Jews On Ohlone Land (JOOL) activates our Jewish communities in solidarity with Indigenous sovereignty.
We root our work in teshuvah,
a process of relational repair, moving toward right relationship.
JOOL’s Purpose
“Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization, and land restoration, Sogorea Te’ calls on Native and non-native peoples to heal and transform the legacies of colonization, genocide, and patriarchy and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.”
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, Led by Urban Indigenous Women in Huchiun
Jews On Ohlone Land invites Jews living in Lisjan territory to join in this healing and transformation in solidarity with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation as we learn to live as good guests on this land. We do this through the practice of teshuvah (relational repair), which calls us to engage with our own experiences of perpetrating and benefitting from colonization, as well as with Jewish experiences of violence, displacement and genocide. Living as whole people in diaspora, fully present on Lisjan Ohlone land and deeply rooting in our own ancestral ways and teachings, we are building beloved Jewish community in alignment with this place and Indigenous people.
Photo by Julia Maryanska for Wilderness Torah and Jews On Ohlone Land.
JOOL’s Goals
Activate and organize Jewish communities in Lisjan territory to support the work of rematriation by paying Shuumi, individually and institutionally; returning homes, land and other resources to Lisjan caretaking; and supporting Lisjan sovereignty.
Support the integration of local Indigenous histories, current experiences and future visions into Jewish educational curricula, festivals, rituals, community events, programs and spiritual practices.
Organize Jews to show up for Lisjan-led prayers, actions and campaigns, and respond to other direct asks for guests living on their land.
Build beloved Jewish community in diaspora, grounding in our ancestral and adaptive Jewish practices and learning to live in right relationship and sacred reciprocity with the land and Indigenous communities in Lisjan territory.
Participate in an expanding network of Jews organizing in solidarity with Indigenous peoples’ movements in order to grow our practice, share our learning and have greater collective impact.
JOOL’s Community Agreements
The land is part of our group. We connect to the land by working with plants and other elements and spending time outdoors as much as possible.
We center the Jewish values of t’shuvah (repairing relational harm), tzedakah (justice), anavah (humility), simcha (joy), emet (truth), and chesed (loving kindness).
We learn from and amplify Indigenous voices, but we communicate only from our own experiences. We are mindful of how we engage with Indigenous people and reference Sogorea Te’s How to Come Correct Guidelines.
We commit to trying new things, learning and reflecting, and we allow ourselves and each other to change our minds and ways of being.
We recognize that relationship building is inherently valuable and part of our work.
We honor the full diversity of Jewish identities and perspectives while reckoning with the privileges that exist within our communities and the complexities of Jewish relationship to home and land.
We hold the tension of moving at the pace of trust even as systemic violence and climate crisis heighten the urgency of our work.
We honor our changing needs and try to take care of each other as best we can. When conflict arises or someone experiences harm, we aim to facilitate repair through healthy communication and mutual accountability.
We learn to center justice by bringing attention to harmful patterns of power and privilege in our work, including white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism and ableism, and then finding ways to address them.
We focus on here and now, on being in right relationship with Lisjan people and their ancestral territory, inspired by our experiences as Jews living in diaspora.
We acknowledge that individual and collective trauma may emerge as we do our work, and we commit to holding that experience with attention and care as best we can.
We understand that our lives are fundamentally intertwined with all peoples and places and orient our work towards collective liberation, safety and freedom for everyone, including Palestinians and Israelis. We aim to show up with open-hearts and spaciousness while clearly challenging systems of colonialism and violence in all of their forms.
We know we are learning and growing. These agreements and our JOOL scroll is a living document which we commit to changing as our membership, our work and the world change.
Jews On Ohlone Land was founded by Rabbi Dev Noily and Ariel Luckey in 2019. We are an all-volunteer collective based in the territory of Huchiun on Lisjan land (San Francisco East Bay). We are in a primary accountability relationship with Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation. While we are responsible for our own actions and do not speak for Sogorea Te’, we strive to act in alignment and solidarity with Sogorea Te’ and Tribal leadership. All fees generated by JOOL for our services (workshops, trainings, consulting, etc.) go to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust/Shuumi Land Tax, less our direct expenses (gas, milage, materials, etc.).
