Asher is a Jew from the Sahel. I dedicate my work to Dan Yacouba al Coheniu (z’l), my first hazzan, whose memory is a blessing. Every day, you taught me to sing slooooow and to listen. He never felt he was a good enough jew but he taught me that being jewish is not being perfect, its about talking with and wrestling with Hashem. I work to create more open, diverse, and inclusive Jewish spaces—spaces that uplift the diaspora, that hold generational trauma with care, that prioritize safety, coexistence, and peace. Spaces that, maybe, if he had known that sort of community at the end of his life, it, could have changed everything. His generational trauma was immense he would tell me these are dead songs in a dead language that nobody speaks anymore - that all the people in our lineage who knew them were all killed. I worked very hard to tracked down the songs in the was he sang them. He never got to meet his grandchild who is learning all the songs. This is my life work in his honor.

Shimron is a trans Jew from the Maghreb. Shimron believes that we will see liberation in our lifetime. Shimron is a professional Jewish children’s educator and has built extensive Jewish community infrastructure in the New York City area and is a leader of a Sephardic-Mizrahi Synoguge. Shimron just completed an Judeo-Arabic immersion in the Magreb and intensive interreligious organizing in the Maghreb including hosting a interfaith Seder on Pesach. Shimron is excited to bring back all the cultural, language and diasporic Jewish frameworks to enrich the children’s education and larger NYC community.