They’re Saying

Tema Smith is a light in our Toronto Jewish Community and beyond. She is a connector, bringing people together across difference and with an intersectional lens. Her commitment to inclusion as a mindset and an action is manifest in everything she does.

Tema is a brave and strong voice, committed to a vision of equity and justice in her Judaism and her activism. It is a joy to stand beside her in this work.

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.

Tema Smith is a visionary new leader in the Jewish community. Her unique perspective and intersecting identities make her a natural bridge builder, bringing together racially diverse Jews, interfaith families, people with disabilities and Jews throughout a variety of cultural and political divides.

Tema is the voice our community needs as we face new challenges to Jewish continuity and security. Her ability to break down barriers to building community and foster understanding and partnership is unparalleled. She is engaging, kind, and deeply knowledgeable about Jewish life. She is one to watch.

Tema Smith is a rising star at a time when we need real leadership. She uplifts, building bridges within our diverse Jewish community. Always approachable, she is not afraid to challenge and to be challenged. Weaving her identity and her passions into everything that she does, she is an engaging teacher and writer, who always encourages her audience to reflect and to act.

Tema is dynamic and she is smart. I see big things in her future and look forward to benefiting from her work in the Jewish community.

The Buffalo Jewish Community Relations Council formed a four month intensive Racial Justice Working Group last summer. The group met bi-weekly learning about racial equity and justice issues (in the Jewish and larger community.)

Without judgement, Tema delivered a clear presentation we themed, “Jews of Color are Us.” Tema’s welcoming approach is based on Jewish value that all Jews are made in the image a G-d or a higher power. We all have worth. There was plenty of time for open and honest dialogue and questions. A member’s quote: Tema helped us realized how Ashkenormative (focused on Ashkenazi Eastern European experience) our Jewish community is and that to truly be a place of belonging, we need to make space to broaden our tent. If we don’t see Jews of Color in our communal spaces, it is not because they don’t exist. We have not provided a belonging space. We are eager to do the real work.

NB: Buffalo JCRC has created a standing racial justice sub-committee and is one of the inaugural JFNA’s Racial Justice cohort. This could not have happened without the caring expertise of Tema Smith.