Finding Fertile Ground: Stories of Grit, Resilience, and Fertile Ground
Society & Culture
Rabbi Debra (D’vorah) Kolodny (they/them) is a social justice veteran, bringing a spiritual perspective and activist passion to racial and economic, women’s, environmental, peace, and LGBTQIA causes.
Rabbi Debra serves as the spiritual leader of Portland’s UnShul, and as executive director of Portland United Against Hate.
After the murder of George Floyd, they started going into the streets. Rabbi Debra said they felt very safe with the other protesters, speaking out for Black Lives Matter and against police brutality. (We spoke before the presence of federal agents and the escalation against the protesters.)
Rabbi Debra found it much more comfortable to live in DC and NY with their large and empowered Black and Latinx populations. The systemic racism in Oregon has created a difficult environment to do anti-racist work. There’s been a flourishing of white nationalist groups in Oregon. “I don’t feel safe here as a queer person,” they said. “I don’t feel safe here as a Jewish person.”
Raised in a secular household, Rabbi Debra had a mystical experience as a teenager on a trip to Israel. Many years later, they had another deep experience and felt called to become a rabbi. Rabbi Debra’s form of being Jewish is “highly politicized, mystical, radical, and in the streets.” They have discovered that most Jews don’t come to Portland to be Jewish. They founded the Portland UnShul to serve the “spiritual but not religious” Jews here.
On Juneteenth, they joined 13 other clergy who went to the Justice Center to be witness. These radical faith leaders have a yearning for the public messaging to lift up the voices that are prophetic and truthful.
I asked Rabbi Debra what simple tips they could give people to “interrupt hate in public spaces.” They said that in a public situation, the best thing to do is get out of there so you won’t provoke or escalate. The class they teach is about how to ally with the targeted and how to attune yourself to what’s happening, move from cluelessness to awareness, and empower the target. Rabbi Debra has trained over 1,400 people so far in these important skills.
Discussing how can faith communities can move beyond inclusivity, Rabbi Debra said we should move from a disability model (e.g., thinking people can’t help it because they were born that way) into celebration.
When I asked Rabbi Debra what mistakes they have made, they responded: “If white people are not making mistakes, we are not doing our work.” They work hard to be up with antiracism analysis and language, but part of why white people make mistakes is that the rate of anti-racism understanding, awareness, and insight move so quickly.
Rabbi Debra cautioned that “Resilience is used in contexts that are spiritual bypassing, meaning let’s focus on the good stuff and not on the hard stuff.” They elaborated,
“Resilience and grit go together...We need to consider what it takes to be able to care for ourselves while being in the fight?"
"As white people, we need to show the f*ck up. We need to expose ourselves to greater risks.”
“This is not a time for unity. This is a time for truth telling. This is a time to say NO to state-sponsored abuse and genocide...and it’s a time for righteous anger and for being relentless.”
Contact Rabbi Debra at rabbidebra@asthespiritmovesus.com or on the Portland United Against Hate Facebook page or website.
Next up is my series on "Three Men of Color, Redefining Fatherhood." First is Ruben Garcia, who worked in a migrant labor camp for several years. Experiencing racism, bullying, and xenophobia, and lack of role models, Ruben transcended his family patterns of alcoholism, shame, and abuse to raise children of his own.
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free