Exploring Implicit Bias in Mikveh and Creating a Welcoming Experience for All

Tuesday, February 7 at 7 – 8:30pm ET / 6 – 7:30pm CT / 4 – 5:30pm PT 

This workshop focuses on the challenges for people who do not identify as white and are joining the Jewish people, with a special focus on their mikveh experience.  

“The process of joining the Jewish people, across the board, is anxiety-ridden. When you’re someone who doesn’t ‘look like’ what people often think a Jew ‘should’ look like, there’s a whole other layer of anxiety and concern that goes along with becoming part of the Jewish community,” writes Jill Housen, the DEIB consultant to the Sandra Caplan Community Bet Din. 

Workshop leaders will help participants assess their implicit bias, gain tools to counteract these reactions, and explore how to make the mikveh feel more welcoming to people of color who are coming to the mikveh for conversion. We will consider 1) how mikva’ot present themselves on their website and social media, 2) volunteer and staff diversity, 3) personal care products available in the mikveh bathroom, 4) poems, prayers, liturgy and kavanot, and 5) decorating reception and bathroom areas of mikveh. 

Register today! This webinar is FREE for Rising Tide Network members. For non-members, registration is $36. If you need financial aid, please email lucym@mayyimhayyim.org. 

Meet the Presenters: 

Jill Housen | Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Consultant for the Sandra Caplan Community Bet Din 

Jill Housen (she/her) was raised in Claremont, CA.  She received her B.A. in Fashion Merchandising from California State University, Long Beach after transitioning from studying French, Spanish, and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Irvine.  She is a certified Health Coach and is also certified in traditional African Herbal Healing.  She is a buyer for a contemporary women’s boutique and a loving caregiver for her mother.  She currently focuses on both her fashion industry career and Racial Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) work as a REDI consultant for local and national organizations through her consulting group 3W with her partner Tamar Ghidalia and BI Collaborative. She is the DEIB Consultant for the Sandra Caplan Community Bet Din where she was key in presenting several days of learning on Racial, Equity, and Inclusion which included performances from the cast of True Colors, DEI training from Be’chol Lashon, and a lunch and learn featuring Marc Dollinger.  She worked closely with leadership to select and train a team of mentors to work specifically with people of color embarking on their Jewish journey. She finds creative ways to ensure that everything is done through a lens of inclusion and belonging from written materials to visual representation and beyond. She is a contracted facilitator for the Union of Reform Judaism’s Audacious Hospitality and she is also on the RAC National Justice Leadership team.  She is on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Ikar in Los Angeles, CA., and the Executive Board at Temple Beth Israel in Pomona, CA. where she is the chair of the DEI committee.  She is passionate about social justice, sustainable fashion solutions, food justice, and reggae music. In her free time, Jill can be found working in her garden, spending time at the gym, and experimenting in the kitchen with vegetarian dishes. Jill is an alumnus of the URJ’s (DEI) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion JewV’Nation Fellowship, and completed the Don’t Kvetch Community Organizing training through Bend the Arc. 

Amanda Gray | ESL Instructor and Jews of Color Conversion Mentor for the Sandra Caplan Community Bet Din 

Amanda Gray (she/her) is a Multiethnic Jew. Black, Filipino and Mexican are her heritage cultures. She is a new mom, Linguist, Adjunct Professor, Multi-ethnic spiritual herbalist @ahavanawa, and a mentor for JOCs for the Sandra Caplan Community Beit Din. My goals are to help people like me with multiple identities manage them to be authentic and unapologetically true to themselves. Amanda is a K-pop enthusiast way before K-pop was an international phenomena. She is obsessed with The Game of Thrones, loves to sing, travel, learn Torah, cook, do arts and crafts, watch TV, and decorate.