Alvin C. Jacobs Jr @acjphoto © All Rights Reserved 2021 www.alvincjacobsjr.com
Zioness has announced its inaugural Zahav Fellowship cohort which includes Moishe House’s Eastern Community Manager Adena Walker. Adena, who is based in Brookline, Massachusetts, works closely with community builders in the region to create meaningful programs that build strong communities. As a community manager, she oversees her hometown of Boston Massachusetts, Ohio, and Atlanta Georgia.
The Zahav Fellowship, one of the organization’s new projects, is an intimate cohort experience for Black Jewish Zionists to build community and help mitigate the compounding impacts of antisemitism, racism, and all forms of hate, while celebrating Jewish self-determination and democracy in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland, the Land of Israel. Zioness is working to create a powerful space for current and emerging thought leaders who hold intersecting Black and Jewish identities––as a growing number of proud Jewish Americans do––and whose Zionism is inextricable.
Adena attended her first Moishe House Williamsburg event in 2015, where she met the founders of Base, and became immersed in both communities. She believes in having strong Jewish spaces for all levels of observance and identities and in being open to new people and new experiences with warmth and excitement. Adena has taught autistic, multi-disabled, and severely emotional children of all ages, in over 100 schools in all 5 boroughs of NYC and in Massachusetts. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Wagner College in Musical Theatre and a Minor in Psychology. Adena has been on ABC, MTV, off-Broadway, and performed at venues all around NYC. In her spare time, she sits on the Board of Brookline Interactive Group, creating social media content, and is working on a new children’s television show, Deanie’s Corner.
“Being a part of this fellowship is so exciting! To be able to process the issues we face every day as Black Jews and seek ways to mitigate compounding issues while celebrating the land of Israel is work I cannot wait to start!” Adena said.
