Our newest Hillel at Home podcast is a recorded panel conversation between Kendell Pinkney, Claire Naiman, Tova Ricardo, and Tyler Samuels reflecting on Aaron Samuels' Forgiveness.
Forgiveness is Black Jewish poet Aaron Samuels' reckoning with systemic racism in the North American Jewish community. Aaron’s visual poem centers images of Black Jews and their story; the poem forces the viewer to confront their pursuit of racial justice in 5782. The poem is a visual representation of the intersection of Jewishness and Blackness.
“I still ask for forgiveness. For all in which I was complicit. Knowingly, yes, knowingly.” - Aaron Samuels
Read why Aaron wrote Forgiveness below:
“As a Jew, I have an obligation to reflect every year on the harm I have caused others. And I have a spiritual expectation to repair any harm I have caused and live in such a way moving forward as to not repeat the harm. We reflect collectively each year as a global Jewish community, not just to ask ourselves where we have fallen short as individuals, but also where we have fallen short as an entire community, as a people.
Forgiveness challenges the listener to confront the reality that we have more work to do to cure the pandemic of racism within our world, and invites the listener to consider the possibility that the Jewish community and perhaps all communities have an active responsibility in that work.” - Aaron Samuels
Forgiveness, the poem, was produced in partnership with Reboot Jewish. Forgiveness was created and written by Aaron Samuels, and the original score is by Carlos Metta. This panel recording was produced by the Hillel at Home team at Hillel International.
Read the full transcript here.
