Creating a More Inclusive Jewish Community: The LUNAR Collective

Do you remember the last time you cried? I do. I was sitting in my car, reading a little green notebook. Why was a notebook making me cry? Let me rewind…

Four years ago, drowning in post-grad limbo and watching the world turn to chaos at the height of the pandemic, I spontaneously co-founded a project called LUNAR: The Jewish-Asian Film Project — a (now award-winning) documentary series featuring 23 Asian-American Jewish young adults. It was exhilarating enough to discover that there were other Asian Jews outside of my own mixed Chinese-Jewish family, but I never imagined that Asian Jewry could one day be my full-time job.

We originally envisioned LUNAR as a one-off media project. Still, after receiving hundreds of messages from Asian Jews begging to connect with each other, we knew that the project was destined for more. Women of Reform Judaism was one of the first organizations to invest in LUNAR’s work, empowering us to pilot in-person programs in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Propelled by the success of these programs, in 2022 we launched The LUNAR Collective, the first and only national organization for Asian American Jews.

Today, thanks to WRJ’s continued support, we host ongoing programs serving thousands of community members, virtually and locally in six city hubs - Los Angeles, the Bay Area, New York City, Boston, and very soon in Chicago and Seattle. We offer opportunities for Asian Jewish learning and ritual, including one-on-one pastoral counseling with our Rabbi-in-Residence, Rabbi Mira Rivera, and intergenerational ritual offerings led by our Ritual Director, Rachel Chang. Alongside our original film series, we’ve continued to amplify Asian Jewish storytelling through our record-breaking theater show, multiple editions of our Asian Jewish Haggadah, our Asian Jewish nigun, and more. The past two years have been quite the journey, to say the least.

And this journey has come with unique obstacles. My co-executive director, Maryam Chishti, and I are both Gen Z Asian Jewish women running a national nonprofit without past nonprofit experience or institutional Jewish connections. We often feel that we are “catching up” to our peers from the traditional Jewish pipeline, that the Jewish ecosystem wasn’t designed for people like us. It became clear that there is a severe lack of entry points for Asian Jews looking to connect and find their voices as leaders. From these challenges, a vision began to crystallize: what if we designed an inclusive space for Asian Jewish young adults to step into leadership roles that activate and uplift their whole selves?

We are thrilled to bring this vision to life this year with the launch of our inaugural Leading Light Fellowship, supported by WRJ via the 2024-2025 YES Fund. This 12-month program convenes a national cohort of Asian American Jewish young adults, equipping them with the skills and resources to foster local Asian Jewish communities across the U.S. Supported by LUNAR staff and Asian Jewish mentors across a range of professional backgrounds, fellows collaborate to build Asian Jewish community in their own cities, through planning and facilitating local events. Fellows are equipped with many resources, including a comprehensive handbook, digital tools and templates, a provided program budget, and monthly Zoom workshops covering topics such as event facilitation, Jewish ritual, accessibility and inclusion, and conflict mediation. This program is a one-of-a-kind space for fellows to:

• Become confident leaders, bridge builders, and advocates for their communities
• Collaborate, communicate, and navigate challenges together
• Reclaim and deepen their relationships to their Asian Jewish identities
• Develop key community organizing and event planning skills
• Strengthen and expand their professional networks

After a lengthy selection process, we finalized our cohort in the spring. Our cohort consists of 16 Asian American Jewish young adults (Gen Z and Millennials), representing six cities (Los Angeles, Bay Area, New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle). They are a multi-passionate group spanning a wide range of professional backgrounds - including artists, educators, students, scientists, researchers, and more. The cohort represents many different ways to be an Asian Jew, and different relationships to Judaism from totally secular to deeply religious, and everything in between.

In August, we officially kicked off the fellowship with a Shabbaton retreat in the predominantly Asian American neighborhood of Rowland Heights, California. With most fellows flying in from New York City, Seattle, and the Bay Area, and others driving in from Los Angeles, this retreat was a rare opportunity for our fellows across different cities to connect in person. Our cohort spent the weekend participating in foundational leadership sessions and team building activities, getting acquainted with the fellowship materials, and conceptualizing their own LUNAR programs. Some highlights from the retreat included:

• Revealing each fellow’s assigned Asian Jewish mentor
• Transparent group discussions on leadership, belonging, microaggressions and more
• Sharing our personal relationships with identity through an identity-mapping activity
• Candle lighting, group singing, and other ritual moments for Shabbat and Havdalah
• Fireside Chat with LUNAR’s co-executive directors, sharing mistakes, wins, and lessons in leadership
• Playing a custom board game with real-life LUNAR leadership scenarios

On the final morning of the retreat, each of our fellows presented their ideas and aspirations for their LUNAR hub. Hearing their visions, I felt immense gratitude as I reflected on how far LUNAR has come since its humble beginnings in 2020. To think that something that started as a tiny idea, was now being fulfilled by dozens of people and impacting thousands.

I was reveling in these reflections when one of the fellows walked up to me and Maryam and handed us little notebooks. Mine was green, with my name on the cover, decorated with stickers from the previous afternoon’s identity-mapping activity. “What is this?!” I exclaimed as Maryam looked equally surprised.

I flipped the notebook open, revealing pages and pages of thank you notes from each of the fellows. Feeling myself begin to choke up, I closed the notebook to keep my composure as we prepared to pack up and check out of the venue. Later on, in the privacy of my car, I read each note, tearing up as my own gratitude was echoed back to me. Here are a handful of messages that especially moved me:

• “You made me realize there are leaders like me.”
• “People’s ideas of leadership will never change unless we change them.”
• “This group has brought so much joy to me, and truly changed my life.”
• “I will always be in debt to you for co-founding LUNAR. The belonging and community I’ve found here has been so affirming and has reconnected me to Judaism.”

Now, I keep the little green notebook on my desk and flip through it whenever I need a reminder of why I do this work. Running the world’s first Asian American Jewish organization isn’t always easy, and some moments feel downright impossible - but working with our fellows gives me immense hope for the future. Hope for LUNAR’s future, for future generations of Asian Jews, and for a more inclusive Jewish community at large.

I’m deeply honored to help nurture the next wave of Asian Jewish leaders through the Leading Light Fellowship, made possible with support from WRJ’s YES Fund. Together, we will bring Asian Jewish connection, belonging and visibility to new heights. I can’t quantify how large the ripple effect from this fellowship will be, but looking at LUNAR’s history, I do know it will be bigger than any of us could ever imagine.