Author: Religious Action Center

Sharon Palay is a member and Lay Leader of Bet Shalom Congregation, Minnetonka, MN. February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month. We will be featuring blog posts about disability inclusion in Jewish communities. Also visit RJ.org for posts on this topic.

My name is Sharon. I have Cerebral Palsy. I grew up in
a small town in North Dakota. My mom would take me to synagogue. I remember
snuggling up close to her side, sitting amongst the stained glass windows,
listening as she sang the prayers and I would sing along, too. Never thinking
where I would be today on my spiritual journey.  
 
I joined Bet Shalom
Congregation nine years ago and love it every minute. I even had my Bat Mitzvah
which was a big milestone in my life. Here it’s going on the 5th
anniversary. When I think about it and how much work went in it, it just blows
my mind!  But I did it and I’m so very proud! 

This is my 2nd year of being the Chairwoman of the Inclusion Committee of Bet
Shalom. It’s a lot of hard work but I enjoy it. Bet Shalom moved into their new
home nine years ago so there’s a lot of inclusion work to do, more than I
knew. Right now we are in the process of putting the right signs around the
building such as where the elevator is located, how to access assistive hearing
devices and large print prayer books, etc.

What does Inclusion mean to me? It means to be accepted by your own faith
community.  People who see you for yourself and look beyond your
disability. People who look at your soul and say to themselves, “Now that’s a
person who I would like to get to know”. It’s true I will always be in a
wheelchair and that my speech will always be hard to understand. If they would
only let themselves look at me without having any fear of what they see in front
of them. We all would get along just fine. 

Editor’s note: Find dozens of programs, pamphlets, and other resources
on disability inclusion: 

• Visit the Union for
  Reform Judaism website
• Visit the
  Religious Action Center website

Shelly Christensen is the Chair of the Disability Task Force and Program Manager of the Jewish Community Inclusion Program for People with Disabilities, a program of the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis.

This February marks the second annual Jewish Disability Awareness Month. Our mission is to unite Jewish communities and organizations for the purpose of raising awareness and supporting meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in every aspect of Jewish life.

The websites of both the Union for Reform Judaism and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism feature Jewish Disability Awareness Month pages that can serve as a resource to individuals and congregations and provide a forum for discussion on issues of inclusion of people with disabilities in Jewish life.

Also this month, on RJ.org and the RACblog, you will hear from people who have disabilities who have traveled those difficult roads and made it in to become valued members of congregations. You will hear from a bat mitzvah who found inclusion woven in her Torah portion and from someone who has adapted teaching to meet the challenging needs of learners. We’ll also provide some food for thought as you go through Jewish Disability Awareness Month so that you leave February with plans for the other 11 months of the year.

During Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month – and beyond! – you can:

• Offer programs on disability awareness in your community
• Dedicate a Shabbat worship service to inclusion and the contributions of children and adults who have disabilities
• Participate in a community-wide disability awareness event such as the showing of “Autistic License,” “Praying with Lior” or “Autism the Musical.”
• Start a Committee on Inclusion

Organizations recognizing Jewish Disability Awareness Month include
the Union for Reform Judaism, Yachad/Orthodox Union, United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism, Reconstructionist Federation, Jewish Special
Education International Consortium, The Jewish Federations of North
America and the Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agency. We
hope you’ll join our unified effort to raise disability awareness and
support efforts to foster inclusion in Jewish communities worldwide.

When most people have their photo taken for a new driver’s license or passport, the government-issued photo I.D. is anything but becoming – think dour faces, terrible lighting, and a general look of total disgust.

But last week, IRAC’s Legal Aid Center for Olim (LACO) received faxed copies of some of the happiest-looking photo I.D.s ever issued. Four of our clients, from countries as far-flung as Japan, Russia, and Romania, had finally received their teudat zehut – Israeli citizenship cards – and in their exuberance could not stop smiling for the camera.

