Beyond Survival: Whitney Weathers on Thrivival and Inclusive Leadership

March 2026 Webinar recording: An Iranian Jew and a Palestinian in Conversation

This episode comes from a special webinar we hosted on March 26,2026, “Dialogue as a Tool of Safety: An Iranian Jew and a Palestinian in Conversation.” Kara and Eli facilitated a courageous and deeply human conversation between Iranian Jewish peace activist and writer, Daniel Bral, and Palestinian peace activist and conflict resolution expert, Hamze Awade. Together, they explored what it means to engage in difficult dialogue across divides. Through personal stories, shared communication principles, and real-time modeling of tough conversations, this gathering highlights how empathy, respect, and curiosity can create spaces of safety and understanding, without erasing pain or identity. This session marked the launch of the Translations podcast. Chapter Breakdown: * :00 - Introduction and welcome * 4:39 - The worlds Daniel and Hamze come from * 10:40 - How Daniel and Hamze came together and built a relationship * 14:19 - Could this relationship have worked before October 7? * 17:10 - Co-creating a Substack * 20:19 - Examples of disagreement between Daniel and Hamze * 29:08 - How to stay in dialogue with someone who says something harmful * 34:31 - How to engage with people who view the conflict in a binary way * 40:00 - The responsibility to translate our community to others and to itself * 48:08 - Where the name of their Substack came from * 49:34 - The line between criticism and dehumanization * 52:51 - Navigating debates about the future configuration of Israel and Palestine * 57:25 - Reflecting on the Iran war and the media’s relationship with Palestinians * 1:04:27 - Lessons they’ve learned doing dialogue work Resources: * The Higher Ground, Substack: https://thehighergroundstack.substack.com/ [https://thehighergroundstack.substack.com/]. * Daniel Bral and Hamze Awawde, “Israel and Palestine Conversation Quicksand,” The Higher Ground, https://substack.com/home/post/p-170403852 [https://substack.com/home/post/p-170403852].  * Hamze Awawde, “Liberal Zionism’s PR Machine: How ‘Nuance’ Became a Language for Violence,” The Higher Ground, https://thehighergroundstack.substack.com/p/liberal-zionisms-pr-machine-how-nuance [https://thehighergroundstack.substack.com/p/liberal-zionisms-pr-machine-how-nuance].  * Hamze Awawde, “The Performance Must End,” The Higher Ground, https://thehighergroundstack.substack.com/p/the-performance-must-end [https://thehighergroundstack.substack.com/p/the-performance-must-end].  Please be sure to subscribe, rate, and review Visit our website: www.projectshema.org [http://www.projectshema.org/].  Translations is a new initiative from Project Shema exploring how we can approach complex issues with nuance and empathy. Through conversations with leading academics, practitioners, and community voices, this podcast invites listeners to learn alongside us as we translate big questions into deeper understanding. http://projectshema.org/translations [http://projectshema.org/translations]

Beyond Survival: Whitney Weathers on Thrivival and Inclusive Leadership

Today’s guest is Whitney Weathers, who brings a rare combination of scholarship, strategy, and spirit to every space she enters. A consultant, educator, and thought leader in Black theology, urban education, and organizational culture, Whitney is the founder of Whitney Weathers Consulting, and a doctoral candidate at Nazarene Theological Seminary. Whitney brings a very unique combination of both academic research and lived experience to challenge institutions toward deeper inclusion. She defines the term “thrivival,” (moving past survival into thriving) and what that means specifically for Black women, which can then be applied for all of us to build more inclusive spaces. Listen for Whitney’s truly unique leadership style that centers vulnerability. Chapter Breakdown: * 0:00 - Introducing Whitney * 2:25 - Whitney’s research on the experiences of Black women seminarian students * 4:52 - Distinguishing between representation and inclusion * 6:00 - Whitney’s dissertation, "Resurrecting Resilience” * 9:21 - Alice Walker’s concept of “womanism” * 12:46 - The assumption of common experiences * 19:11 - Identity mapping * 25:15 - The intricacies of inclusion work * 34:11 - Professionalism and the concept of “hidden curriculum” * 38:22 - Inclusion versus assimilation * 43:23 - Advice for creating more inclusive spaces Resources: * Dr. Willie Jennings, After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50376048-after-whiteness] * adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds [https://adriennemareebrown.net/book/emergent-strategy/] Please be sure to subscribe, rate, and review. Visit our website: www.projectshema.org [http://www.projectshema.org/].  Translations is a new initiative from Project Shema exploring how we can approach complex issues with nuance and empathy. Through conversations with leading academics, practitioners, and community voices, this podcast invites listeners to learn alongside us as we translate big questions into deeper understanding. http://projectshema.org/translations [http://projectshema.org/translations]

