Legacy Fund Week 6 - An actifest organization
by Rabbi Nate DeGroot
In 2024, we set out to prototype our new strategic vision. We were going to reimagine Jewish holidays as portals for public prophetic action and build a national movement of sacred justice rooted in the Jewish calendar.
How were we going to do this? Through “actifests” - activist festivals - a word Arthur made up and a model he helped birth, dating back to the Freedom Seder in ‘69.
We would be an actifest organization.
In 2024, we ended up with three actifest variations:
Tent of Mourning
In the wake of October 7th, we mounted the Tent of Mourning, a 15-hour in-person ritual mourning space on Ta’anit Esther / The Fast of Esther at Urban Adamah in the Bay Area.
Designed for anyone whose heart was open and tender enough to grieve both Palestinians and Israelis, we brought together 20+ local educators, 25+ diverse organizational partners, and 250+ participants. With a sacred grief fire lit when the fast began and tended silently all day, a tree loom communal kriyah / grief fabric installation, a dedicated spiritual care team, facilitated sessions, niggunim / wordless melodies, a communal break fast and so much more, it was a deep and powerful - and one-of-its-kind - experience for participants and organizers alike.
Watch the video:
Read the report:
Chapter 9 Project
We also wanted to make sure a story of peace and nonviolence was being told amongst Jews that first Purim after October 7th. So we organized a digital and distributed ritual actifest, the Chapter 9 Project.
This creative re-telling of the Purim story featured 10 original chapter 9’s, written by 10 incredible authors from across the US. Each author rewrote the Purim story’s Chapter 9, which chronicles the Jews’ mass killing of Persians in the traditional version. And the results were spirit nourishing and vision bending! Chapter 9 Project reached communities coast to coast in 2024 and continued to grow in 2025, even making its way international. At least one synagogue has adopted a member’s Chapter 9 rewrite from the collection as their new traditional text to chant during their megillah/ritual reading.
Read the collection:
Read the report:
The Great Save-In
Then in October, we hosted the Great Save-In, our Hoshanah Rabbah actifest when Arthur turned 91 and ritually “passed the lulav” of Shalom Center leadership to me. Organized, facilitated, and produced by a team of local leaders, it was a hybrid event taking place online and in a local mosque that Arthur and The Shalom Center had collaborated with over the years.
Situated at a kind of cosmic crossroads - personally, organizationally, nationally, globally, politically, religiously, spiritually, and calendricly - we explored themes of saving. Do we save ourselves? Does YHVH save us? Is “saving” even a helpful framework? We were in Philadelphia two weeks before the election, so saving was on our mind. But even more than that, Arthur was on our mind. We marked his incredible life, birthday, and tenure with words, song, and ritual - plus irreverent badkhen / merry-making, an existential gameshow, a conversation with Gloria Steinem, a Living Prophet Award presented to Arthur, dancing, and cake. It was an incredibly sweet night that meant a lot to a lot of people.
Watch the full recording:
Watch Arthur and Gloria in conversation:
2024 was an incredibly full year when it came to these three prototypes. Individually and collectively, they took a tremendous amount of effort, enthusiasm, goodwill, and spirit to pull off. I am extremely proud of all we accomplished and what it set us up for in 2025, which in some ways is a continuation of this, and in some ways, a whole new kind of thing.
I’ll share more about where we are and where we’re headed next week. And between now and then, please consider donating to the Reb Arthur Waskow Legacy Fund.
With your contribution, you are generously supporting the interconnectedness, wholeness, and possibility The Shalom Center has represented for over 40 years.
Your gift allows us to do our work now and into the future - which is Arthur’s hope!
Thank you for believing in us!
-Nate