Our Work
Workshops
We create learning experiences for a wide range of communities, from camps and synagogues to rabbinical students, teen activists and farmers.
If you would like to work with us, please fill out this form
Holidays and Rituals
Havdalah at the West Berkeley Shellmound
JOOL has been showing up at the West Berkeley Shellmound at least once a month since summer 2021.
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.
Learn more and find upcoming dates.
An Acorn on the Seder Plate
During Passover, we place an acorn on our seder plate and support Indigenous rematriation by paying the Shuumi Land Tax.
#ShofarsForShuumi
Join us in our practice of Teshuvah as we pay the Shuumi Land Tax as Jews on Ohlone Land.
We are activating our Jewish communities to support the powerful work of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the rematriation of Ohlone Land.
Join us in this small step towards acknowledging the history of genocide on this land and contributing to its healing.
Tashlich on Ohlone Land
Jews On Ohlone Land and Kehilla Community Synagogue co-host an annual, outdoor, socially distanced, family friendly, community Tashlich ritual.
We gather at the West Berkeley Shellmound at 1900 Fourth Street for a short program and then walk together to the Berkeley Marina where we hold a community Tashlich ritual, sing together and blow our shofars.
Save the Date: Sunday, September 17th at 3:30pm for our Tashlich on Ohlone Land.
Watch JOOL’s 3rd Annual Tashlich on Ohlone Land
Actions
Witnessing Indigenous Genocide & Resilience as Jews
The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) sits on the historic Ohlone village site of Sitlintac, a place that hundreds of generations of Indigenous people called home until European colonization began in the late 1700’s. The Gold Rush and the U.S. annexation of California brought with them the final wave of genocide of California’s Indigenous people. California’s Indigenous population plunged from about 150,000 people to just 30,000 survivors between 1846 and 1870. Levi Strauss (1829-1902), arrived in the U.S. from Bavaria in 1847, came to San Francisco in 1853 during the height of the Gold Rush, and built his business selling dry goods to miners.
The CJM’s exhibit on Levi Strauss largely ignores the history of Indigenous genocide during the Gold Rush. The same frenzied markets that brought commercial success to Levi Strauss also brought physical and cultural destruction to California’s Indigenous people. Largely due to direct, physical violence, California’s Indigenous population plunged from about 150,000 people to just 30,000 survivors between 1846 and 1870.
As Jews with histories of genocide, we know how deep the impacts of genocide are across generations, and how painful it is to have our history denied, ignored, or made invisible. We are committed to keeping all stories of genocide visible, especially stories of the land we live on.
We gathered to bear witness to the history of this place, and to surface some of the stories and experiences that are missing from the CJM’s exhibit on Levi Strauss. We gathered to acknowledge that our Bay Area Jewish communities have been built here on a foundation of injustice that requires teshuvah - a process of relational repair, and moving toward right relationship.
Read Rachel Gelman’s powerful statement As a Descendant of Levi Strauss.
Wednesday, February 12th, 2020
At the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco
As Jews with histories of genocide, we know how deep the impacts of genocide are across generations, and how painful it is to have our history denied, ignored, or made invisible. We are committed to keeping all stories of genocide visible, especially stories of the land we live on.
Resources
Check out Sogorea Te’ Land Trust’s amazing Resource Library!
This is another collection of resources designed for the 2023 East Bay Tikkun.