The fantastic adventures of Koach Baruch

How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action? --- Sophie Scholl From The Holocaust Research Project :  Sophia Scholl was born on May 9, 1921, the daughter of Robert Scholl, the mayor of Forchtenberg. Her full name was Sophia Magdalena Scholl. The family lived in Ludwigsburg, Germany from the summer of 1930 till spring of 1932, after which they moved to Ulm and finally to Munich where Sophie attended a secondary school for girls. At the age of twelve, she was required to join the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls) as most young women at the time, but her initial enthusiasm gradually gave way to strong criticism. She was aware of the dissenting political views of her father, of friends, and also of some of her teachers. Political attitude had bec

“As far as I am concerned, what gave me strength to oppose the current, be master of my own will and oppose the powers that be, finally to be a true human being, was the message of the families of priests that constitute my ancestry, a message about what it means to love mankind." ---Dr. Traian Popvici From  Yad Vashem : When Germany signed its non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, it took Besserabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania and gave it to the Soviet Union. In July 1941, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union with Romania at its side, the two territories were returned to Romania. For three days the returning Romanian soldiers carried out a massacre among the local Jewish population. Born in 1892, Dr. Traian Popvici was the son of a Romanian Orthodox priest. He studied law in Czernowitz (Cernauti – the former capital of Bukovina – and today Chernovtsy in Ukraine) and earned a doctorate. When Soviet Russian annexed his town he moved to Bucharest. At first he suppo

"I am a Jew, my place is in the struggle against the Nazis for the honor of my people and for a free Poland!" ---Niuta TeitelBaum Niuta Teitelbaum, aka Little Wanda With the Braids, was one of the earliest volunteers for the Polish underground soon after Warsaw fell to the Germans in October 1939. The petite twenty-two year old devout Jew wore her blond hair in pigtails, which made her look like a sixteen-year-old girl, effectively disguising her real role – assassin. She parlayed her innocent looks to gain entrance to Gestapo headquarters, and silently shot an SS officer as he sat at his desk. The episode is but one of her daring moves. Niuta avoided capture for nearly three years, but in July 1943, two months after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended, the Gestapo burst into her room before she could swallow a poison pill. After weeks of torture, she was executed at the age of twenty-five years old. To the Germans, she was Little Wanda with the Braids; to the Poli

According to the Jewish calendar, it is 5778 and what a year it has already been here in Saint Louis, MO. After 6 long years, Anthony Lamar Smith's family was let down yet again by the state issuing a not guilty verdict in the case which has led to daily/nightly protests. The mayor has largely been silent and the police have been incomprehensibly violent and inhumane in their response to the protest against continued state violence and white supremacy. This Yom Kippur , September 30, 2017 coincided with the commemoration of the lives lost and families destroyed during the Elaine Massacre  which was one in a long history of pogroms against Black people in the early 1900s. In fact, the violence of white mobs spread across the US in the summer of 1919 with no less than 33 incidents and was later coined Red Summer by James Weldon Johnson. Now it is Sukkot . Our tradition says that after we have spent time in meditation, prayer, fasting and reflection we must remember the vul

What Will We Remember? During these days of awe we are told that G-d remembers our deeds and actions, but what will we remember? Will we remember we are all B'Tzelem Elohim, made in G-d’s image? Will we remember that we were born free? Will we remember to breathe? Will we remember to have courage? Will we remember ahavah rabbah ahavtanu, that we are loved by an unending love? Will we remember to breathe? Will we remember that our liberation is bound up with one another? Will we remember that we are all we got, that we can’t afford to throw anyone away? Will we remember to breathe? Will we remember to love with revolutionary love? Will we remember to choose truth and honesty over being right? Will we remember to breathe? Will we remember to find that spark of divinity in the folx we meet? Will we remember to be kind? Will we remember to breathe? What will YOU remember? Koach Frazier 1 Tishrei 5778

