A New Group at Kehilla – Working Class/Low Income

The Working Class/Low Income Groups was created as a space for those of us raised working class as well as those currently low income because of limited income, age, retirement, disabilities, etc. Kehilla is an amazing progressive community that does tremendous activism in the larger community. We feel that it is now time for us to also focus on issues of class and resource within our Kehilla home.

The group has been a wonderful safe place for many of us to share our stories, feelings and situations as working class/low income folkx in the Jewish community. Given the stereotypes in the wider world that all Jews have money, this issue can be a source of invisibility and can bring up feelings of shame, inadequacy, not belonging and more. We are finding wonderful support and camaraderie in the group, as we listen to and learn from each other. This group is always open to new members.

We also want to bring awareness and inclusiveness to our larger Kehilla community around dues and fee structures, sweat equity, access to resources and more. Sweat equity is volunteer work being valued and publicly acknowledged in the same way as financial donations are.

We will be offering a Kehilla-wide workshop on Oct. 7. The working title is “No Shame No Blame Celebrating Diversity as we learn about Class Differences and Privilege”, led by Kehilla member, Penny Rosenwasser and members of our group. We’d love if you would save the date of Oct. 7 and keep your eyes and ears open for more info.

Our next meeting will be on Saturday, June 9th from 2-4pm at Kehilla in the Back Classroom. At this meeting, we will continue our discussion on changes we’d like to see at Kehilla, share some personal stories and work on planning the Oct. 7 community-wide workshop.
For any questions or more information contact Debbie Fier: debbie@debbiefier.com or Dvora Gordon: dvoragee@gmail.com. In the Back Classroom.