On June 25th, close to 200 people gathered to celebrate both our 13 graduating Jewish Organizing Fellows and JOIN’s 20th anniversary at our Siyyum Graduation. The evening was a beautiful gathering to support our graduating 2017-2018 Jewish Organizing Fellows, with family and friends coming from far and wide, as well as alumni from all eras of JOIN’s history showing up in full force. See photos from the evening here (and please tag yourself!), and watch each of our Fellows tell a story from their year as a Jewish Organizing Fellow below. In the Fellows’ own words:
“We are making the impossible irresistible. Over the past 10 months, we have created the sort of connection that allows us to dream in the face of stark realities. That’s what we’re celebrating here – the small miracle of a group of people who, in the face of the pain, tragedy, and hopelessness in this world are able to dance, to laugh, to pray. To love… Tonight, we embrace the idea that we should dream. We honor our communities and ancestors who refused to believe only in the “now,” and instead, looked to the “then” in order to survive. We hope that today we can give you a taste of what it might mean to look beyond what we’ve accepted in the past – fear, isolation, and “inevitable” inequities. We hope that you, too, can make the impossible irresistible.”
~except from our Siyyum Program book, Making the Impossible Irresistible
