For Sabina Spicer, nurturing community and amplifying visibility for Jews of Color isn’t just a mission—it’s a deeply personal calling and a professional passion. Currently serving as the Program Manager of Cultural Shift at TischPDX, she supports the development of Jewish start-ups and organizations in the Portland area. This role is the direct result of heeding the findings from the region’s recent Cultural Shift Survey, a collaborative research project hosted by TischPDX and funded by JoCI.
Spicer presently lives in Portland, Oregon with her family but grew up in Los Angeles, California. It was in Southern California where she was first introduced to Judaism, deciding to convert in her twenties. Though she initially felt unable to share her process with her family, she found her conversion experience an immensely positive one. As a Black woman, she was concerned that she would be tokenized by the Beverly Hills congregation she joined, but what she found was an open-hearted community. “I was very welcomed by the congregation, and it felt like I had come home,” Spicer said. “I felt like I was never asked to be a representative of Black culture, and was never asked to explain my otherness.” The rich cultural diversity of Los Angeles was a strength for the city’s Jewish community, providing a backdrop of heightened cultural awareness among community members.
Spicer said her rabbi described converting to Judaism as a lifelong journey, and where her journey took her next was the Pacific Northwest. In Portland, Oregon, Spicer found a Jewish community that felt slightly more insular with less open dialogue about religion, faith, and spirituality. “In the Pacific Northwest, the Jewish community can feel like a small club,” she said.