Stacey Aviva Clark

Loving G-d and bringing peace between people

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Sep 10, 2021, 11:22 PM

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Here we are again, in the season of Teshuvah. Many translate this as repentance and look to apologize to those they have wronged during the year. But Teshuvah comes from the shoresh (root) shuv, meaning return. What is the teshuvah or return needed at this time, almost two years into a pandemic and seemingly constant social unrest? We need the Teshuvah of returning to ourselves. Returning to our core selves, exploring them, and knowing ourselves better than before. Our collective hearts, spirits, minds, souls, and bodies need our viduy, pleas for forgiveness.

For all the times we ignored our guts and exiled our hearts, rachim aleynu.

For all the times we allowed others to control our destinies, time, resources, and talents and just melded into a mold, rachim aleynu.

For all the times we ignored our bodies, depleted its resources, pushed it to please others, for contorting, assimilating, and asking no questions, rachim aleynu.

You are our Father, the only true father we may have known, consistent, true, compassionate, provider, and confidant.

Like a tender shoot, we are rising, pushing our heads through the hard surfaces of life. Shine your light on us and nourish us with dew from shamayim. Gently tug at us when we want to withdraw into the shadows. Propel us into the fields you created for us to flourish in, so when our spirits are finally summoned, we can say, we returned to ourselves.

Tizku L’shanim Rabot (Wishing you abundant years).

About the Author

Stacey Aviva Clark is a Jewish educator, public speaker, urban planner, and a doctoral candidate in Gratz College’s inaugural PhD program in Antisemitism Studies. She serves as the Director of Education and Community Engagement for the Jewish Federations of North America and is a lecturer in Antisemitism Studies at Gratz College. Over her 25-year career, Stacey Aviva has focused on combating racism and antisemitism, fostering Black/Jewish relations, urban economic development, and strategic planning to build capacities around cultures of belonging and Jews of Color. She is passionate about shared humanity and the history of self-determination movements such as Zionism and Pan-Africanism. In 2024, she developed the Perspective Honoring Framework, a dignity-based dialogue model that has positively impacted over 150 participants. Stacey Aviva has designed engagement strategies for synagogues and Jewish educational and civic institutions. She is a nationally sought-after speaker, featuring her writings in The Forward and on her blog at the Times of Israel. Her Eli Talk, titled "Kahal Amim - Many Faces, One Community," has garnered 2,000 views. Committed to giving back, Stacey Aviva serves on the boards of Kamocha (an Orthodox Jewish organization serving Jews with Black heritage), The Hadassah Foundation, and Jewish Family Services of Colorado. She is also a member of the Jewish Life Committee for the Rose Community Foundation and the Advisory Council of Upstart and Global Jewry.

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