Our clients had been on the verge of giving up their quest for citizenship. One woman had already spent five years waiting for a final decision from the Ministry of the Interior, while IRAC was ready to petition the Supreme Court on behalf of another – only to receive a letter from the Ministry of the Interior on the same day the petition was to be filed, requesting even more documents from the client be sent. In a country where the Ministry of the Interior can only be described as Kafka-esque (letters mysteriously lost, never replied to or acknowledged), a smooth road to citizenship is no guarantee for any oleh.

So instead of the bad news I fling at you each week, I wanted to let
you know about a few of the hundreds of similar cases IRAC wins every
year on behalf of new immigrants. IRAC’s lawyers offer free legal
assistance to olim and help them navigate the often insurmountable
Israeli bureaucracy, win oleh benefits, be recognized as Jews, and
build new lives in Israel. The recognition of their Jewish status in
Israel – since our clients have all undergone Reform or Conservative
conversions – is a triumph in the name of religious pluralism and
freedom, and something to be celebrated.

Learn more about our Legal Aid Center for Olim.

Here’s an interesting idea. 31 of them actually.

Daniel Sieradski, who might best be thought as a Jewish communal techo-provacteur (is that OK Daniel?), has a fascinating project going on this month. Over at 31 Days, 31 Ideas he is posting a new idea for the Jewish community every day for the month of January. In his explanation of the project, he notes that

What I hope to achieve in doing so is to attract collaborators, executors, funders and general community support for these ideas so that wherever interest lies, we, collectively, can move forward in seeing these ideas manifest. I also hope to spark an open discussion about innovation, addressing the emerging needs of 21st century Jewry, and the role of establishment Jewish organizations in providing for the needs of the Jewish public

As you might expect, and I think as Daniel intended, I think some of the ideas are great and some less so. But every one of them is worth thinking about.

The best part? This project is, in some ways, just an appetizer for another, larger, initiative. During February, Daniel will be joined by JewschoolJewcyJTA, The Forward, eJewish Philanthropy and the Jewish Federations of North America in presenting 28 more ideas to transform the Jewish future. Each week, the seven participants will take turns posting a new idea from a member of their community. Want to follow along? The site is up at http://28days28ideas.com with a welcome message written by Jacob Berkman (aka JTA’s Fundermentalist). There is, of course, a 28 Days Twitter feed and a 28 Days Facebook fan page

What’s your favorite idea here? Personally, I’m thinking hard about #22 and #28, and looking forward to next month!

Following President Obama’s first State of the Union address on Wednesday night, JSpot.org asked leaders throughout the Jewish community for their thoughts and insights on the President’s words. Included in the video compilation below are reflections from Rabbi Jonah Pesner, Director of Just Congregations, and the RAC’s Rabbi David Saperstein.

Other contributors include: Nancy Kaufman, JCRC Boston; Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, Jewish World Watch; Rabbi Steve Gutow, Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Elissa Barrett, Progressive Jewish Alliance; and Simon Greer, Jewish Funds for Justice. Click through to JSpot.org for a second video of additional community leaders.

Missed the State of the Union address? Check it out:

Here’s what the RAC hopes for in 2010. What do you think about the President’s first State of the Union address? What would you have said if you were interviewed for this video?

Do you know what a fistula is? If you do, then you’re likely fidgeting uncomfortably. If you don’t, I’ll take a moment to explain.

A fistula is a childbirth complication that occurs during obstructed labor, resulting in a stillborn child. The tissues that separate a woman’s vagina from her bladder or rectum are destroyed by prolonged pressure from the fetal head trapped in the birth canal. The destruction of these tissues leads to continuous incontinence. It is surgically reparable, but cannot heal on its own.

Now that you know what fistula is, you’re definitely fidgeting uncomfortably.

As many as 3 million women are living with this condition. More accurately, many of these “women” are really teenage girls, their bodies not developed enough to carry a healthy pregnancy and delivery, or worse yet, who suffer from obstetric complications because of genital mutilation.

And yet, we will likely never come across any of these women, because, for the most part, they live in sub-Saharan Africa. To make matters worse, these women – who already hold a lesser status among their male counterparts – have become invisible in their own villages and communities. They are shunned because of the terrible smell their condition exudes; oftentimes, their spouses abandon them, and their villages leave them to die. Even if they can get to a hospital and pay for the necessary surgery, they are often moved to the end of the priority list and, ultimately, never get the procedure.

