Overview
The Germantown Jewish Centre (GJC) has been the heart of the Jewish community in Northwest Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs for 75 years. A complex, vibrant, 700 member pluralistic and egalitarian synagogue located in Mount Airy, GJC is committed to sustaining and strengthening Jewish life in greater Philadelphia.
Dr. Portia Hunt and her team were invited by GJC to unpack several issues related to the commitment of its congregation around social and restorative justice.
Some members wanted to discuss racism issues through an intellectual/political lens, while others wanted to examine the socio-political context for racism. Through the use of focus groups and the tools of “inner work” and “outer work,” Hunt offered a process for congregants to recognize how racism lives both at the personal and institutional levels in the GJC community.
Ultimately, GJC learned that restorative justice may not be a shared value among all congregants and that the synagogue was not united on the usefulness of deconstructing the effects of white supremacy culture on the Center or on the larger educational community.