Blessed is the G-d of our ancestors --- the Moabite women who just like their ancestors before them were made out to be the monsters, villains and evil doers of their time --- who reminds us that in our effort to sanctify ourselves there is no need to demonize others who are different from us. Blessed are you G-d, source of wisdom and loving-kindness that moves us toward holiness. Blessed is the G-d of our ancestor --- Pinchas, son of El'azar, son of Aharon the priest, who in a moment of zealotry killed two people he believed were idolaters and thereafter received a covenant of peace --- who at times appears to encourage and reward violence, confusing zealotry with righteousness yet gives us the free will to make better decisions because we know better. Blessed are you G-d, source of compassion and discernment leading to less violence and more wholeness. Blessed is the G-d of our ancestors ---Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, the daughters of Zelophehad, who were

Cenote (sinkhole) near Chichen Itza, Mexico. Photo by Nikonian Novice. Yesterday morning, someone parked their car on a downtown street here in Saint Louis, went into the gym and when they came out, found their car in a sinkhole .  The earth just opened up and swallowed their car! Well, actually, sinkholes develop overtime. The rock and soil underneath us whittle away from the acidic water that carves out underground passages that cause voids.  After awhile, the voids get filled in with the soil and rock from above and eventually cave in.  Last week's portion was Korach, not to be confused with my name, Koach. In the beginning of this parsha, we see Korach challenging Moses and Aaron's leadership. Numbers 16: 1-3 states Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—descendants of Reuben—to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftai

I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I've dreamed. -- Nina Simone I declared last year that this year, 5777, would be a year in transition. Working with a life coach, heeding the wise counsel of my rabbis, family and friends, this year has opened me up to so many wonderful opportunities to learn and share my gifts --- and the journey has just begun. And just like my musical heroine Nina, I have the chance to live life as I have dreamed. As I move more fully into spiritual leadership, I have been challenged by two of my friends and teachers, Rabbi Scott and Rabbi Micah, to spend time with the text of each parsha and create either a d'var torah or a song. Whoa!  A big task for me. However it is one that I am ready for.  It will challenge me to be more intimate with the text each week and push me to exercise this muscle I have been wanting to flex. To that end, I plan to complete this challenge each week, but think about it i

Tomorrow marks 6 months since I had life affirming surgery and I have been thinking about just how much my life is different today. Courage is an attribute I have struggled with all my life. Living in a world that didn't function like I did and certainly didn't treat me like I deserve to be here has been difficult to say the least. And while the world is still killing folks on the daily who share one or more of my identities, I have built up the courage to listen to the voice inside (the divine, G-d?) that has always been there, encouraging me to be authentically me. This voice led me to bring out ALL of the first aid supplies my parents had in the medicine cabinet to the neighborhood kids in Kansas City, MO to help mend scrapped knees and bruised arms. It comforted me when I cried my eyes out when the rejection letter came from UMKC's 6 year medical program and guided me as I left home and moved to Saint Louis, MO and my Jewish soul came home while I studied at SLU

How do you spend your days? I'm a student with a yearning for liberation in my heart so I spend most of my days reading, writing, studying, creating collective black spaces for black people and organizing around issues that black people face. What brings you joy? I'm at a really good place right now where most of the things I do bring me joy. Love brings me joy, black spaces and black people bring me joy, seeing this sort of black Renaissance we're in brings me joy, and the fact that people are refusing to quit and continuing to resist brings me joy. What is liberation to you? Liberation to me is love. Love is liberating. I want people to love themselves and others the way that the Creator loves us. A love so freeing that it makes it impossible for you to not have the audacity to exist as your truest self, and a love so full of substance that it's impossible for us as individuals to not see how interconnected our struggles are. Liberation is lov

