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Overview of the “Building Bridges” Exhibit at

Temple Shalom Congregation November 30-December 16, 2018

November 30 Kick-Off Dinner and Shabbat Service

The Temple’s Tikkun Olam (Hebrew for “repair the world”) Committee started planning for the exhibit in July. The opening of the exhibit took place on Friday, November 30, in conjunction with a Tikkun Olam Dinner held prior to that evening’s Shabbat service. The exhibit was displayed in the Social Hall, to be viewed during dinner and the oneg (reception) following the Shabbat service.

The November 30 Shabbat service included special readings relevant to immigration issues. One of the Tikkun Olam Committee co-chairs delivered a D’Var Torah (Scriptural commentary) using the theme of immigration and specifically referencing several of the profiles featured in Building Bridges. (See Attachment 1 for the D’Var Torah) To create interest in the exhibit, we printed 5.5” x 4.25” Building Bridges inserts for the Shabbat announcement booklet. (See Attachment 2 for sample inserts) Publicity

We began our publicity during the High Holy Days (approximately two months prior to the exhibit opening). We customized FDP’s downloadable flyer and poster. We made two dry-mounted posters, which were displayed on easels in the Temple’s main lobby and lower lobby. We also printed 8.5” x 11” flyers with the Building Bridges information printed on one side and the 2018-19 calendar of Tikkun Olam social action events printed on the reverse side. (See Attachment 3 for posters and fliers)

We publicized Building Bridges and the exhibit opening events in the Temple newsletter, weekly emails, stand-alone emails, and the Temple’s electronic bulletin board. We had a Building Bridges publicity schedule which incorporated publicity for a speaking appearance by Gold Star parent, Khizr Khan (the Khan program took place on December 8, while the Building Bridges exhibit was on display). Religious School Use

Building Bridges was integrated into the Religious School curriculum. For example, 4th and 8th grade teachers used the exhibit to explore Jewish values regarding immigration issues and the concept of welcoming the stranger.

In the 4th grade, the exhibit elicited the question, “What does this have to do with Judaism?” That question served as the catalyst for an important conversation about sources in the Torah and Jewish commentary, as well as the broader history of the Jewish Diaspora. In the 8th grade, the teacher asked each student to slowly

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walk through the exhibit and to the pick one portrait/story to learn in order to tell that story to a classmate. Then each pair exchanged stories with another pair. Display Logistics

We displayed the exhibit in the Social Hall adjacent to the Sanctuary for the November 30 kick-off and the Khan program. We displayed the exhibit in the lower level Religious School wing and lobby area at all other times. By moving the display between these different areas of the building, we maximized visibility by congregants and visitors.

The exhibit is highly portable and we used retractable easels for tabletop display in all locations. The lower level display was convenient for Religious School students and parents, as well as for Saturday morning Torah Study attendees. (See Attachment 4 for photos and specific information regarding the display)

Contemporaneous Programming – Building Bridges and Khizr Khan Program

On December 8, at the midpoint of our Building Bridges exhibit, we welcomed special guest speaker Khizr Khan. Mr. Khan, who migrated to the United States in 1980, is a Constitutional rights and national unity advocate and a Gold Star parent. He has become well known for the compelling speech he delivered at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. More than 300 people attended the event and this afforded an excellent opportunity to broaden the reach of Building Bridges.

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Attachment 1

D’Var Torah for Building Bridges Kick-off Shabbat November 30, 2018 Prepared and presented by Betsy Kingery

The story in this week’s Torah portion is familiar to most of us. Jacob favors his son Joseph over his other children, and angers Joseph’s brothers by giving him a beautiful coat of many colors. Joseph’s jealous brothers decide to throw him in a pit, spill blood on his coat and tell his father Jacob that he is dead. Then they change their minds and sell him into slavery in Egypt. Joseph does well at his master, Potifar’s house in Egypt. He’s a good worker, he’s smart and can handle Potifar’s affairs. But Potifar’s wife takes a liking to him and is annoyed that he doesn’t return her affections. She accuses him of rape. These were false accusations but because of her privileged status as Potifar’s wife and Joseph’s status as an alien slave, he is thrown in jail without much hope of ever getting out. Joseph isn’t Egyptian, he is an alien, an immigrant (really an unwilling immigrant, a slave). He is less than human. While serving his time, Joseph interprets the dreams of two fellow prisoners. One is to be executed (and is), one is to be returned to his cup bearing position. Joseph asks of the cup bearer “But think of me when all is well with you again, and do me the kindness of mentioning me to Pharaoh, so as to free me from this place.” Genesis 40.14. The cupbearer does not honor Joseph’s request, the cupbearer, being restored to his important cupbearing duties and the distractions of freedom forgets Joseph. Would it be out of line to say that Joseph was forgettable because, as an alien, as an “other”, he just didn’t rate remembering as a person? Do we do that? Do we fail to see the strangers among us as people who should not be forgotten? Would it be fair to say that we don’t appreciate well enough just how rich and varied our lives are because of the contributions of peoples from all over the world who have come here to live? Are these people so different from our own family members who came to America? We are B’tzelem Elohim, created in God’s image. Leo Baek in The Essence of Judaism” reminds us, “Above all demarcations of races and nations, castes and classes, oppressors and servants, givers and recipients, above all delineations even of gifts and talents stands one certainty: Man. Whoever bears this image is created and called to be a revelation of human dignity.” As I read the stories from the exhibit, Building Bridges: Portraits of Immigrants and Refugees, I wonder how much we forget the human being who is an immigrant by choice, or an asylum-seeker or a refugee. Some of the stories defy imagination –

