Voices Envisioned in 2023-2024

Wednesday, April 10 | 6:30-8PM
Secondary Campus Community Room
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Please join Oakwood School for an evening of conversation between Rabbi Sharon Brous and Eric K. Ward, exploring allyship between Black & Jewish communities. 

Sharon Brous is the senior and founding rabbi of  IKAR, a leading-edge Jewish community based in Los Angeles, and the author of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Heal Our Hearts and Mend Our Broken World, a national bestseller. Eric K Ward is executive vice president of Race Forward and author of the seminal article ‘Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism.’ Eric is a nationally recognized expert on authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy. He also brings over three decades of leadership in community organizing and philanthropy. Eric is the recipient of the 2021 Civil Courage Prize—the only American in the award’s 24-year history.

RABBI SHARON BROUS

Sharon Brous is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR, a leading-edge Jewish community based in Los Angeles, and author of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Heal Our Hearts and Mend Our Broken World, a national bestseller.

In 2013, Brous blessed President Obama and Vice President Biden at the Inaugural National Prayer Service, and in 2021 returned to bless President Biden and Vice President Harris, and then led the  White House Passover Seder in 2021 and the Hanukkah candle lighting with the Vice President and Second Gentleman in 2023. She was named #1 on the Newsweek/The Daily Beast list of most influential Rabbis in America, and has been recognized by The Forward and Jerusalem Post as among the most influential Jews alive today. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post, and her 2016 TED talk, “Reclaiming Religion,” has been viewed by more than 1.5 million people.

Brous is in the inaugural cohort of Auburn Seminary‘s Senior Fellows program, which unites top faith leaders working on the frontlines for justice, she sits on the faculty of REBOOT, and serves on the International Council of the New Israel Fund and national steering committee for the Poor People’s Campaign.

A graduate of Columbia University (both undergraduate and M.A. in Human Rights), she was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.

ERIC K. WARD

Nationally recognized expert on authoritarian movements and hate violence, Eric K. Ward has spent more than 30 years promoting the promise of inclusive democracy in America.

Ward is a nationally recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy. He brings over three decades of leadership in community organizing and philanthropy to Race Forward, having worked with leaders from government, law enforcement, business, and civil rights groups to advance civil rights work. He is the first U.S. recipient of the Civil Courage Prize, an acknowledgment that, as Ward says, “America’s dream of achieving a multiracial and inclusive democracy is in danger.”

Ward is Executive Vice President of Race Forward, former Executive Director of the influential Western States Center and the current Chair of The Proteus Fund. He is one of a small group of leaders of color who have been working to counter organized hate since the 1980s. During his career, Ward traveled by bus across thousands of miles of predominantly white, rural areas to support and establish hundreds of anti-hate task forces. Among Ward’s concerns are the backlash against Black America, anti-LGBTQ violence, the growing influence of xenophobia on public policy, and antisemitism across the political spectrum and the impact these issues have on the gains of the 1960s Civil Rights movement.

A performer, Ward has a special interest in the use of music and culture to advance inclusive democracy. He works with musicians and artists to create new narratives that lift-up anti-bigotry and inclusion and puncture the myths driving American political and social divisions.

Eric is a member of the Pop Culture Collaborative’s Pluralist Visionaries Program and the recipient of the Peabody-Facebook Futures Media Award. Eric is the author of multiple written works credited with key narrative shifts, including “Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism.” He has been quoted in The New Yorker, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, ESPN, CNN, MSNBC, Black News Channel, NPR, BBC, Rolling Stone and numerous other media outlets.

Now in its 17th year, Voices Envisioned is a speaker series for the entire Oakwood community to engage in dialogue about important issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial & social justice.