Living with fistula is unacceptable and would never be tolerated in the Western world. Indeed, because of access to a good education, excellent hospital care and an increase in cesarean sections, women suffering from fistula injuries are entirely unheard of in our own circles.

A recent article in Christianity Today describes the importance of addressing fistula and outlines the efforts by Nick Kristoff, Dr. Lewis Wall and Michael Horowitz to draw attention to the topic. The article refers to a meeting the Religious Action Center co-convened this past November with the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and the NAACP, held at the RAC. Approximately 30 participants representing a dozen groups came to the table, discussing eradicating the future of fistula in Sub-Saharan Africa. To summarize, the goals of this proposal are to build fistula repair centers in Niger, encourage American doctors to spend an extended period of time working at these repair centers, and training African doctors to do the same. In addition to the actual repair centers, we propose implementing fistula prevention programs and intensive educational and outreach efforts on and the issue.

The article also referred to existing efforts for fistula repair/prevention. It cites the Central Peninsula Church in Foster City, Calif., which took on fistula because its members were looking for an opportunity to address both physical and spiritual needs. Indeed, in our own Jewish tradition, when we recite the prayer to heal those who are ill, we ask for “refu’at hanefesh u’refu’at ha-guf” – the healing of the soul and the healing of the body. Repairing a fistula would certainly heal a woman’s body and soul. What’s more, by simply offering the opportunity to heal these women, we increase their stature in their society, and culture. We strengthen these women, who in turn have the opportunity to strengthen their own mothers, sisters and daughters. We can strengthen the family unit, which can only serve to strengthen the larger community. What could be more healing than that?

People of goodwill have the opportunity to help the otherwise helpless and voiceless women of Sub-Saharan Africa. Mark Pelavin, associate director of the RAC, was quoted in the Christianity Today article saying, “The combination of the magnitude of the problem and the ability to solve it make it exactly the kind of issue or cause that a lot of organizations will be interested in.” Dr. Lewis Wall is quoted in the same article as saying that fistula has been “lost from the collective memory.” Let’s take our combined interest and energy and run with it so that one day, that collective memory loss can extend itself all around the world, making fistula a thing of the past.

Rabbi Jill Maderer serves at Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia, Penn. This post originally appeared at BlogRS and is reposted with permission.

When I prayed with Women of the Wall (WoW) in 1996, I never imagined that in 2010, women would still be prohibited from raising their voices in prayer at the Kotel — the Western Wall, the remaining wall from the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Yet, as much as ever before, the religious extremism of ultra-orthodoxy continues to hold authority and power over all Jews in the State of Israel-from school funding to liberal rabbinic recognition- and over all activity at the Kotel.

In November, WoW member Nofrat Frankel was arrested for wearing a tallit (prayer shawl) and for holding a Torah scroll. Two weeks ago, WoW leader Anat Hoffman (who spoke at Rodeph Shalom a few years ago at our Joseph W. Rosenbluth Shabbat), executive director of the Reform Movement’s Israel Religious Action Center, was interrogated and fingerprinted by police. Her crime? Wearing a tallit, not at the Wall, but at a previously designated alternative overlooking the wall, where WoW has been holding services for years.

The soul of the Jewish State is at stake when the extremists keep women from wearing a tallit, holding a Torah scroll and even from praying outloud at the Kotel. To add your voice to the voices of justice, write a letter advocating pluralism.

As the struggle of the Women of the Wall continues, let us join their prayer: that all the women and girls of the people Israel may raise their voices before God in song and praise. May no one, in Israel or anywhere else in the world, be silenced. As it is written: For Zion’s sake I will not be still and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be silent, until her righteousness comes forth like great light and her salvation like a torch aflame.

Imagine this: You’re the only Jewish student at your suburban Ohio high school of 2,000. The synagogue your family attends holds Shabbat services only twice a month, because there aren’t enough Jews in the area to generate weekly interest. You became a bat mitzvah like other young Jews do, but your ceremony was held at the local country club because your tiny temple didn’t have the capacity – or the air conditioning! – to accommodate your large August service.

