Atlanta Jews Celebrate Juneteenth
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Atlanta Jews Celebrate Juneteenth

The third annual We Are Family celebration was held June 16-18 at The Pearlstone Center.

By Compiled by AJT staff June 28, 2023, 10:42 am Edit
The We Are Family Juneteenth celebration was an intergenerational, family-centered event that provided connections between and among the diverse community of attendees.
The We Are Family Juneteenth celebration was an intergenerational, family-centered event that provided connections between and among the diverse community of attendees.

The Jews of Color Mishpacha Project, in partnership with KHAZBAR: An Oasis in Deserts of Jewish Diversity for JOCISM and Serious Allies, hosted the third annual in-person ‘We Are Family’ JOCISM Shabbaton on June 16-18 at The Pearlstone Center, Reisterstown, Md. JOCISM stands for Jews of Color, including Indigenous, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jews.

Dr. Harriette Wimms, founder of the JOC Mishpacha Project and a Baltimore-based psychologist, Jewish leader, and community organizer, spearheaded the effort. This year, Dr. Wimms collaborated with her partners, Sabrina Sojourner, and Tamara Fish of KHAZBAR, Rabbi Sandra Lawson, Victoria Raggs, Ammund, Repair the World, and many more organizations, and individuals to create this distinctively vibrant homecoming Shabbaton of freedom, activism, inclusivity, and rest in celebration of Juneteenth for the diverse JOCISM community.

“I felt like it was a love fest!” said one Atlanta attendee. “They provide different observance levels for Shabbat services so that everyone was accommodated, from Orthodox to reconstructionist, and the food was delicious!”

The third annual We Are Family celebration was held June 16-18 at The Pearlstone Center.

Victoria Raggs, co-ounding executive director of Atlanta Jews of Color Council, added that, to her, Juneteenth is a time for rejoicing and a time for our country to also reckon with a very painful historical legacy that continues to impact our society today. Getting to celebrate the holiday in community with other Jews felt amazing, she said.

The 2023 ‘We Are Family’ JOCISM Shabbaton was an inter-generational, family-centered event with an additional dedicated space for adults that provided connections between and among diverse JOCISM members. They achieved their goal to create a community where Jewish people of color of every age, gender, orientation, and denomination, along with other Jews could feel supported, seen, and held in Jewish faith. The Shabbaton integrated spiritual, communal, and religious programming for Jews of Color, and their families and allies.

Atlanta Jews of Color Council members are already looking forward to returning next year.

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