Jews on the Land: Building Solidarity and Accountability with Indigenous Communities Across Turtle Island

Jews on the Land: Building Solidarity and Accountability with Indigenous Communities Across Turtle Island

The survival of this land that we live on, Turtle Island, depends on the survival of its Indigenous peoples. As Jewish farmers and herbalists, some who are native and others who are settlers, we have an obligation to the land that we work, and are in a unique position to lead the Jewish community in fighting for the land to be returned to its rightful caretakers.

In this time of devastating climate change, the Native peoples of this land continue to be the primary protectors of the land and water, despite enduring ongoing  theft and genocide. Who is literally chaining themselves to construction equipment to prevent the construction of oil pipelines? Indigenous Water Protectors. Who risks their bodies and lives defending the Amazon forest, to protect a vital source of the world’s oxygen supply? Indigenous Land Defenders.

As a community, we need to move beyond performative “land acknowledgements” that do not serve or provide sustainable resources to Native peoples. We must come together to start building tangible networks of support and real, sustained relationships with Indigenous Turtle Islanders.

Join us on Monday, April 17th from 7:00-8:30pm EST for an important conversation with Mark Tilsen, a Lakota and Jewish Water Protector, grower, writer and artist, facilitated by Naomi Spector. Mark will share with us about his experiences as a water protector and will lead us in a very urgent dialogue around how our Jewish Farmer communities can identify and show up for the Indigenous communities around us. We will also discuss what it means for Jewish farmers to work the land here on Turtle Island as we move toward these goals.

About Mark Tilsen: 

Mark Tilsen is an enrolled Oglala Lakota, Poet, Educator and Water Protector from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. At Standing Rock, during the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) he was an organizer, direct action trainer and police liaison. Afterwards he continued on in the fight against the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, the tail end of DAPL that terminates in St. James Louisiana.

Currently, Mark continues to organize in the Black Hills fighting for clean water. He is a fierce warrior poet and powerful speaker that has traveled coast to coast casting sparks of resistance amongst Indigenous communities.

Tilsen’s first book, "It Ain’t Over Until We’re Smoking Cigars on the Drill Pad," weaves the story of resistance, using social media posts, poems and essays. Mark continues to write and speak on social justice and nonviolent direct action.

About Naomi Spector:

Naomi is a Jewish herbalist, ethnobotanist, and educator in Massachusetts, on Nipmuc and Wampanoag land. Some of her favorite plants include garlic, pomegranate, chamomile, mulberry, and cedar. She hopes through her work as an educator and community herbalist to help connect fellow Jews to the plant traditions of our ancestors. Her practice draws on Sefardi, Ashkenazi and Mediterranean plant medicine traditions. She provides holistic plant-based care (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual) to those seeking root cause changes in their lifestyle.