How do you spend your days? Almost every morning I wake to a text from my Dad telling me "good morning" or "have a good day." I roll out of bed, grab some gummy multivitamins, turn on my "morning inspiration" spotify playlist and try to get to work on time. Most of my days are spent researching and developing a racial justice curricular praxis model for college students, coordinating an HIV/AIDS intervention program and teaching Black literature at a local HBCU. When I do get a break I try to spend time doing things that feed my soul--reading, karaoke-ing with my folk, playing basketball, writing, drumming, dancing (anywhere the beat drops). What brings you joy? Cuddling with my pit bull baby, Hannibal. Hugs from my brother. Watching sports shows with my Dad. Staying up late and watching horror movies with my mom. Deep belly laughs with my friends. Sing-a-longs with anyone who is down. The *swish* sound when the basketball touches nothing but n

How do you spend your days? I love days that give me room to breathe and reflect. Typically, I am really busy with school work, research and extra-curricular activities. But this semester I am studying at the University of Ghana and I have more flexibility and control over my time. I do mindfulness meditations in the morning, yoga, write and daydream. Daydreaming is one of my favorite things to do - and it doesn't always have to be a solitary activity. I love dreaming out loud with my friends talking about how we want (WILL) to change the world, the places we will travel, the books we will write, how we will liberate ourselves and our communities. I drink a lot of water during the day and usually get sad at some point thinking about what is currently happening in the USA but I try and write myself out of the dark cloud.  What brings you joy?  My family is profoundly incredible. My parents are compassionate, emotionally intelligent people that always have uplifted an

How do you spend your days? From day to day, 365, I spend my days enjoying myself and trying to get a good laugh. I can't function without friends so I'm always calling them to hangout or just to shade them real quick. Shade is one of my Love Languages. I enjoy feeding my friends too. I'm a student of the universe so I'm constantly learning, evolving and soaking in every experience.  And more than anything, just being Black... What brings you joy? As of lately, picking fruit. There's no greater feeling than taking in the colors, texture and the smell of fruit. One of my favorite fruits to pick is pineapple. You have to look for the one with the golden/ brown bottom. They even have sweet aroma. I still haven't mastered picking mangoes, they're one of my favorite to eat. There's thousands of species of mangoes, I want to try them all! What is liberation to you? Liberation is experiencing life without toxic boundaries and limitations. It

How do you spend your days?  I'm a morning person. I wake up at 5:30am everyday. No matter what. Drink water. Stretch. Workout. Make breakfast. Text/call my mom. Head to work. If I don't work that day, then I usually get coffee and read a book. I'm kind of an ambivert. So depending on how the sun is shinning, I might hangout with friends or enjoy the day to myself. I try to smile a lot and laugh at myself. Take a moment to write about experiences, both current and past. I generally end my day with a glass of wine or three.  What brings you joy?  I absolutely love reading, researching art, and drinking wine. I have this slight obsession with learning about black people that are featured in historical European art. Visiting my mothers house on Sundays because it always smells like fresh flowers. The excitement of starting a new book. Watching the first Harry Potter film over. I work in the commercial photography field, so that also brings me joy knowing that I

How do you spend our days? Learning and critiquing different approaches to help folks be able to live their healthiest lives. Thinking about how oppression and discrimination have very real effects on people’s health. Discussing how the healthcare system and the public health “industry” are complicit in perpetuating barriers to health for those who are most vulnerable, while they are also inadequate at effectively addressing issues identified as integral to having the opportunity to live a healthy life. Looking for and embracing things that bring me joy as often as possible. Eating tacos. Singing Beyoncé.  What brings you joy? Tacos. Beyoncé. Connecting with people I care about. Making other people laugh. Seeing my friends succeed. Knowing how much I’ve grown as a person and how much I will continue to grow.  What is liberation to you? Everyone having the opportunity to become their fully actualized selves. Having the opportunity to know who you are and what you c

How do you spend your days? A typical day for me involves going to school, doing homework, playing video games and watching documentaries.  What brings you joy? Things that bring me joy are: my friends, my mom, my video games, Netflix, thinking about my future goals, A Different World, drag queens and chicken alfredo. What is liberation to you? To me, liberation is being able to be who you are. Being the gender you want, having the body shape you want, being as promiscuous as you want, being as lazy as you want. Liberation is a 3 way relationship between you, yourself and your mindset. At the end of the day a thousand people will have something to say about you but if you are living how you want then who cares?!

