Comfortably Uncomfortable

We all strive to create spaces that promote productive discourse and educational opportunities. We look to create spaces that help people say whatever is on their mind without fear of judgment or repercussions. When we think of leadership, and our roles to create and promote change, that’s the first place that our minds go to. But are these spaces really what is needed? I have come to know the term “brave space” in three different opportunities in the past year. First, during the NGF this summer from a dear friend. The next, was while reading “Dare to Lead” by Brene Brown, and the last was during our most recent JewV’Nation retreat. This term might just be one my favorite ways to look at the work that we do. The Invitation to Brave Space poem by Mickey Scott Bey Jones reads: Together we will create brave space Because there is no such thing as a “safe space” We exist in the real world We all carry scars and we have all caused wounds. In this space We seek to

Many of us talk about keeping a Jewish home; whether that involves as little as lighting Shabbat candles every Friday, attending Minyan multiple times a week, or just living by Jewish values, it’s at home where we create the starting point of our Jewish life. In mine, for example, Shabbat candles are not an every week thing, but my children know that we are Jewish, that we live by Jewish values, go to as many holidays as we can, and (that Religious school is a non-negotiable (they can thank my mother for that one, it was a steadfast rule in my home growing up, and one learns never to question a Jewish mother. However, there is a second option to where our Judaism starts, a second home. After growing up in the same congregation where my grandparents played an integral role, where my parents grew up, and where I attended Youth Group and was bat mitzvah’d, finding a new congregation felt like a far-fetched dream. My mother was very involved in our congregation, either a

I am yet to find anyone who has never failed at least once in their lives. I know I have many times… at school, at a career, a job, even as a parent. It is inevitable; at some point, a decision we make will inevitably set off a chain of events that will result in the opposite outcome of what we set off to accomplish. We will probably go through the seven stages of grief as defined by Kubler-Ross, going through denial, guilt, anger and bargaining, depression, the “upward turn”, reconstruction, and finally, acceptance. Basically, getting up from that fall will feel like a lifetime. And before you stop reading because you feel this is awfully depressing, I need you to first read this: Failing might be the best thing that ever happens to you. I went through a classic “identity crisis” in college. Towards the very end of my Junior year, I started to realize that I needed to make a decision on what my next steps would be. I knew I wanted to do somet