Black-Jewish Relationship Resources

Want to learn about Black-Jewish relations? You’ve come to the right place.

We’re happy to share this list of curated resources that we often refer to in the Rekindle curriculum and sessions. Explore the films, articles, podcasts, books, and collections below, or jump straight to a section.

A quick note: Rekindle does not hold the copyright to these resources. Please be careful if you distribute them to others.
Group of adults and children posing on a staircase outside, smiling for the camera.
From our curriculum

Core Learning Resources

These are the readings, films, and recordings we return to most in Rekindle sessions, organized into four themes. Badges show the format and an estimated time, so you can pick what fits your moment.

1 · Introductory Resources

2 · Structural Racism in Action

A look into mass incarceration and policing.

3 · Re-Thinking the Narrative

Many stories, multiple voices — who tells the story?

4 · Becoming Anti-Racist, Moving Forward

What do we do from here?

Our research archive

Specific Black-Jewish Relations Resources

These Dropbox folders and collections hold the many articles Rekindle has gathered through our research over the years. Dive into any of them below.

A group of diverse people standing together indoors for a group photo, smiling, with a painting of a waterfall and trees on the wall behind them.
Collection + Video Julius Rosenwald’s philanthropy and impact This 7-minute video is a great place to start. And this interactive database of Rosenwald Schools is very cool.
Library Black Jews — the Jews of Color Initiative Collection How trauma impacts both communities Exhibition The Black-Jewish partnership of James Baldwin and Richard Avedon Collection Black-Jewish relations through history Collection Black-Jewish relations in Cleveland history Collection Resources on allyship we find motivational Podcast series The Rabbis Go South A short, powerful series capturing an important moment in Black-Jewish history. Collection How antisemitism and racism are intertwined Collection Articles on Black-Jewish partnership we love Video series Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. traces the deeply intertwined histories of Black and Jewish Americans, from slavery through the civil rights era to today. (PBS) Video Black-Jewish Relations: Controversy, History and Allyship A grounded conversation on the history, the friction, and the real promise of allyship. (A Slice of the Community, PBS) Article A Seat at the Table: On Pluralism, Memory, and the Rebirth of a Black-Jewish Alliance A reflection on memory and renewal from the first National Convening of the Black-Jewish Alliance. (Interfaith America) Essay The Black-Jewish Convergence The case for a solidarity that goes deeper than the transactional coalitions of the past. (Sapir Journal) Essay Their Feet Were Praying Susannah Heschel on her father marching beside Dr. King at Selma and the prophetic tradition they shared. Collection Sing a New Song: Jews, Music, and the Civil Rights Movement How music carried the freedom struggle, from spirituals to the songs of the movement. (Jewish Women’s Archive)
A deeper dive

Understand the Jewish Experience

A doorway into Jewish faith, peoplehood, and this moment. These books and essays help readers understand how Jews see the world, their history, and their lives after October 7.

Start with the bridge. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched beside Dr. King at Selma and said he felt his legs were praying. Read his own account, Summoned by Dr. King, for the friendship at the heart of the Black-Jewish story.

Faith, Thought, and Community

  • Book
    The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel A short, luminous classic on the Jewish gift of sacred time.
  • Book
    God in Search of Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel A foundational work of modern Jewish theology and wonder.
  • Book
    The Dignity of Difference by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks How the world’s faiths can hold their differences and still build peace.
  • Book
    The Triumph of Life by Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg The capstone of a pioneer of Jewish-Christian dialogue, written at 91.
  • Book
    On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition by Blu Greenberg A landmark on women, tradition, and change in Jewish life.
  • Book
    The Amen Effect by Rabbi Sharon Brous A rabbi on showing up for one another across grief and difference.

Israel, Antisemitism, and the Jewish Present

Life After October 7

Essays on what the Jewish world is living through now.

For your bookshelf

Reading List

Thirteen books we come back to again and again. Tap any title to find it.

A group of five women standing indoors, holding copies of a book titled 'The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store' by James McBride.
1CasteIsabel Wilkerson 2Just MercyBryan Stevenson 3How to Be an AntiracistIbram X. Kendi 4White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial DivideCarol Anderson 5The Warmth of Other SunsIsabel Wilkerson 6Thick: And Other EssaysTressie McMillan Cottom 7Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American CityMatthew Desmond 8An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United StatesRoxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 9Minor FeelingsCathy Park Hong 10The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A NovelJames McBride 11Black Power, Jewish PoliticsMarc Dollinger 12Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing BeginCornel West and Michael Lerner 13The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated AmericaRichard Rothstein
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