How do you spend your days? I’m a grant writer for a hunger relief organization.  I took this position for the experience, because really I spend my days dreaming and planning for the goals I have in mind. I love being able to contribute to the larger goal of feeding vulnerable communities, but dealing with the competitive money side can be disheartening. Otherwise, I’m spending time with my son, Greyson at our house in Bevo Mill with my roommate, Brewer, their daughter Addie, and our ridiculous dog Nora. For an introvert that spends so much time having to talk and negotiate budgets, it’s nice to have my own little corner of comfort. What brings you joy? Joy for me is getting to wear a onesie on an off day instead of pants. It’s watching my son see a joke he told land so well. It’s when I check off things on my to-do list and still have daylight left. Joy is feeding those who visit my house, seeing relief on a friend’s face when I can help them with something, and watching my

How do you spend your days? I've been taking time lately to find out what it is I'm into so I'm trying and learning all sorts of new stuff. Currently I'm learning how to garden and play the tenor banjo and I've also been painting a little. I actually just got a job though so i imagine the way I spend my days is about to look different. What brings you Joy? This is gonna sound mad cheesy but going on adventures with Rachel brings me so much joy. Our road trips and such...those are probably the only times that I feel truly carefree. I also find hella joy in my weird lil family. I love us. What is Liberation to you? Shit....this is the hardest question...I'm not sure I even know, but I guess not being under the complete control of capitalism would be a start. Everything I can and can't do, all my big ideas and pipe dreams... hell even the small stuff like going to the doctor...they all feel impossible because of money/my lack of it. It devastates me regula

How do you spend your days? I spend my days saving the world by showcasing love; Giving of myself for the good of someone else. What brings you joy? What brings me joy is love... I love loving people and love the feeling of being loved. What is liberation to you? Liberation to me is for me to be free of the chains of confirmation and able to live my life to the fullest.

How do you spend your days? I spend my days volunteering if I'm not cutting. After I'm done with the cut; I hand my client the mirror.  The smile on their faces bring me joy.  What brings you joy? Making people smile. What is liberation to you? Wow.. Liberation. To be a woman in a man's field is hard. To be relevant yet alone, equal to them. I feel that I am who God has made me to be. Honest, Loyal and True to myself.. It means a lot.. I can do anything a man can do.. Honestly; I Feel I'm Better.

How do you spend your days? Taking time to jot down my dreams, hopes and fears. Accepting what comes and goes. Collecting sounds. Feeling the ground, the winds, the moon and the suns. Cherishing my loved ones. Preparing to complete my undergraduate program in the late spring. Affirming my black life’s existence and legacy/heritage as eternal. Thinking about collective black struggle. Re-reading the story black creation. What brings you Joy?  The possibilities of love-making-documenting-creating-remembering. The genealogy of black love and knowing that I was made in/by/through love. Skating with cousins. Dancing with my cousins. Learning about my ancestor’s technologies of communication.  What is Liberation to You?  Liberation is love being made possible and infinite. I know that love isn’t a utopian conception or idea. But Maya once said that: “Love liberates.” And when I heard that I felt that. For more than 1500 years, black bodies/communities have been the

How do you spend your days? I work as a hospice nurse. I start early, work late, and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. It's such a gift to work with those who are facing the end of life. When I'm not at work, I'm spending time with my animals: Rooster the spotted hound, and Turk, the cat-shaped dog. Since I give so much emotional energy at work, most of my free time is spent recharging and finding ways to heal and recover on a daily basis. What brings you joy? The simplest of things fill my heart with joy! I've been accused more than once of having a child-like wonder for the world. I don't disagree. Every day I find something that makes me smile: watching my puppy sleep, watching our community chickens scratch and peck, all the sunsets, my mama's laugh over the phone, bright colors, smiles of strangers, good advertising, happy babies, dried mango. I try my best to experience the world around me.  I'm very committed to my frie

