Building a community that reflects all of us

Online

A New Webinar Series Championing Inclusive Jewish Life

Jewish LearningWorks’ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) commitment works to advance inclusive practices that enhance both an individual and collective sense of belonging, grounded in mutual understanding and appreciation of difference. In support of this commitment, our 26-27 webinar series is focused on the impact of racism, antisemitism, economic vulnerability, as well as the development of social and emotional skills in young people.

What: Three 90-min webinars from October 2026 to March 2027.

Who: For those working to create more inclusive spaces for Jewish life and learning.

Modeling what it means to build a community where each of us can find purpose and meaning.

Over the past two years, Jewish LearningWorks has been honored to partner with a variety of organizations to advance research that works to build inclusion of individuals with diverse identities and ideas in Jewish life.  Prior webinars have featured research and thought-leadership from JIMENA, Keshet, Olamim and Rosov Consulting. 

This year’s interactive webinar series is open to all Jewish education and engagement professionals dedicated to creating more inclusive spaces for Jewish life and learning.

  • Aimed at:
    • Educators, lay leaders, clergy and administrators from across Jewish communal organizations.
    • People of all backgrounds and identities are welcome.
    • We encourage the participation of more than one individual per organization.
  • Series structure: Three online, drop-in seminars.
  • Facilitated by: Dana Sheanin, Jewish Learning Works’ Chief Executive Officer.

FALL WEBINAR

When Life Happens: Economic Vulnerability and Belonging in Jewish Life

American Jews are often imagined as uniformly affluent, a stereotype that renders economic hardship invisible and keeps class off the DEIB agenda even as our field attends carefully to race and ethnicity. Drawing on On the Edge, a mixed-methods study of nearly 2,000 American Jews, Dr. Ilana Horwitz shows that economic vulnerability is far more common than we assume, and that it rarely looks like inherited poverty. For most people, it arrives situationally—through an illness, a caregiving obligation, or a change in family structure—and it can happen to anyone. The challenge is that Jewish institutions are largely built for an idealized participant with no body, no family, and no disruptions, so when hardship hits, our communities too often convert a private struggle into exclusion from Jewish life. 

This session invites educators to see class as a dimension of diversity in its own right, to recognize the structural (not individual) roots of who gets left out, and to consider what it would take to design learning communities where families experiencing instability can still belong.

  • Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
  • Time: 10:00 – 11:30 am PT.
  • Led by: Dr. Ilana Horwitz of School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University.
Register Here

WINTER WEBINAR

Interwoven Oppressions: Research on the Embodied Impacts of Racism and Antisemitism for Jews of Color

Join this interactive presentation from Mitsui Collective on recent research exploring the impacts of racism and antisemitism as dual vectors for trauma for Jews of Color (JOC) at the intersection of the body. Conducted via community engagement sessions with over fifty JOC, this mixed-methods research explores the nature of JOC experiences with racism and antisemitism in their unique nuance and complexity. Project and Research Leads Yoshi Silverstein and Dr. Imani Chapman will share core findings, discuss valuable insights and applications for Jewish communities and educational spaces, and guide participants in practices similar to those conducted with research participants to more deeply understand participants’ own experiences of racism and antisemitism. 

Register Here

Spring WEBINAR

To be Scheduled.

This webinar series is offered at no-cost

Thanks to the support of Jewish LearningWorks’ generous donors, this webinar series is offered free of charge. We encourage you to prioritize attending, as the series will not be recorded. 

Registration is available until 48 hours before the webinar date. You will receive a Zoom link as we get closer to the webinar date.

 Participants are welcome to attend one, or all of the sessions. 

Questions?

Please contact Dana Sheanin, Chief Executive Officer, at dana@jewishlearning.works for any questions or more information.

About Our Presenters

Dr. Ilana Horwitz is a sociologist of religion and education who examines how people’s gender, ethnicity, race, social class, and religious upbringing shape their life. Dr. Horwitz, Fields-Rayant Chair in Contemporary Jewish Life, is trained in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Prior to Tulane, Dr. Horwitz was a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Center on Longevity, and she earned her PhD in Sociology of Education & Jewish Studies from Stanford University. She earned her Masters in International Education Development from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and a Bachelors in Business Administration from Emory University. She is a former Institute for Education Sciences fellow and Wexner/Davidson fellow, and worked for several years as a management consultant and program evaluator. Dr. Horwitz recently served on the Board of the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE) and is an affiliate of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. In her first book, God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success (OUP 2022), Dr. Horwitz examines the surprising ways in which a religious upbringing shapes the academic lives of teens. Dr. Horwitz’s second book, The Entrepreneurial Scholar, is forthcoming with Princeton University Press, and her third book, The Broken Ladder: Why 2/3 of Americans Don’t Complete College – And Why It’s Not Their Fault is under contract with University of California Press.

Dr. Imani Romney-Rosa Chapman, the founder and director of imani strategies, llc, is a powerful, dynamic, faith-filled, compassionate, change leader for equity. She has more than 30 years of experience developing curriculum, organizing, and educating for social justice. As her name suggests, Imani/Emunah [faith], her faith drives her to co-create brave and inclusive environments for learning, growth and justice. Her work with stakeholders in religious communities, secular communities, schools and non-profit organizations has helped root their efforts for sustained change.

Imani currently serves on the Board for the Roger L. Wallace Excellence in Teaching Award and Jewish Studio Project. Additionally, she was the founding co-chair of the Steering Committee for the New York Metro Coalition of Faith/Spiritual/Ethical Communities for the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, and The Race Working Group at Kolot Chayeinu Synagogue.

Dr. Chapman holds an ACC coaching certification from the International Coaching Federation. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, her Masters from Middlebury College, Madrid, Spain and her Doctor of Ministry degree in Interfaith Clinical Education for Pastoral Care at HUC-JIR (NY), where she was UJA Federation Graduate Fellow. She teaches “Race, Racism and Jews” at the University of San Francisco.

Imani works for a world in which her children and the young people in your lives can live wholly and safely into their full humanity in an equitable world where race is not a major determinant in health, wealth, legal, and educational outcomes.

Yoshi Silverstein is founder and executive director of Mitsui Collective, which builds resilient community through embodied Jewish practice and multiracial justice. He also is a Schusterman Fellow, an initiative of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. The Fellowship empowers leaders to drive positive change in the Jewish community, Israel, and beyond. Previously, Silverstein was director of the JOFEE Fellowship at Hazon, catalyzing the growth of emerging professionals working across the U.S. and Canada in the realm of Jewish relationship to land, food, culture, and climate.

As a Chinese-Ashkenazi-American Jew, Silverstein is an active leader, advocate, and educator in the Jews of Color community and speaks regularly on diversity, equity, and inclusion. He has been a cast member of Kaleidoscope Project’s “What Does Jewish Look Like to You” monologue series and an ELI Talks speaker; and is an alumnus of Selah (Cohort 14, Jewish Leaders of Color), GLEAN Network’s certificate in Spiritual Entrepreneurship with Columbia Business School, the Dorot Fellowship, and the PresenTense NYC Accelerator for Social Entrepreneurship. Silverstein lives in the Cleveland area with his wife, daughter, and pup.