by Jonathan Gramling

The life of Kai Yael Gardner Mishlove, who became the first Black Jewish woman to head a Jewish social service agency in the U.S. when she took the helm of Jewish Social Services, is a blending of the people and cultures that are infused in the Jewish Diaspora.

Mishlove’s great grandfather was a freed slave who lived in Elkton, Tennessee. He was a rock for the Black community there and beyond.

“My great grandfather was the Rev Matt Gardner who founded the first school for freed black people in Elkton Tennessee, birth place of the KKK,” Mishlove said. “He was quite influential in many circles in Tennessee as a landowner and money lender. He was so much of a threat as a Black man owning the title to white people’s land that he was confined to his land by the KKK for the last 10 years of his life. He had over 500 acres of property. They burned down one of his schools, which he did fundraising for to rebuild it. They did not want him to be able to conduct business. It is a part of my family’s legacy of education and social justice. I would like to think since he was the founder of one of the first Black schools and he was a freed slave that I am continuing in his legacy of social justice and education.”

Her family has risen from different people and cultural heritages, all driven by a sense of social justice.

“I have a mixed family,” Mishlove said. “I have members of my family who are Jews, Catholics and even some agnostics. My mother was from an Irish Jewish and Black family from New Orleans. My father’s family was a mix of Jews and Black Baptists.”

Catholicism came into the mix when her mother converted to Catholicism.

“I grew up in Catholic schools,” Mishlove said. “I come from a family that was very much invested in social justice, bridge building and making communities functional and collaborative. I identify as a Jew and  I continue to honor the traditions of my mother’s family, especially my grandmother. My mother admitted her Jewish roots, but she was very much a Catholic. She was very much involved with Liberation Theology, a very social justice minded Catholic movement.  I grew up in Jesuit and Dominican schools. I graduated as member of the first class of women to attend 4 years of St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago.”

From there, Mishlove headed east for her undergraduate years.

“I studied at Boston University,” Mishlove said. “That’s where I completed my undergrad work in political science and social work. I then went on to the University of Illinois and studied public health. So over the years, I’ve worked with various communities mostly with a goal of improving health outcomes and addressing social determinants of health.”

Mishlove is driven by her values to do the work that she does.

“I’m also very much invested in my work as a Jewish person and as a Jewish woman of color,” Mishloive said. “I feel strongly that commitment to safety for one community is safety for all. My life is guided by Jewish principles such as tikkun olam (repairing the world), Tzedek (Justice), chesed (loving kindness) and also a commitment to children, the elderly, the vulnerable and the sick. This is an inclusive outlook on life. We need all hands on deck working collaboratively with partners in the community. It takes a Village as the African Proverb states. That’s how we counter bigotry and also improve service delivery and increase awareness.”

Mishlove is also driven by her own personal experience dealing with systems.

“I’m the mother of a child who is deaf and she was one of the first children who received bilateral cochlear implants,” Mishlove said. “It was a battle to receive approval for insurance coverage of her surgery and aural rehabilitation. It was a battle to ensure that she received appropriate and consistent accommodations in school. There were a lot of skills that I gained from the journey of being a parent with a child with a disability. I learned  how to effectively navigate medical, education, insurance and legal systems. After this experience,  I thought, ‘This is something that I would like to do full-time to assist other communities, other parents and other families to navigate services.’”