The Racial Justice Book Group offers opportunities for congregants to explore the concept of race and its impact on lives through literature, both fiction and non-fiction. We meet on Zoom, generally one Tuesday evening each month, with participants volunteering to facilitate discussion.
Racial Justice Book Group
Our Racial Justice Book Group, an outgrowth of our multi-year study of Nikole Hannah Jones’ The 1619 Project, explores the concept of race and its impact on lives through literature, both fiction and non-fiction. We meet on Zoom, generally one Tuesday evening each month, with participants volunteering to facilitate discussion. Email RJTF@wct.org for the Zoom link.
Our line-up for the coming season includes:
Sep 16, 2025 | Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew by Michael Twitty (memoir plus cookbook). In the first of our Jews of Color series, Twitty considers the marriage of the traditions and foods of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora as he describes his personal journey to Judaism. A bonus at the end are his inventive recipes – truly soulfood.
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Oct 21, 2025 | The Other Americans by Laila Lalami (fiction – mystery). The death of a Moroccan immigrant is the catalyst for this novel’s exploration of the stories of its characters, deeply divided by race, religion and class.
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Nov 18, 2025 | A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family by Debra Bruno (presentation by author followed by Q&A). A conversation with the author. Bruno visits us on Zoom to discuss her book, in which she describes the discovery of her Dutch ancestors’ slave-holding past and the deep connections she made with the descendants of the enslaved people her family owned. A Q&A will follow her presentation.
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Dec 16, 2025 | Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Rabbi Angela Buchdahl (memoir). Buchdahl, the first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi, provides this stirring account of her journey from feeling like an outsider to being an admired religious leader. She does not shy away from difficult topics, from racism within the Jewish community and the sexism she confronted when she aspired to the top job to rising antisemitism today.
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Jan 27, 2026 | If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin (fiction). Baldwin, one of the most important writers of the twentieth century, provides us with a stunning love story about a young Black woman whose life is torn apart when her lover is wrongly accused of a crime.
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Feb 26, 2026 (Thu) | The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance by Rebecca Clarren (non-fiction; discussion facilitated by Rabbi Mara)
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Mar 24, 2026 | Yellowface by R F Kuang (fiction). This chilling novel grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media.
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Apr 28, 2026 | Solito by Javier Zamora (memoir). A young poet tells the inspiring story of his migration from El Salvador to the US at the age of nine. He cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him. A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments.
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May 26, 2026 | The Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin (fiction). An arrest for cocaine possession on the last day of a sweltering New York summer leaves Smith, a queer Black Stanford graduate, in a state of turmoil. Pulled into the court system and mandated treatment, he finds himself in an absurd but dangerous situation: his class protects him, but his race does not.
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Jun 23, 2026 | The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed Race Jewish Girl by Marra BGad (memoir). In the third book in this year’s Jews of Color series, a mixed-race Jewish woman recounts her journey from adoption and prejudice to helping the family that once shunned her. |
Other Book Group Events: Members of the book group will be participating in Woodlands MLK Jr service on Jan 16, sharing the impacts that their readings have had on them. And then, on Feb 14, we will be sharing a potluck Shabbat lunch based on recipes in Koshersoul.
Email rjtf@wct.org for Zoom link.
Diversity Training
Woodlands has a strong commitment to diversity. We know that however well-meaning folks may be, they sometimes are not aware of the impact of their words/deeds on others. To make us all better at living our values, we urge congregants to sign up for a REDI (racial equity, diversity, and inclusion) workshop offered by the URJ.
Leader: Rebecca Mazin, rjtf@wct.org