I don’t have to imagine it, because growing up, that was my life. Don’t get me wrong: I have always been and felt Jewish. My mother instilled in me Jewish values from a very young age, even when we were celebrating Christmas with my gentile father, and I’ve always felt connected to my Jewish identity. My mom fed this connection by assuring me that even if I didn’t have the strong ties to the community that others had – the youth group experience, the summer camping adventures – that I had “a Jewish soul.”

At age 20, following the death of a close friend, I began attending a university near my hometown, living with my mother and attending my childhood synagogue. As I renewed my spiritual relationship with my rabbi during this emotionally tumultuous time, my rabbi encouraged me to get away from Ohio for a bit and do something new – including connecting with my Judaism.

I mulled it over, thrilled by the prospect of getting away. I’d never spent any time outside of Ohio, and I’d spent the last five years working at the local swimming pool, so the day I received my acceptance letter to the Religious Action Center’s Machon Kaplan summer program for college students, I actually cried tears of joy. What an adventure I was about to embark upon!

The RAC places Machon Kaplan participants in internships with D.C.-area non-profits that work on social justice issues of importance to them, while also providing two classes on Judaism that count for six college credits. My Machon Kaplan peers came from a variety of backgrounds – some were NFTY alumni (I’d never even heard of it!), others were board members of their campus Hillels, and still others were aspiring rabbis. And me? Well, I floundered through the names of most Jewish holidays and struggled to translate the slang Hebrew my new friends used in everyday conversation. I’d never heard half the prayers or songs the rest of them knew by heart (“What’s the Birkat, anyway?!”), and I’d never been to Israel, as the majority of them had. It was clear to all of us that I wasn’t as “up” on my Judaism as they were – but through it all, I clung to my mother’s insistence that I bore a Jewish soul, and I told myself that no matter my level of knowledge about our faith, I belonged there just as much as they did.

And my Jewish soul really shone through at work. To my excitement, I was placed into an internship at Family Pride Coalition (now the Family Equality Council), the nation’s leading organization advocating on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parents and their families. During my six-week internship, I helped create innovative programmatic materials for more than 500 same-sex-headed families attending the 11th Annual Family Week celebration in Provincetown, Mass. I also worked with same-sex-headed families about to adopt and talked others through Family Pride’s new OUTspoken Families program. It was, far and away, the most fulfilling social justice experience I’d ever had – and I knew I wanted to keep it up.

After graduating, I decided to take a break from my chosen field of journalism and, remembering fondly my experience during Machon Kaplan, instead applied to be a Legislative Assistant at the RAC. I did a one-year stint here working on LGBT rights, drug policy, criminal justice and gun control, and I was asked to stay on to become the organization’s Press Secretary – a position I’ve held for a year and a half now. So here I am, nearly three years later and still at the Religious Action Center, and finding my Judaism every day. There are times when I still don’t know the right Shabbat songs or all the words to that very lengthy Birkat; I’ll never be a NFTY or camp alumna, and I’ve still yet to travel to Israel – but the enormity of the ways in which I’ve grown far outnumber those little things that have stayed the same. When I began Machon Kaplan five years ago, displaced and more than a little confused, I never could have dreamed where the experience would take me – both into adulthood and into my Judaism, and, as a result, into myself. I can say definitively that Machon Kaplan changed my life for the better.

Every summer I wait for a new group of college students to invade the RAC and start their summer here. How will the program affect their lives and aspirations? Which ones of them will be like me? If you’re a Jewish college student, I hope you’ll apply now to find out how Machon Kaplan can change you, too.

My Machon Kaplan roommates and I pose together on our last night of the program.

My fellow Family Equality Council interns and I prepare for the 11th Annual Family Week.

Dr. Adam Koons is a member of Temple Emanuel, Kensington, MD and Director of Relief & Humanitarian Assistance of International Relief & Development. Dr. Koons’ blog posts from Haiti were originally posted on the IRD blog. Visit Voices from the Field to read earlier posts.