Kara & Eli

In this episode, Kara and Eli explore how our inability to translate our language, and ourselves, undermines meaningful dialogue. How can we challenge complex norms and ideas if we remain more committed to binary frameworks than to understanding one another’s lived experiences? The antidote, they argue, is storytelling. By illuminating how our experiences shape our perspectives, storytelling has the power to depolarize conversation. It’s an approach at the heart of Project Shema’s work. Chapter Breakdown: * 0:00: The role of translating * 2:51: The idea of “binary rage” * 3:58: How we change complex social norms * 4:58: How do we start to translate from a place of stories?  * 8:11: How Kara translates herself in her experiences as a Black Jewish woman * 9:51: How Eli translates himself as a white member of a Black Jewish family * 12:00: The impact of ideological insularity * 13:00: Project Shema’s mission to translate and “wrestle” * 19:34: The notion of harmful speech * 21:50: Going beyond translating just antisemitism * 24:01: Previewing future episodes Resources: * Matt Boxer, What is Zionism? Assessing the Diversity of Discourse in a Charged Environment, Brandeis University: https://scholarworks.brandeis.edu/esploro/outputs/report/What-is-Zionism-Assessing-the-Diversity/9924331186501921?institution=01BRAND_INST [https://scholarworks.brandeis.edu/esploro/outputs/report/What-is-Zionism-Assessing-the-Diversity/9924331186501921?institution=01BRAND_INST].  * Damon Centola, Change: How to Make Big Things Happen: https://www.amazon.com/Change-How-Make-Things-Happen/dp/0316457337 [https://www.amazon.com/Change-How-Make-Things-Happen/dp/0316457337].  * Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion: https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777 [https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777]  Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and please be sure to rate & review. Visit our website: www.projectshema.org [http://www.projectshema.org/]. Translations is a new initiative from Project Shema exploring how we can approach complex issues with nuance and empathy. Through conversations with leading academics, practitioners, and community voices, this podcast invites listeners to learn alongside us as we translate big questions into deeper understanding. http://projectshema.org/translations [http://projectshema.org/translations]

Andrew Mbuvi

Kara and Eli are joined by Andrew Mbuvi, distinguished scholar of biblical studies whose work bridges theology, race, and social justice. A leading voice in antiracist pedagogy, his scholarship examines how the histories of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament intersect with the realities of race, violence, and power. This conversation is a powerful foundation for understanding why Project Shema is so interested in translation in the first place—how the words we use shape our understanding of both text and one another. Chapter Breakdown: * :54 - What does “inclusion” mean to Andrew? * 2:21 - How we think about the problem of division * 4:39 - How to expand our understanding of one another’s humanity * 6:17 - The idea of “superficial differences” between people * 9:44 - How Andrew’s background informs his inclusion practice * 16:00 - How coming to America changed his self-understanding * 18:50 - Language and the need to translate different aspects of yourself and one another * 31:54 - Translation and true inclusion * 41:21 - The importance of maintaining curiosity Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and please be sure to rate & review:  Visit our website: www.projectshema.org [http://www.projectshema.org/]. Translations is a new initiative from Project Shema exploring how we can approach complex issues with nuance and empathy. Through conversations with leading academics, practitioners, and community voices, this podcast invites listeners to learn alongside us as we translate big questions into deeper understanding. http://projectshema.org/translations [http://projectshema.org/translations]

Introducing Translations

A lot of our conversations are closing space for empathy and care instead of opening new pathways for understanding. Much of that can be attributed to binary thinking and the refusal to engage with and translate the lived experiences of others.  Translations is about breaking down binaries by practicing dialogue across differences. We are here to translate words that carry weight so they don’t end conversations, they open them up. Each episode will share stories, skills, and real conversations that show how people can stay in the room even when the tension is real. As we know, these differences are not going away.  Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and please be sure to rate & review. Visit our website: www.projectshema.org [http://www.projectshema.org/].  Translations is a new initiative from Project Shema exploring how we can approach complex issues with nuance and empathy. Through conversations with leading academics, practitioners, and community voices, this podcast invites listeners to learn alongside us as we translate big questions into deeper understanding. http://projectshema.org/translations [http://projectshema.org/translations]