I’ve had the distinct honor of collaborating with Tema on one of her many projects exploring Jewish identity and social positioning. She is a uniquely adroit writer and thinker, comfortable with both high academic theory and in-the-trenches activism. Her work on matters of equity and inclusion in Jewish spaces — including, but not limited to, matters of race and disability — is characterized both by an uncompromising intellectual focus and a deep and abiding kindness and care for the entirety of the Jewish communal world. Hers is a voice that is indispensable in the present moment and I suspect will become only more influential in the coming years.
As the Jewish community starts to take intra-communal egalitarianism more seriously, they will need thoughtful, provocative, and engaged thinkers like Tema in on the front lines.
