Rivkush The CJN Podcast Network

When Sarah Kolker returned to her hometown neighbourhood in Philadelphia as a young adult, she noticed a run-down park that she grew up around. She remembered how her mom wouldn't let her go to the park at all. But now, the artist and social justice advocate was inspired to help reimagine the public space entirely.

She joined in starting petitions, holding community gatherings, and meeting with politicians and block captains—and ultimately wound up painting a large, colourful mural in the park with her friend and neighbour. Today, with improved lighting and funding from the city, the park hosts festivals regularly and has become a renewed space for children and adults.

Kolker doesn't pretend like her art transformed the place on its own—but it was a key compotent to help galvanize, inspire and unite her hometown community.

It's similar to the work she does as the director of jkid4all, a program for Jewish families of colour in Philadelphia, which aims to foster a cohesive, welcoming, diverse Jewish community in the city. Kolker joins Rivkush, The CJN's podcast about inspiring Jews of colour, to discuss her work both inside and beyond her Jewish community.

Credits

Rivkush is hosted by Rivka Campbell. Michael Fraiman is the editor and prodcer. Our theme music is by Westside Gravy. The show is sponsored by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.

As an Orthodox Jewish woman of colour, Leah Finkelstein knows what it's like to feel like an outsider. Unfortunately, her kids know, too—like when one of them scored a record-breaking triple double for his yeshiva's basketball team, resulting in the school proudly celebrating the box score on an image on social media... with a photo of a different, white teammate. (She complained; they ended up taking it down—not even reposting it with her son's own face.)

Incidents like these, and those endured by her fellow Jews of colour, inspired her to create a new organization in 2023, Am Echad Inclusive Alliance. Based out of New Jersey, the group embraces diversity within the Orthodox community; as the founder, Finkelstein herself is the driving force, engaging new members by hosting communal Shabbat meals and even offering to accompany them to shul.

To discuss her goals and her views on how racism permeates the Orthodox world, Finkelstein joins Rivkush, The CJN's podcast about Jews of colour, for an in-depth conversation.

Credits

Rivkush is hosted by Rivka Campbell. Michael Fraiman is the editor and prodcer. Our theme music is by Westside Gravy. The show is sponsored by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.

When Chaya Lev converted to Judaism, she was determined to move to Israel. Later on, after surviving breast cancer, she decided to transform her dream into reality, making aliyah in 2016 and starting an Afro-inspired dance movement in the Middle East.

But after Hamas launched a lethal terror attack on Oct. 7, it changed her life. With rockets being fired and Israeli sirens blaring, she and her synagogue congregants grabbed their building's Torah scrolls and started running through the streets on Simchat Torah to safety—a scene she says she will never forget.

Now, weeks into a war with Hamas, and with Israel's image in the West shifting for the worse, Lev is speaking out to her thousands of social media followers, challenging the argument that Palestinians are "people of colour" in a fight against colonial Israel. She joins Rivkush, The CJN's podcast about Jews of colour, to describe what life has been like on the ground during this conflict.

Credits

Rivkush is hosted by Rivka Campbell. Michael Fraiman is the editor and prodcer. Our theme music is by Westside Gravy. The show is sponsored by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.

Sara Braun grew up as a Black Jewish woman in a small town in the Netherlands, which was, she says, exactly what most North Americans imagine: windmills stretching up from fields of tulips and delicious smells wafting from rustic kitchens. But that's where the picturesque scenes end. While her Blackness was more or less accepted—treated as exotic, though not demeaned—her Judaism was not. She downplayed her religious identity all through her school years... until she turned 18 and moved to New York City with just $400 in her pocket.

From there, she found herself embracing the Hasidic lifestyle, marrying a Jewish man and intuitively speaking Yiddish to her newborn children. She has since become a singer, motivational speaker and mother of five children, offering her story as one of inspiration for women looking to chase their dreams—even if that means taking leaps and making sacrifices.

She recounts her journeys, both geographical and spiritual, in a book released earlier this year, That Black Hasidic Lady. She sat down with Rivka Campbell for an extended interview on The CJN's podcast about fascinating Jews of colour, Rivkush.

Credits

Rivkush is hosted by Rivka Campbell. Michael Fraiman is the editor and prodcer. Our theme music is by Westside Gravy. The show is sponsored by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.

With the third largest Jewish Diaspora in the world, Canada has no shortage of communal organizations: B'nai Brith, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, plenty of Federations, cross-country campus Hillels—the list goes on. All of them, in some way, claim they are combatting antisemitism.

So do we really need another one?

Daniel Koren thinks so. After working at The CJN, B'nai Brith Canada and Hasbara Canada over the past decade, this May he founded Allied Voices for Israel, a campus organization that promotes Zionism by bringing together Jewish and non-Jewish students for trips to Israel, media fellowships and summer retreats. And, as he shares on this episode of Rivkush, the origin for the idea can be traced to his heritage as a Bukharan Jew whose own family traditions are a medley of Middle Eastern and Central Asian customs—nothing like the Ashkenormative standards that have come to define Jews, and to an extent Israel, in mainstream North American culture.

Credits

Rivkush is hosted by Rivka Campbell. Michael Fraiman is the editor and prodcer. Our theme music is by Westside Gravy. The show is sponsored by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.

One of Israel's most exciting rappers is Nissim Black, the Seattle-born Hasidic musician whose conversion story is as fascinating—and heartfelt—as his art. Born in Seattle to parents who themselves helped pioneer rap music, Black was always asking big questions and seeking genuine answers, but never found a meaningful connection until he found Judaism.

Now living in Israel with his wife and seven children, Black is on a mission to blend rap with his religion, and has emerged as one of the most successful in the scene. He's the subject of an upcoming HBO comedy series about his life, the face behind a whisky brand and an active podcaster. On Sept. 7, 2023, he will be headlining the campaign launch for the UJA of Greater Toronto—and in the lead-up, he sat down with Rivkush for an extensive interview about his journey and his music.

Credits

Rivkush is hosted by Rivka Campbell. Michael Fraiman is the editor and prodcer. Our theme music is by Westside Gravy. The show is sponsored by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.