Collected Item: “Jessy Dressin Oral History, 2021/04/12”
Title
Interview with Rabbi Jessy Dressin
Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.
Kit Heintzman
Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.
Jessy Dressin
Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#allyship, #antisemitism, #art, #artist, #Baltimore, #cisgender, #community, #dancing, #dog, #funeral, #GeorgeFloyd, #healthcare, #heterosexual, #hug, #individualism, #Jewish, #KamalaHarris, #married, #Maryland, #mentalhealth, #music, #Passover, #pets, #prayer, #privilege, #Rabbi, #race, #racism, #religion, #restaurants, #Seder, #selfcare, #shiva, #singing, #spirituality, #surgery, #Trump, #vaccination, #white, #whiteness
What is the format of your recording?
Video
In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*
female
What is the age of the interviewee?
35 to 44
How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*
white
Describe the oral history.
Self description: “I am speaking from the place of being a person who has been blessed to have a roof over my head, has been employed, and has, thank God, mostly been healthy during this last year. I speak as a Rabbi and somebody who has always been, and especially in the last year, been a point of pastoral support for folks, a point of outreach for those who have been in need in a variety of circumstances. I speak as an educator. I speak as the executive director of a nonprofit organization that engages in service and volunteering to address needs, specifically in areas of food insecurity and education disparity, which over the course of this last year has been even more exacerbated even more than it was before the pandemic. And, I speak from a place of being a creative that has tried to dig deep into this time knowing that future generations will want to know of this time. And so whether through visual arts or through writing or through testimonies like this one, I speak from a place of knowing that our stories and the way we’ve moved through this time will be of interest to folks for many many generations and years to come. ”
Some of the things we spoke about include:
Having disproportionate access to healthcare in the USA
Pre-pandemic work schedule of 50-60 hours a week, husband similarly busy
Being a social person with a homebody husband
The pandemic increasing the number of meetings in a day
Recently hugging parents for the first time
Spending time with a 4-month-old nephew pre-pandemic with lots of touch, and moving to social distance visits
Questioning how ‘worth it’ it is to visit people without being able to touch or take off a mask
Being a Rabbi who is more observant than religious; prayer becoming more of a daily practice during the pandemic
Feeling personal responsibility in relation to public health; deciding what feels safe post-vaccination; needs/wants
Taking care of mother after surgery
Officiating the last public funeral prior to the pandemic in the community right before lockdown; shiva
Online funerals and weddings
Pandemic Passovers and Seders
The murder of George Floyd and observing Jewish community awakening to anti-Black racism; Freddie Gray
Volunteer organizations shutting down and reduced service
New possible futures from lessons learned during the pandemic, not wanting to “get back to normal”
Jewish philosophies of universalism and service, values and action
White supremacy and the intersections of racism and anti-Semitism
Health as non-linear; health as ecosystem of mind, body, and spirit
Non-transactional relationships and allyship; covenantal relationships; leveraging privilege
Checking in with an epidemiologist in social network about safety
Masks in 1+ years worth of photos
Full time living with an aging dog (Kofi); sunset syndrome and veterinary care
Going to local, virtual live music
Being in a understanding whiteness group for Jewish people
Historians struggling to capture stories of many of the most vulnerable people
Other cultural references:
Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste (2020), Kamala Harris, Zoom, Mr. Rogers
See also:
https://werepair.org/about-us/meet-our-staff/
https://www.jewishtimes.com/you-should-know-rabbi-jessy-dressin/
Some of the things we spoke about include:
Having disproportionate access to healthcare in the USA
Pre-pandemic work schedule of 50-60 hours a week, husband similarly busy
Being a social person with a homebody husband
The pandemic increasing the number of meetings in a day
Recently hugging parents for the first time
Spending time with a 4-month-old nephew pre-pandemic with lots of touch, and moving to social distance visits
Questioning how ‘worth it’ it is to visit people without being able to touch or take off a mask
Being a Rabbi who is more observant than religious; prayer becoming more of a daily practice during the pandemic
Feeling personal responsibility in relation to public health; deciding what feels safe post-vaccination; needs/wants
Taking care of mother after surgery
Officiating the last public funeral prior to the pandemic in the community right before lockdown; shiva
Online funerals and weddings
Pandemic Passovers and Seders
The murder of George Floyd and observing Jewish community awakening to anti-Black racism; Freddie Gray
Volunteer organizations shutting down and reduced service
New possible futures from lessons learned during the pandemic, not wanting to “get back to normal”
Jewish philosophies of universalism and service, values and action
White supremacy and the intersections of racism and anti-Semitism
Health as non-linear; health as ecosystem of mind, body, and spirit
Non-transactional relationships and allyship; covenantal relationships; leveraging privilege
Checking in with an epidemiologist in social network about safety
Masks in 1+ years worth of photos
Full time living with an aging dog (Kofi); sunset syndrome and veterinary care
Going to local, virtual live music
Being in a understanding whiteness group for Jewish people
Historians struggling to capture stories of many of the most vulnerable people
Other cultural references:
Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste (2020), Kamala Harris, Zoom, Mr. Rogers
See also:
https://werepair.org/about-us/meet-our-staff/
https://www.jewishtimes.com/you-should-know-rabbi-jessy-dressin/
On what date did you record this oral history?
2021-04-12T12:51