Black and Jewish Clevelanders connect and serve through Rekindle Fellowship

Cleveland is unique in being one of the major hubs for both Black and Jewish people in the United States. For Matt Fieldman, a local Jewish social impact entrepreneur, he noted a trend in his work: “I was working with fantastic Black changemakers in Cleveland, while fundraising from the Jewish community… I thought it would be good for my soul to bridge the two and bring them into alignment. I started thinking about how we could rekindle Black and Jewish relations.” 

A dinner with his friend Charmaine Rice, a Black woman and local DEI Facilitator, where non-Jewish guests were invited to participate in a traditional religious meal, sparked ideas for what that reconnection could look like. Those ideas evolved into the The Rekindle Fellowship, which started in 2021 and is now in its second year of operations. 

The origins

Through the Rekindle Fellowship, cohorts of 16-18 participants meet for four sessions at EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant in Shaker Square. Though all fellows identify as either Black or Jewish, each side of the fellowship is diverse in age, professional background, and interests. Both communities have equal representation among both participants and facilitators. 

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The fellows meet every other week to have conversations that revolve around assigned readings from a diverse range of authors from both the Black and Jewish communities. Powerful works like Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America by Karen Brodkin, and even poetry from Langston Hughes and Clint Smith serve as sparks for conversations that last for hours.

With such a rich catalog of narratives that address the experience of both communities, the co-founders wanted to focus on materials that would build relationships, frame the discussions on Black and Jewish relations, and bring in bigger themes relevant to the fellowship. “The readings are a springboard to sharing personal experiences,” said Fieldman. “We read about intergenerational trauma and then speak to how it manifests in our communities. We read ‘Birmingham Jail’ as a way to talk about leadership.”

The readings and conversations address the shared history of the two communities head-on. That includes the triumphs, like prominent Jewish support for the Civil Rights Movement and tensions, like anti-Semitism in the Black community. Participants are encouraged to be vulnerable and share their honest feelings around the themes explored. Meanwhile, session moderators – who are alumni of the fellowship – help guide the discussions and ensure that conversations remain respectful. Thus far, over 88 adults have completed the fellowship, and the number grows every 6 months with the entry of a new cohort.

For participants, the fellowship is a powerful opportunity to make new friends and allies in the fight for social justice. “I sought out Rekindle after realizing how my circles of friends in Cleveland were exclusively white,” said Chase Foster, a Cleveland-area rabbi. “This experience has helped me build meaningful relationships and enabled me to have deep, difficult conversations.” It also serves as a great opportunity to learn about the two communities’ shared history. “Sometimes being Black in this country can feel quite isolating,” said Courtney Horne, a local nonprofit professional. “Learning of the history between the Black and Jewish communities helped me feel like we’re not so alone.” 

Beyond the conversations held in the sessions, Fieldman and Rice wanted to ensure that the relationships built over the course of the fellowship led to tangible impact in Cleveland. An important part of Rekindle is putting the values of the organization into action. 

Rekindle Action Projects

For both founders, it was essential for each cohort to participate in a Rekindle Action Project, or RAP. “The action piece is crucial to all of this,” said Rice. “If we just come together and close our binder and never touch these ideas again, then we’ve missed an opportunity.”

RAPs further the themes explored across the sessions, meant to create positive impact in the community and/or further develop the relationship between the Black and Jewish communities. “We’re trying to inspire long term, powerful collaborations, she said “Once the project is done, you’ll emerge with new friends and collaborators, hopefully to do more projects independently of the fellowship experience.”

One standout RAP was a collaboration with Joe Black of the Cleveland Foundation’s Black Futures Fund. A group of Rekindle fellows hosted Joe and community members at Edwins Too to highlight a local reverse ride-along program – in which residents took police officers on ride-alongs to improve police understanding of communities. For Fieldman it was an opportunity “to shine a much needed spotlight on an awesome community project in a collaborative way,” while growing the audience of the featured program and Rekindle simultaneously. Other projects vary widely in scope and have included traditional community service like trash pickups and social/educational activities like a tour of the Black and Jewish landmarks in Glenville. 

The projects highlight another important part of the Rekindle experience: leadership development. All fellows complete the Working Genius Assessment, a professionally-minded personality test to assess an individual’s strengths as part of a team. Groups of fellows are assigned to work together based on their complementing strengths, meeting during and between sessions to develop the projects. 

The future

For Fieldman and Rice, Rekindle’s work in Cleveland, and the country, is just beginning. They are looking for support from local and national funders to grow the fellowship. “I could see it becoming a national organization, having staff, and doing this work nationally [or merging with a larger organization]… This is part of a bigger project of building bridges across faiths and connecting all Americans,” said Fieldman.

Meanwhile, other communities around the country are actively considering or building Rekindle Fellowships based on the model implemented here in Cleveland, with a cohort in Newark, N.J., being the first to bring the program to life in a new city.

At the local level, the founders want to see the Fellowship make an impact in local civic life. “In 5 years, I want something to change as a result of Rekindle, something that we want to change for our children or our grandchildren,” said Rice. “If the city of Cleveland is having conversations about conscious inclusion and economic development [that results in change], I can say ‘we did it’. By ‘we’ I mean the fellows, Matt, myself, the whole Rekindle community.”

Recruiting for the next Rekindle cohort began June 1. You can apply here, or learn more about the fellowship at the organization’s website.

Moses Ngong was a participant in The Land’s community journalism program.