I just learned that Ta’amod is shutting down. And while I might only have a tangential connection to the organization, this news hits deep. Really deep.
Never heard of Ta’amod? Let me give you a quick sense of what Ta’amod was up to. If you take a look at their website you’ll see that their goals were lofty, and important. They committed to “Raising the bar for Jewish organizations through empathy, education, and equity” and to do that work through a data-driven approach to harassment prevention and organizational culture founded in Jewish principles. The goals were lofty, yes. The work, incredibly important.
Let me take you back to 2017. The Me Too movement was sweeping through every sector of society, and Jewish organizations were having our own reckoning. We were finally — FINALLY — acknowledging that we weren’t some special exception to the problems plaguing the political world, the entertainment industry, or the corporate sector. We had our own serious issues with how we treat our employees, and we needed to face that truth head-on.
I don’t remember exactly when I first discovered Ta’amod. But I remember exactly how it felt: like taking that first deep breath after being underwater for too long. FINALLY! That word kept echoing in my head. Finally, someone was stepping up to help heal our communities after decades — literally decades — of turning a blind eye to bad behavior in leadership. Finally, we would have real guidance on how to train our teams. Finally, someone would help us figure out how to instill genuine empathy at the top of our organizations.
Because here’s the thing about empathy — it’s not just a nice-to-have in Jewish organizations. It needs to be our core. It needs to be woven into every decision, every policy, every interaction. Ta’amod got that. They understood that creating real change meant more than just writing new HR policies or running a few workshops. It meant fundamentally shifting how we think about power, about responsibility, about what it means to truly care for every person in our organizations.
I keep coming back to that word: FINALLY. It carried so much hope when Ta’amod first appeared. Hope that we could actually fix what was broken in our organizational cultures. Hope that we could create workplaces that truly reflected our Jewish values. Hope that the next generation of Jewish professionals wouldn’t have to navigate the same challenges we did.
And now Ta’amod is closing. I’m sitting with the weight of what that means — not just for our community, but for all the work that still needs to be done. Because make no mistake: the problems Ta’amod was working to address haven’t disappeared. If anything, they’re more pressing than ever.
So where do we go from here? How do we keep pushing forward with this crucial work of making empathy central to our organizational cultures? I don’t have all the answers. But I know we can’t let this moment pass without acknowledging what Ta’amod meant to our community — and what we lose with their closing.
To everyone who was part of Ta’amod: Thank you. Thank you for giving us hope. Thank you for showing us what was possible. Thank you for pushing us to be better. Your work mattered. It still matters. And somehow, we need to find ways to carry it forward.
Because we still need that FINALLY moment. We still need to create organizations where empathy isn’t just a buzzword, but the foundation of everything we do. Ta’amod may be closing, but their mission — our mission — has to continue.