How do you spend your days? I spend my days planning for the future and reaching my goals. I want to be affluent. Plain and simple. I want to freely travel the world, visit some places twice! Every day I set forth goals big or small and once I accomplish it that brings me peace. What brings you joy? My son. I never wanted kids and won't be having any more lol. Tristan gives me hope, patience, love that is limitless. I can not imagine a life without him. He is the fire that keeps me fueled. He is the key to my success. What is liberation to you? Liberation to me is human equality. We are not there yet, if someone is starving, hurt, we as people should not turn a blind eye simply because we are not hungry or we are not the ones being abused. Humanity needs humility. We need to work together as a whole. If we can do that the world as a whole would succeed. To get to a point where chaos is no longer, where Tristan can look at a person and simply see just a person

How do you spend your days? I spend my days thinking, planning, and trying to find the right questions. I'm thinking about freedom and how we'll even know if we're there. I'm thinking about what the gaps are in our current collective narratives, collective power, and collective will. I'm planning to be the most excellent I can and praying like fuck I figure it while I can. I'm questioning myself, my own vision and questioning why I'm questioning it. I'm questioning my fear of being free. What brings you joy? I find joy in the music I find and being alone with nothing planned. I find joy in those moments when I see a friend and having nothing to complain about just loving each other. What i liberation to you? Liberation to me feels like everything. It feels like the promise Hashem made to our ancestors that there is a time, a place, a being of wholeness and its for us. If we just want to live in it enough.

How do you spend your days? I spend my days reading, doing homework and watching tv. The reading is my own personal training for organizing, I like reading Stokely Carmichael because it makes me feel validated. I read a lot of Buddhist texts too because I grew up in that culture but also it helps me find peace. I want to find a way to make that peace available for a lot of people. Specifically black youth. What brings you joy? Lots of things bring me joy. I love doing art and reading on other cultures, and Photography, but so far my number one love has been writing. I wrote a book a while ago and I've been editing it slowly but surely. One day i'll feel confident enough to send it somewhere. While it's painful and a necessity, activism makes me feel strong, and when I feel strong and proud I am happy, because my whole life I haven't had my voice heard and now that I'm being given so many opportunities to let my voice be heard. What is liberation to you?

How do you spend your days? Right now my life is totally consumed by teenagers and school. I am the mom of a high school senior and I teach high school Biology and AP Biology. As much as I like to think I am the boss of them, my days are totally dictated by them, their needs, their wants, and trying to meet them or crush them…it depends on what they request. I am also not doing homework for my M. A. K12 Administration degree because I don’t like doing homework. Oh the irony. I’ve also been hanging out with Dr. Bae and meeting some of his awesome family and friends.   What brings you joy? ·           HOPE ·           KB ·           Family gatherings ·           My awesome friends ·           TEACHING ·           Chicken wings (St. Louis Chicken Wing Company) ·           Sushi Rolls (Crunchy Bagel from Café Mochi) ·           Belly Laughs/Cracking up ·           When my students learn ·           When I learn something new ·           Nikki Giovanni p

How do you spend your days? I spend my days writing poetry & nonfiction. Just tryna create in a world bent on destroying itself.  What brings you joy? Joy is being at peace, even if I'm amidst a war. Unconditional love is joy. Being challenged. I find joy in shit like that. What is liberation to you? Liberation is akin to enlightenment. It's casting all internal weakness aside. Tearing down the external systems that limit you. Living & dying on your own terms. That's freedom. That's liberation.

How do you spend your days? I spend time making my visions a reality. My visions of empowering brown and black kids to see themselves as descendants of royalty, encouraging black woman to walk boldly in their purpose and promoting inclusion for all marginalized groups.  What brings you joy? Joy to me is always tied to my faith. My relationship with God brings me sustained joy. Making my parents proud is a close second.  What is liberation to you? Liberation is when all people despite socioeconomic standing, race, ethnicity, religion, or other identifying factor, are able to live bountifully and without fear. Liberation is decentralized power, it is equity and fairness, it is joy unhinged on belongings. It defies gravity. Liberation is heaven on Earth.