Meet an innoFaither: Sepi Djavaheri
Meet Sepi Djavaheri, Director, Community Mobilizers at the UJA Federation of New York. Having fled the Iranian revolution at an early age with her family, landing in Germany and eventually the U.S., Sepi has channeled her Jewish faith and the experience of being “other” into a focus on building connection and community to combat the social isolation and loneliness that so many in our communities experience. Sepi was a speaker at our recent event on Faith Communities Fighting Isolation, in collaboration with the Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute.
What faith(s), if any, do you practice? How does your tradition and/or spiritual practice inspire or influence you as an innovator?
I'm of the Jewish faith. I practice Reform Judaism. The Reform Jewish faith is very much about social action and serving community. The way my faith has inspired me to do what I do is because so much of Judaism is not just about your connection to God but about connection to community members. It’s not just about worship. The communal experience is paramount. That’s been a driving force for me. Also, the Reform movement came about from an egalitarian perspective, and this was important to me because I wasn’t raised in a context of gender equality. So I wanted to raise my children that way. There’s a shift in one’s concept of community when men and women are equal.
My paternal grandparents lived in the Jewish ghettos in Iran, so the Jewish identity has always been deeply embedded in us. Whether we wanted it or not, we were branded Jewish. You couldn’t escape your identity. When the revolution happened, most religious minorities fled or tried to flee. We ended up in Germany, where we were a very quiet minority because even though it was long past, the history of antisemitism made people feel fearful. Then we came to visit my aunt and uncle in a highly Jewish, upwardly mobile community in Long Island. I couldn’t believe it. When you’re raised as “other” and then suddenly you’re not, it’s very empowering and liberating. It impacts your self-esteem and identity. Having the lived experience of being "the other," followed by the newfound experience of belonging to a community, motivated my desire to create a space for connection as part of my professional work. Faith communities, being natural and easily accessible places of belonging, offer this sense of connection irrespective of one’s level of religiosity.
What are you currently working on?
At UJA, I’m working on different projects around combatting loneliness. We have a growing program with older adults, trying to bring them into community-based organizations to create social connections through connection specialists at local Jewish Community Centers (JCCSs). We’re looking at how we can work with the healthcare system to have medical providers refer individuals to community-based organizations and from there to synagogues and houses of worship. This Isolation to Connection model is part of a recent global Social Prescribing Movement, in which a health care practitioner refers an individual to a "linkage worker" who will provide the linkages for social connections to an isolated and lonely older adult. They are connected to the local community based organization who connects to numerous communal programs, including the local house of worship in their neighborhood. This initiative is based on a successful model from the U.K. through the office of the Minister of Loneliness. Central to the program's mission and implementation is recognizing the adverse impact of loneliness and isolation on older adults' physical and mental health.
We’ve also just created a coalition, Long Island Faith, where we’re bringing together key clergy from various faiths—Catholic, Muslim, Sikh, Greek Orthodox, etc.— to train them in dialogue. With this, we’re addressing loneliness and isolation from a different angle. The Jewish community since October 7 has felt very isolated and now judged. So this is an opportunity for them to connect with other clergy. They will be trained on dialogue and then plan an event called Dialogue Across Faiths, a symposium in February. We expect over 100 clergy to attend. We’re bringing them out of their silos to dialogue about who they are, their stories, how they can align with each other. And from there, we’ll give them microgrants to work on dialogue at the local level.
We’re also working on a small groups movement in synagogues. We found that congregants come to synagogue, and it’s very clergy driven. So we started investing in this program called Small Groups. We brought in professional dialogue/group facilitators who trained synagogue lay leaders on how to bring people together in their living rooms. It’s like a synagogue outside the synagogue walls. They come together in affinity groups, such as parents of young children, older adults, men, etc. They come together because often they feel lonely. So many people have said they found friends for life. Interestingly, one of the most at-risk populations for loneliness is middle-aged men. It was daunting for this group to come, but they did, and they have found friendships as a result. They didn't even realize they were isolated and lonely until they got a taste of what it means to be connected. The small groups program is being led by congregants in eight synagogues, with hundreds of congregants.
What can we find you doing when you’re not working?
Spending time with my teenage kids. My time off is all about connection, time with family and friends. For Shabbat, we always either have guests or go to the homes of family and friends. It’s a given in our family on Fridays.
What is piquing your curiosity these days?
With what happened on October 7, the Jewish community is heartbroken and confused, and we don’t know where we’re heading. The line has been blurred between what is antisemitic and what is just the American community feeling that Israel’s approach to the war isn’t right. It’s become lonely. Those of us in this line of work, including members of the Jewish community who have been at the forefront of peace work, don’t know what the future looks like. So that’s what I’m grappling with. Where are we headed?
What is something you’d like help on?
I would like to see the Isolation to Connection program in community-based organizations all over New York! Imagine if those experiencing loneliness can have a “concierge” who meets with them and says “What matters to you?” rather than “What is the matter with you?”
What is something you can offer others in the innoFaith network?
I welcome folks to connect with me regarding getting involved in the social prescribing movement. People who are NY-based, I can connect directly to the work we’re doing in JCCs.
You can find Sepi via Email.
Meet an innoFaither is our series to introduce the inspiring optimists in the innoFaith world and what they’re working on and thinking about. We hope it helps you find and engage with each other across the network to advance faith-rooted social innovation and interfaith collaboration for social impact. Or just meet some cool people. Find the full series at www.innofaith.org/meet-an-innofaither.