Today we traveled outside of Port-au-Prince and into ground zero.
The town, and district, of Leogane, with about 150,000 residents was
closest to the earthquake’s epi-center. And it showed. Although,
estimates we had heard of 90% destruction were easily visible, the
mayor told us that 100% of the population were affected, since even
those few whose homes were not destroyed were afraid to enter their
still standing and damaged houses. The entire population was sleeping
outside, in makeshift shelters of plastic and cloth, in spontaneous
settlements within and outside the town center. The police were sitting
outside of a damaged police station. When we found the mayor he was
camped outside his broken house. Our visit was a “rapid assessment” to
understand the emergency needs, gaps, and the types of activities that
IRD would be best suited to provide. The mayor, in short, told us they
need virtually everything because the population had lost virtually
everything.

In one settlement we visited of around 230 families we met a group
of young men who immediately approached our vehicle when we arrived.
They explained that they were the self-appointed, volunteer, security
committee, formed because even in such areas insecurity and theft are a
huge problem and far beyond the capacity of the local police. Both the
desperation of the population, which has caused mass looting and crime,
and the escape of an estimated 4000 prisoners from the
earthquake-damaged central prison, has made such community protection a
necessity. It was a perfect opportunity for our IRD team to hand out a
number of the wonderful solar charged Sunlight Solar Bogo-Light
flashlights we were carrying just for such occasions. The flashlights
will improve the group’s ability to patrol at night and thereby the
settlement’s security. By working closely with the maker of the lights,
that were donated, we ultimately hope to distribute thousands of them
soon.

Another settlement we visited completely filled the town football
stadium with tiny shelter built shoulder to shoulder. We met a few
young men who were making wooden frames for additional shelters. They
told us they were salvaging the materials from the destroyed homes in
town.  And amidst it all, we found children playing, as we often do …
and of course, begging us to take their picture, which, of course, we
did. One young boy of about five had a home-made kite of salvaged
plastic and recovered string. His kite was aloft about 500!

On the way back to Port-au-Prince, after passing a US Marine
helicopter landing site and encampment (the helicopters had been
passing low and loud overhead all day), we got another sense of the
force that leveled an entire town. We came upon a mile long crevasse
in the side of the highway that we estimated to be maybe 15 feet deep. 

We have chosen Leogane as one of the primary IRD disaster response
sites for our activities that we hope will include water repair,
sanitation and latrines, shelter, and perhaps agriculture.  So, we will
return soon.

Rabbi Marla Feldman is the Director of Development for the Union for Reform Judaism. This posit originally appeared on RJ.org.

In one week, the Reform Movement has raised more than $750,000 for Haiti disaster
relief efforts following the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Based on our
communication with partner relief organizations, the following allocations will
be made to support emergency relief efforts including rescue work, emergency
medical care, temporary shelter and food and water distribution. In the coming
weeks, additional Union allocations will fund longer-term recovery efforts.

• DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL,
  $25,000
  Direct Relief International provides medical assistance to improve the
  quality of life for people affected by poverty, disaster and civil unrest.
  Funds will underwrite a key DRI staff position, Haiti Emergency Response
  Coordinator. This on-the-ground coordinator is responsible for emergency
  efforts including the distribution of medical material goods, site
  assessment for medical distribution supplies and the coordination with
  their two partner agencies: Partners in Health and Damian Pediatric
  Hospital.

• UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION,
  $25,000
  The UN Foundation, the Union’s partner in our Nothing But Nets campaign,
  is working with the United Nation’s Central Emergency Response Fund
  (CERF), which plays a central role in the coordination of immediate relief
  and response work in Haiti.
  Union funds will assist in CERF’s general emergency response efforts,
  which include the distribution of medical services and supplies, clean
  water and sanitation access, emergency shelters, food delivery and
  infrastructure rehabilitation. In addition, after the immediate relief and
  response, CERF will continue its efforts to include medium-term recovery
  and long-term reconstruction.

• AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE (AJWS),
  $30,000
  AJWS provides general emergency relief grants that meet the immediate
  needs of communities affected by the disaster. Partnering with
  community-based agencies within Haiti,
  a particular focus is being placed on communities directly affected by the
  earthquake that lay outside areas already targeted for large-scale relief
  such as Port-au-Prince.
  One such organization is MOSCTHA, the Socio-Cultural Movement of Haitian
  Workers. Funds are needed to fully fund MOSCTHA’s mobile clinic, which
  provides weekly medicine and personal hygiene supplies to more than 5,000
  families that are receiving little-to-no emergency support in rural areas.
  This NGO was a recipient of prior relief funds from the Union during the
  hurricanes that struck Haiti
  several years ago.

• INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE (IRC),
  $25,000
  IRC is a global network of first responders who work together to provide
  access to safety, sanctuary and sustainable change for individuals
  shattered by natural disasters, violence and oppression. IRC draws on 75
  years of experience responding to emergencies and is collaborating with
  local Haitian partners to provide general emergency response assistance to
  those in need. Funds will be used to rehabilitate damaged clinics,
  establish mobile clinics, distribute food, water and water storage
  containers and dispense basic shelter materials including sheets,
  blankets, hygiene items and roofing sheets. This grant is funded by the Union and facilitated jointly with the Jewish
  Coalition for Disaster Relief.

• UNICEF, $25,000
  UNICEF is at the forefront of efforts to reduce child mortality worldwide.
  In coordination with other UN agencies, the International Red Cross and
  Red Crescent, UNICEF is responding to the emergency needs of women and
  children in Haiti.
  General funding will provide basic medical and health supplies, kitchen
  kits, water purification tablets, sanitation supplies, tarpaulins and
  tents for temporary shelter.

• UNITED ISRAEL APPEAL
  CANADA/ISRA-AID, $10,000 CAD
  To date, over $10,000 CAD has been raised by the Canadian Council of
  Reform Judaism (CCRJ). The first allocation of funds from the CCRJ will go
  to United Israel Appeal Canada
  for its support of IsraAid, the coalition of Israeli NGO disaster relief
  specialists. Fund proceeds qualify for Canadian government matching
  dollars. IsraAid personnel currently are providing medical assistance to
  the injured as part of a major Israeli relief effort.. In light of the
  generous outpouring of support for its efforts, IsraAid will be expanding
  the scale of its operation, preparing an additional team that will be sent
  shortly. Within minutes of landing at the airport, the volunteer medical
  professionals from IsraAid traveled to the main Port-au- Prince Hospital,
  where they joined local doctors at the collapsed facility, to treat
  thousands of wounded and desperate earthquake victims.

To donate to the URJ’s Haiti
disaster relief efforts and to learn more about allocations, visit urj.org/relief.

Young adults often gravitate toward congregations and organizations that engage in meaningful social action work and prioritize social justice advocacy, as evidenced by the North American Federation of Temple Youth‘s strong emphasis on social action and by the attendance every year of more than 2,000 high school students to the Religious Action Center’s L’Taken Social Justice Seminars.

This Thursday, the Union for Reform Judaism will host a webinar titled “Making a Difference: Engaging Young Adults Through Social Action,” featuring Naomi Abelson, URJ Social Action Specialist, & Lisa Lieberman Barzilai, URJ Young Adult Specialist, who will explore successful congregational models and best practices. Whether you’re a rabbi, an educator or a youth group leader, this webinar will provide you with the tools to take these ideas home to your own community.

Guest speakers will include Rabbi Taron Tachman from Temple Sholom of Chicago, IL and Pastor Keenan Barber and Chum Wongrassamee of Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, CA. Guest speakers will discuss best practices and provide insight into their own experiences with engaging youth in social justice work.

Webinar: “Making a Difference: Engaging Young Adults Through Social Action”
Date: Thursday, January 28, 2010
Time: 8:00PM – 9:00PM EST

RSVP for the webinar now. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Aliza Slavin Gazek is the 2009-2010 President of the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY).

This August will mark the fifth anniversary of the devastation incurred on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina. At a time when a natural disaster so profound seemed almost intangible in terms of identifying a starting place to help, NFTYites all over North America rallied together and raised over $35,000 in the NFTY-Katrina Challenge.