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young women seeking asylum from genocide, others persecuted and fearing for their lives because of their sexual orientation. Some of the stories speak to the collaboration and fruits of a worldwide scientific community. Many of the stories end with an expression of fear that we, our country, land of the free, is becoming so intolerant and closed off that they are no longer safe and welcome here. Chaplain Clementina M. Chery from Honduras became a citizen after her son was murdered, just so she could vote and make a change. She befriended the mother of the man who murdered her son and forgave them both. She founded an organization to help other survivors of murdered family members. She states, “I am a Black Latina immigrant mother and a leader in my community…I contribute to life in the USA by making sure that I use the privilege to vote. I want my elected officials to know that I have power.” Roger Jackson (alias) from Jamaica was beaten and threatened before coming here. “many of us asylum-seekers are leaving behind family and close friends in the only homes we have ever known. The fact that we would embark on such daunting journeys is testament to how dire the situations are in our home countries.” Bongani Mngomezulu from Swaziland asks, “The human spirit cannot be contained by our artificial borders. I think we’d all be diminished species and would be heading towards extinction if we did not allow for any migration. The cross pollination of ideas has created a more resilient and more peaceful human family than the world has ever seen. Why would anyone not want that?” Later in this chapter the story tells us that without Joseph’s foresight and planning, Egypt would have succumbed to famine. How many other Josephs are there who give so much to countries that are not their own? The Tikkun Olam committee, in bringing Building Bridges to our congregational home, seeks to reinforce our commitment as a holy community not to forget but to honor the humanity of all who live within and beyond our borders.

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Attachment 2

Inserts for November 30 Shabbat Announcement Sheets

(5.5” x 8.5”)

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Who is Davor Dvanajscak? See his story in

BUILDING BRIDGES Portraits of Immigrants and Refugees

A touring photo-text exhibit

Photographs by Mark Chester and Gigi Kaeser Interviews by Peggy Gillespie Produced by Family Diversity Projects

www.familydiv.org ---

Temple Shalom Social Hall – Nov. 30 to Dec. 16, 2018 Presented by the Temple Shalom Tikkun Olam Committee

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Who are Ahmed Goutay & Gulsim Sadvakasova?

See their story in

BUILDING BRIDGES Portraits of Immigrants and Refugees

A touring photo-text exhibit

Photographs by Mark Chester and Gigi Kaeser Interviews by Peggy Gillespie Produced by Family Diversity Projects

www.familydiv.org ---

Temple Shalom Social Hall – Nov. 30 to Dec. 16, 2018 Presented by the Temple Shalom Tikkun Olam Committee

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Who is Justice Fernande R.V. Duffly?

See her story in

BUILDING BRIDGES Portraits of Immigrants and Refugees

A touring photo-text exhibit

Photographs by Mark Chester and Gigi Kaeser Interviews by Peggy Gillespie Produced by Family Diversity Projects

www.familydiv.org ---

Temple Shalom Social Hall – Nov. 30 to Dec. 16, 2018

Presented by the Temple Shalom Tikkun Olam Committee

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Attachment 3

Building Bridges 11” x 17” Poster and 8.5” x 11” Flyer

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Attachment 4

Displaying the Building Bridges Exhibit

When displaying the photos in the Social Hall, most were placed at eye level on the stage; others were placed on tables. We posted Building Bridges flyers along the front of the stage to call attention to the exhibit.

Display in the Social Hall.

Display in the Religious School wing.

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Khizr Khan viewing a tabletop display in the Social Hall.

The materials from FDP included two spiral bound booklets, each with full length interviews of portrait subjects. Because our copy of the exhibit contained 20 of the 27 profiles in the complete Building Bridges collection, we photocopied the pages that related to the photos in our exhibit and assembled them in three looseleaf notebooks. We placed the notebooks among the photos. Each photo had a set of two text cards—cards printed in red were for younger students and cards printed in black were for teens and adults. We placed a message to this effect (see below) with each set of text cards given that people did not necessarily view the profiles in any particular order, and viewers might have missed the notice if it were placed only at the “beginning” of the display.

RED text cards are for young students. BLACK text cards are for teens and adults.