhale. In all our complexities, we can be ourselves together as one. My children will never be asked to choose or given odd looks for celebrating multiple holidays or wearing both a Kippah and a crucifix.

The ability to show up, individually and together, as our whole selves, unapologetically, is sacred. If we are all reflections of the divine and if every faith tradition is a facet of the face of G-d, then communities that embrace this truthfully are holy grounds. Let us take off our sandals, borders, and biases and break bread togetherunited in the universality of how the metaphysical is known to each of us.

Citations

Anhert, T. (2006). Religion and the Origins of the German Enlightenment. University of Rochester Press

Diaz, E. (2017). Wrestling for my Jewish Identity. Friesen Press

Endglander, L. (n.d. ) History of Reform Judaism and a Look Ahead. Taken on 4/26/22 from https://reformjudaism.org/beliefs-practices/what-reform-judaism/history-reform-judaism-and-look-ahead-search-belonging

Hart-Landberg L. & Keller, M (2014). Jewish Voices in Unitarian Universalism. Skinner House Books

Leon, S. (2017). The Third Commandment and the Return of the Anusim. Gaon Books

Ritchie, S. (2014). Children of the Same God; the historical relationship between Unitarianism, Judaism, and Islam. Skinner House Books

Dr. Laura McGuireis a survivor, sexologist, and seminarian. They currently work as an adjunct professor at Widener University and are the CEO of the National Center for Equity and Agency where they develop certifications in trauma-informed care, prevention education, and restorative justice. They are the author of Creating Cultures of Consent and are publishing an additional guidebook on preventing sexual misconduct for universities in 2022. They are the descendant of the Anusim- or those forced to covert under the inquisition. Raised as a Christian they now identify as a Jewish Universalist, the perspectives of which they now bring to their Masters of Divinity studies at Earlham School of Religion.

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Unitarian Universalism and the B'nei Anusim Jews - Patheos

Amazon is ending its employee health service Amazon Care. While it may seem that shuttering the service marks a setback for the company in its healthcare pursuits, analysts argue the opposite.

One of the main benefits of Amazon's involvement in the healthcare industry more than traditional healthcare facilities is its ability to pause and reassess challenges and what could be done better, said Natalie Schibell, research director at Forrester Research. When a project isn't optimal, the project gets shut down and the company regroups. That's what Amazon is doing, she said.

Amazon is seizing a "huge opportunity" and has demonstrated its interest in moving away from employee healthcare and going direct to consumer care through its recently announced decision to acquire One Medical, a national primary care organization, as well as its bid on healthcare platform Signify Health.

"They're setting up for much bigger things," Schibell said. "Employee health is small potatoes for them; now they're going to provide primary care to the consumer."

Amazon launched Amazon Care for its Seattle-based employees in 2019, offering virtual healthcare services, prescription delivery and in-person visits for select areas.

According to an internal memo reported by GeekWire Wednesday, Amazon Health Services lead Neil Lindsay said Amazon is ending the service Dec. 31 because it is "not a complete enough offering for the large enterprise customers we have been targeting, and wasn't going to work long-term."

Employee health is small potatoes for them; now they're going to provide primary care to the consumer. Natalie SchibellResearch director, Forrester Research

Indeed, Amazon Care's ability to attract corporate clients became one of its most significant challenges, said R "Ray" Wang, founder and principal analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research. However, Wang said it served as a learning experience for Amazon.

"The technology used for Amazon Care helped pilot a number of innovations they will use and reuse," Wang said. "They also learned what types of patients preferred what types of services and where the limits of telemedicine end and where you need to physically visit a physician."

By ending Amazon Care, the company is sending the message that it's learning what does and doesn't work, something expected for a "perennial innovator," Gartner healthcare analyst and senior director Kate McCarthy said.

"They don't linger in spaces that aren't working for long; they make them better," she said.

McCarthy said there's no evidence Amazon is looking to back away from healthcare. Instead, its recent moves for One Medical and Signify Health demonstrate a seriousness about the "legitimate business of healthcare" and being "much more intentional about their investments," she said.

By acquiring One Medical and bidding for Signify Health, Amazon is positioning itself to provide in-person care, Gartner's McCarthy said.

"As they move forward with One Medical, they're adding a breadth and depth of services to their portfolio that brings them into communities, gives them physical presence, gives them clinics, gives them physicians," she said.

By entering the primary care space, Forrester's Schibell said she expects to see Amazon chart a new path through an industry troubled by issues such as rising costs and staffing shortages.

"This is disrupting the model as we know it," she said.

Healthcare today isn't as effective as it could be, which has given rise to retail giants like Amazon, CVS, Walmart, and others with an "edge for innovation" to find the right offering for consumers and enterprise customers, McCarthy said.

"It's less about that larger healthcare ecosystem disruption and more about how big does that segment [of retail businesses] decide to go with healthcare," McCarthy said. "I think we're seeing real promise for the primary care of medicine for sure."

Signify Health is a healthcare platform helping consumers stay healthy and age at home. It's focused on care in the home versus at a clinic.

Amazon can pair Signify Health with its AWS backbone to gather data from its services, such as prescription delivery and devices like Amazon Halo, to get a bigger picture of a patient's overall health, Schibell said.

"If you really want to get into primary care you have to have that holistic view," Schibell said. "So, if they don't acquire something like Signify Health, they're going to go after another company. And there's lots of them that are doing it well."

Makenzie Holland is a news writer covering big tech and federal regulation. Prior to joining TechTarget, she was a general reporter for the Wilmington StarNews and a crime and education reporter at the Wabash Plain Dealer.

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Amazon evolves healthcare approach, ends Amazon Care - TechTarget