While the earthquake in Haiti does not affect our NFTY population in the same way, we must rally once again to help generate the resources necessary for food, medicine, general living provisions and such to be purchased and delivered to the most ravaged parts of Haiti. People are suffering there, and we must stand up and do what’s right.

The Union for Reform Judaism to date has collected over $600,000 from
our members, and I encourage NFTYites to join in this effort as well.
If every NFTYite were to donate $18 to the URJ relief effort, NFTYites
alone could raise over $150,000. I hope that you’ll join me by clicking
nfty.org/haiti, and following
the link to donate. By making your donation through the links on NFTY’s
website, we can ensure that all dollars allocated by NFTYites can be
tallied accurately.

This Shabbat, whether you are at home, with friends, in your congregation, or at a NFTY event, please download the Prayer for the People of Haiti, written by NFTY Religious and Cultural Vice President, Josh Levin, and share it with your community.

NFTY will continue to develop and provide information and resources at nfty.org/haiti.

Together, we truly can change the world for the better.

Leonard Slutsky celebrates Reform Judaism at Congregation Kol Haverim in Glastonbury, Conn., where he is Social Action Vice President of his NFTY-Northeast temple youth group, GRSLY. This post first appeared in the December 2009 edition of iTorah.

In the story of Exodus, Moses advocated for freedom for the Israelites from Egypt. As a shepherd, his repertoire was limited to his staff and the Lord’s word. Not only was his trek treacherous, hiking through miles of desert, the first nine plagues failed to free the Jews. However, when the Israelites worked together and painted lamb’s blood on their doorposts, the Pharaoh saw their power in numbers and released the enslaved people.

Ew, lamb’s blood! Without sacrificing animals, how can we take action, advocate for civil liberties, spread awareness and build alliances? How can 21st century NFTYites build a contemporary social action toolkit? By using the Internet to collaborate, communicate, and share resources, our potential is limitless.

I have outlined some resources from my personal toolkit you can use with your youth group:

• Technology allows us to spread awareness at the speed of light. Recently established was the Social Action Resources Wiki. The site covers more than 35 hot topics-including economic justice, health care, and Muslim-Jewish relations-providing supplemental information and links to relevant resources for each topic. Most importantly, the “wiki” format allows anyone to contribute his or her own resources, keeping the site relevant. Another way to become more aware is by participating in free webinar training workshops. Do Something hosts annual “Social Action Boot Camps” with grant writing, political activism, and public relations workshops. The URJ and RAC host social justice and marketing webinars, too.
  
• This year’s action theme includes a motion to reach out and provide direct service in each of our own communities. Serve.gov and Volunteer Match make it easy for you to find opportunities based on location and keyword searches.  Your local chapter of 2-1-1’s website has directories for the nearest food shelters, housing, literacy, and substance abuse agencies often needing man power, brain power, and donations.
  
• The Religious Action Center website is a goldmine for advocacy. By signing up for “action alerts,” you will receive e-mails or text messages whenever important legislation needs an extra push. At the web-based Chai Impact Legislative Action Center, you can search for your congressperson in order to quickly send them customizable letters regarding current issues. A great programming activity is to use the RAC website to send letters to local newspapers-the RAC professionally prints and mails the letters submitted through the website. Besides contacting key contenders, the website contains a comprehensive Program Bank and Holiday Guide, explaining how to integrate social justice into every holiday.
  
• Another creative way to take action is at Kiva. Kiva is a website that connects “micro-lenders” to the needy, with a twist. Field Partners throughout the world identify entrepreneurs in impoverished areas, translate their hopes, and post requests on the site, such as a sewing machine to start a small business. Website visitors can contribute $25 towards the projects. When enough money is raised, the Field Partner will deliver the funding then post photos and journal entries tracking the process. Slowly, the entrepreneur will repay the loan, and the money can be used again and again to support additional projects.
  
