Tema Smith
Rhymes with Emma | Diversity Advocate | Writer | Educator | Jewish Community Builder
My Words & WorkAbout Me
Co-chair, 2019; Presenter: “JoCs from A to Z: A Guide to Being Inclusive and Building Community”
(more…)At a working lunch with the Membership Directors of large congregations, URJ Biennial, Boston, 2017.
(more…)The first cohort of IFJE Crown Family Foundation Fellows with program director Dr. Keren McGinity at the summer residential seminar on campus in Newton, MA, July 2017.
With Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, Rabbi Juan Mejia, and Rabbi Gerhsom Sizomu at the Be’chol Lashon International Thinktank, San Francisco, 2013.
(more…)National conference, The St. Louis Era: Looking Back, Moving Forward, with staff from the Multiculturalism branch of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Sutton Place Hotel, Toronto, June 1-2, 2009.
Words & Works
- All
- Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Articles
- Be'chol Lashon
- Divrei Torah
- eJewishPhilanthropy
- Interfaith Families
- Interviews
- Jewish Communal Work
- JTA
- My Jewish Learning
- Podcasts
- Race and Racism
- The Canadian Jewish News
- The Forward
- The Globe and Mail
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Three Things the Jewish Community Can Do Better, According to a Mixed-Race Jewish Professional
Articles, Be'chol Lashon, Interviews, Jewish Communal Work, My Jewish Learning, Race and Racism
Interview in Jewish& on My Jewish Learning, May 23, 2018
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Are Jews White? American History Says It’s Complicated
Articles, Race and Racism, The Forward
Article in the Forward, January 9, 2019
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On Passing and Not Trying to Pass
Articles, Be'chol Lashon, My Jewish Learning, Race and Racism
Article in Jewish& on My Jewish Learning, July 22, 2015
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Exploiting the Holocaust has become all too acceptable in Canada
Articles, The Globe and Mail
Article in the Globe and Mail, March 19, 2013
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Speak Us Into Life: A Tribute to Elie Wiesel
Articles
Invited comments in the Kenyon Review, July 20, 2016
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Celebrating Heroes During Black History Month
Articles, Be'chol Lashon, My Jewish Learning
Invited comments in Jewish& on My Jewish Learning, February 16, 2016
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Roundtable | White Jews: Here is What Black Jews Need from You in 2019
Articles, Race and Racism, The Forward
Invited comment, the Forward, December 28, 2018
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What the Women’s March can learn from Marc Lamont Hill
Articles, The Forward
Article in the Forward, December 4, 2018
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The Jewish Community Needs to Address Chronic Illness
Ankylosing Spondylitis, Articles, Race and Racism, The Forward
Article in the Forward, May 14, 2019
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The Miracle of Community
Articles, Jewish Communal Work, The Canadian Jewish News
Article in the Canadian Jewish News, November 28, 2018
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Kiss My A.S.
Ankylosing Spondylitis
A personal blog about learning to live with Ankylosing Spondylitis
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Pull Quotes: An Existential Search for Jewish Media in Canada
Interviews, Podcasts
A podcast about the state of Jewish Media in Canada
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I’m Black and Jewish. Ilhan Omar’s Tweet – And the Backlash – Are Tearing Me Apart
Articles, Race and Racism, The Forward
Article in the Forward, February 12, 2019
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No End In Sight
Ankylosing Spondylitis, Interviews, Podcasts
A podcast about chronic illness. I’m interviewed about life with ankylosing spondylitis.
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Being a Jew of Colour: Finding Acceptance and Inclusion
Articles, Interviews, The Canadian Jewish News
Cover story in the Canadian Jewish News, April 25, 2019
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Dear Adam Silver
Interviews, Podcasts, Race and Racism
A podcast that is an artist's take on sports. I'm interviewed about race and Judaism.
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Why Juneteenth – Which Marks The End Of Slavery – Should Be A Jewish Holiday
Articles, Race and Racism, The Forward
Article in the Forward, June 18, 2019.
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Why will this time be different than all other times?
Articles, Race and Racism, The Forward
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Stop Blaming Women For The Bad Behavior Of Men Like Al Franken
Articles, The Forward
Article in the Forward, July 23, 2019.
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Jews of Color deserve an accurate count
Articles, Jewish Communal Work, Race and Racism, The Forward
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After Corona: Fewer Barriers, More Intimacy
Articles, Jewish Communal Work, The Forward
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How To Talk About Black Anti-Semitism
Articles, Race and Racism, The Forward
Article in the Forward, January 9, 2020
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When a new plague exacerbates the old
Articles, The Forward
Article in the Forward, March 31, 2020
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‘Believe us’: Black Jews respond to the George Floyd protests, in their own words
Articles, Interviews, JTA, Race and Racism
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‘Tzedek, tzedek tirdof:’ The Derek Chauvin verdict isn’t justice, but it’s a start
Articles, Race and Racism, The Forward
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Engaging Interfaith Families during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond
eJewishPhilanthropy, Interfaith Families, Jewish Communal Work
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Drinking and Drashing: Torah with a Twist
Interfaith Families, Interviews, Jewish Communal Work, Podcasts
Storytelling. Innovation. Jewish Values. Leadership. Midrash. Entrepreneurship. Mixology. Community. Engagement. Torah.
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Star Trek and the Jews
Interviews, Podcasts, Race and Racism
A monthly podcast using Star Trek to boldly explore the world of Jews and Judaism.
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The Bintel Brief
Interfaith Families, Interviews, Jewish Communal Work, Podcasts, The Forward
What I Do & How I Do It
Community Building
Using the power of relational engagement and user-centered design, I work to facilitate the development of micro-communities to strengthen the fabric of membership-driven Jewish organizations. Learn MoreInterfaith Families
I work with Jewish organizations and interfaith couples and families to explore how to bring meaningful Jewish life into their relationships and homes in ways that honour their unique dynamics. Learn MoreAntisemitism
I educate groups about antisemitism – its history and contemporary manifestations and overlaps with other forms of oppression, and lead conversations on understanding and dismantling antisemitism as part of a broader anti-oppression strategy. Learn MoreJews, Race & Diversity
I work with Jewish organizations to explore barriers to participation for racially and ethnically diverse Jews and work to make our institutions represent the full diversity of the Jewish people. Learn MoreWant to learn more?
Speaking
Select Panels & Presentations
Additional Invited Presentations, Panels & Trainings
They’re Saying
A visionary new leader
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.
An indispensable voice
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.
Look out world!
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.
Learning without Judgement
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.
A brave and strong voice
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.
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This whole operation is run on caffeine.