Our Story
Taproot began in 2017 as an immersive week of intergenerational Jewish study and wisdom exchange for activists, artists and changemakers who wished to tap into their Jewish background as a source of resonance, sustenance, and belonging. It was born in response to the disconnection and alienation many Jewish people feel from their faith tradition, from their elders and ancestors, and from one another. It was envisioned as a container for shared learning, spiritual nourishment, and authentic relationship—a place for Jews to bring their yearnings, gifts, experiences, and questions.
The inaugural five-day gathering, held at Commonweal in Bolinas, California in December 2017, was hosted by a stewardship team of three rabbis and two younger activists, and attracted attendees ranging in age from their twenties to seventies. The experience incorporated text study, movement, music, conversation, and ritual to create a sacred learning experience, from which participants emerged nourished by community, in deeper touch with their lineages, and fortified by new practices to support their work in the world.
Taproot went on to host two more immersive retreats in December of 2018 and 2019, each attracting individuals who were looking for ways to heal or reconcile their relationship with Judaism; were seeking a refuge from spiritual loss; were hungry to build liberatory Jewish spaces in their own communities; and were wrestling with how to bring their justice work and spirituality into alignment. After each retreat, many of these participants reported both a renewed sense of connection with Judaism on a personal level and a desire to create such spaces for spiritual sustenance in their own communities.
As it became clear in the spring of 2020 that Taproot would need to shift away from in-person retreats for the foreseeable future, our stewardship team considered the questions of what our highest and best use could be in this moment of upheaval, unraveling, and transformation. We listened to the increased hunger we were hearing from Taproot alumni and other Jewish activists and leaders (including ourselves) for individual and collective spiritual tools and practices that could help us cultivate resilience and expand capacity in our movement work, our communities, and our lives. We realized it was time for Taproot to evolve, expand, and deepen its container.
In 2020, we piloted our first Community Ritualist Training Program – a year-long virtual cohort of twenty-one Jewish leaders looking to deepen their own practice, weave their justice work and spirituality together, and gain the skills needed to offer meaningful, Jewishly-sourced ritual and spiritual care in their own communities beyond the rabbinate and congregational life.
After a shmita year of reflection and redesign, we are excited to continue and expand our offerings. Since its inception Taproot has been led by and primarily attracted white-assimilated primarily Ashkenazi Jews. We are now moved to more intentionally create an educational and healing space that supports white-assimilated Jews, and Ashkenazi Jews in particular, to do deep work around the spiritual and cultural loss that prevents them from being co-liberators in movements for racial and economic justice. Building upon the inaugural Community Ritualist Training Program, this Fall we are launching the Taproot Immersion: an in-depth learning and healing experience designed for white-assimilated Jews who long for both a justice-oriented spiritual life and a spiritually-enlivened justice practice.
