Ben Serrousi is the Artistic Director of Casa Do Povo, an anti-fascist diasporic Jewish Community center in Sao Paolo, Brazil that was envisioned as a living memorial in 1946. Over the decades Casa Do Povo has been home to an experimental “Sholem Aleichem School”, Yiddish Theater Companies and choirs, a publication, in addition to serving as a meeting place for grassroots social movements within and beyond the Jewish community.

Through our conversation about the history of Jews in Brazil, Casa Do Povo and its revitalization over the past 13 years, we explored themes such as: How one can productively relate to legacy left-wing, as well as mainstream, Jewish institutions, the value of physical space in community organizing, cross-cultural diasporic solidarity, and much more.

Learn more from Casa Do Povo's website

Read Nossa Voz

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Thank you to Arto Lindsay for his arrangement of Zog Nit Keynmol in our intro and outro. Check out music produced by Casa Do Povo, including this song, on Soundcloud!

We wish you a Yom Kippur and a Happy New Year

Rabbi Andy Kahn talks to us about being a Reform Rabbi, his political journey, involvement with the ACJ and JDM, and more!

American Council for Judaism and its beautiful new website

Jewish Diaspora Movement

Zach's everlasting wisdom on the Bund

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If you like the work we're doing here, please consider supporting us on Patreon!

Big thank you to Aly Halpert for continuing to allow us to use her music!

In this episode Ben sits down Sydney Levy, a longtime activist and organizer who has worked with JVP, formerly as advocacy director, CJNV (Center for Jewish Nonviolence), JSWANA Bay and other organizations. Throughout the conversation, Sydney speaks about his experiences growing up within the insular Venezuelan Jewish community, before moving to Jerusalem as an "accidental settler" while studying at the Hebrew University before moving to the US.

Sydney leads us toward an understanding of how experiences of diaspora, displacement and immigration, can layer upon one another to create a tapestry of multirooted identities. We also explore the context-dependent nature of identity labels and their significance in relation to struggles toward a better world.

Read some of Sydney's recent writing in Gazoz de Frambuaz.

Subscribe to our shared YouTube channel

Follow us on Instagram

If you like the work we're doing here, please consider supporting us on Patreon!

Big thank you to Aly Halpert for continuing to allow us to use her music!