Do you want to become a JOOL member? Starting this September, we are welcoming new members who want to learn and take action with us. We move intentionally and slowly within JOOL, including how we welcome new members. We only take on new members when we feel that we have the capacity to properly orient them to our community.

We are calling this welcoming process new member praxis. Our intention is to replicate what active JOOL membership is like, as much as possible. The experience prioritizes in-person gatherings, builds relationships and weaves together learning and doing.

We hope to welcome in two cohorts of new members with one being a Jews of Color affinity group. This kind of process takes time and energy. We think it’s worth it! New members will be ready to join teams, lead workshops, show up for events and actions, and contribute their skills to different projects.

New member praxis might be for you if:

• You are a supporter of JOOL, engaged with our purpose and work, and feel ready to go deeper

• You have the time and capacity to be a JOOL member: attend 1-2 meetings per month and actively participate in a work team

• You can attend all new member praxis meetings on 9/22, 10/20, 11/10, and 12/1 from 10-1pm or 2-5pm AND stay actively engaged with JOOL community and events in between.

Praxis will also have a Jews of color affinity cohort! In addition to Jews of color, we encourage all people with historically underrepresented Jewish identities to sign up, including Sephardi, working class, disabled, trans, queer, and multifaith Jews! JOOL is excited to continue building beloved Jewish community that represents the vastness of the Diaspora. While we root our work here in Huichin, we are committed to the liberation of all peoples everywhere. 

We want young people and elders, rabbis, farmers, healers, parents, artists and organizers. We want singers, drummers, weavers, ritual leaders, educators, woodworkers, writers, poets, shmoozers, naturalists, herbalists, and more. Whatever skills, experiences, and gifts you bring, we can’t wait to meet you!

If you would like to join the new member praxis, to become a JOOL member, fill out this form.

Learn more and pay your shuumi land tax here.

At the invitation of Corrina Gould, the Spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, JOOL began celebrating havdalah at the West Berkeley Shellmound in the summer of 2021. We have been showing up there at least once a month ever since. We entwine Jewish ritual, learning about the Shellmound and beloved community. Our presence and ritual is a prayerful protest against the private development that threatens this sacred Ohlone space.

For most up to date info and upcoming dates for Havdalah at the West Berkeley Shellmound, check out our Facebook page.

Learn more about Havdalah at the Shellmound

Check out our drash blog.

A drash is a teaching about the Torah that usually takes place in a synagogue. We've remixed that practice. In this digital space, JOOL members teach about the Torah of Jewish/Indigenous solidarity work. Individuals offer their perspectives on the questions and ideas that are moving through them. We hope it's a wild and sacred space. By lifting up different points of view, we practice our values of transparency, learning and relationship building. And we celebrate the diversity of our collective, where many different voices are joining together, connected through shared values, to call for Indigenous sovereignty.

Read our newsletter and subscribe.