• Last year, I used technology to build alliances in creating “The Soda Pop Top Project,” a campaign to save aluminum can tabs, for recycle value, for a local hospital. Individually, tabs are worth practically nothing, however when added together, they are worth books, games, and toys. I knew I could not save tabs by myself, so I used e-mail to reach out for help from other SAVPs. Quickly, I was introduced to a more experienced SAVP who mentored me through the project development process. Then I setup a collection box in my temple’s lobby. When my temple Webmaster learned about the project, he offered to post information on the temple website and in the weekly e-mail newsletter. Combined with a newly created Facebook page, tabs began to overflow the tiny Tupperware container. Someone who saw the Facebook message knew a member of the Hospital’s foundation and coordinated a trip to deliver the tabs to the hospital. I was delighted to deliver more than 300 pounds of tabs from my small project, built organically from alliances.
  
• In building alliances for your own projects, consider Grassroots.org, providing free website hosting and domain names to non-profit organizations. The NFTY Our-Space Initiative works to keep communications online sacred. Finally, the cornerstone of NFTY alliances can be found in the Program Bank, a gargantuan database of past NFTY programs.
  
• And one more thing – sometimes we forget about the less fortunate organizations without the luxury of technology. The National Cristina Foundation links computer donors with organizations in need, a great opportunity to breathe life into a congregation’s old computer.

These are just several examples of ways that you can use technology to advance social action. What do you recommend? How have you used these tools?

How can you use technology to further your own social action projects?

Anat Hoffman is the Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center in Jerusalem. This post originally appeared as a message in IRAC’s January 26, 2009 newsletter, The Pluralist. To sign up for updates from IRAC, visit www.irac.org.

One of the first Hebrew words immigrants to Israel learn is savlanut – patience. They’ll need it; it’s a word they won’t easily forget. But it will take them some time longer to understand its root, sevel, as the source of all Hebrew words for suffering.

I’ve always liked the direct connection Hebrew makes between patience and suffering, and have grown especially fond of it over my years here at IRAC, where so much of our work is an exercise in patient suffering. We’ve had Reform conversion cases that have dragged on for eight years, and campaigns against religious councils that have lasted almost two decades.

So often we find ourselves in opposition to the State. We send you stories about suing the government, or petitioning the Supreme Court against the government for the umpteenth time – which is why it’s heartening to report that recently the office of the Attorney General has joined our side.

In a petition of ours against the Jerusalem Municipality’s decision to
provide full and exclusive funding for Haredi schools, the Attorney
General has joined IRAC in arguing that such funding is illegal in its
blatant discrimination and disregard for other schools in Jerusalem.

Especially troubling is the automatic preference for Haredi schools at
the expense of all others in Jerusalem. According to Tali Aviv, a
member of IRAC’s very capable legal team, the best illustration of the
Jerusalem Municipality’s discriminatory allocation of educational funds
can be found in East Jerusalem, where public schools are overcrowded,
and many children are forced to attend private schools for lack of any
other option. These schools aren’t given any additional funds at all,
so it would seem logical to provide these private schools with money
rather than give it exclusively to Haredi ones. But this is a classic
example of how the Jerusalem Municipality works: it caters to Haredi
political power, and to their coalition within the municipality.

Today IRAC submits a written summation of our arguments to the
Court, and then in two weeks’ time the Jerusalem Municipality and
Haredi networks will present their own before the Court can reach a
verdict. “It will be an important moment,” Tali says, “because
municipalities across Israel look to the Jerusalem District Court for
guidance in handling similar cases of their own.”

And it’s quite clear that discriminatory funding, especially when it
comes to Haredi communities, is a relevant and prevalent issue that
won’t go away any time soon.

We hope the addition of the Attorney General’s name to our
petition will strengthen our case and draw attention to the issue at
hand. And we want the case decided this year, not a decade hence.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, had an op-ed published last week in the San Francisco Bay Area’s J Weekly, titled “At the Wall, which side is the right one?: The Kotel belongs to the entire Jewish people.” In it, he addresses the controversy surrounding the Women of the Wall, including the 2009 arrest of Nofrat Frenkel for wearing a prayer shawl at the Kotel, as well as the recent interrogation of Anat Hoffman, Director of the Israel Religious Action Center, for her leadership of the monthly women’s prayer group. Rabbi Yoffie writes:

Why turn [the Kotel] into a source of division? Why should the Wall be an ultra-Orthodox synagogue rather than a place that belongs to us all — a place where all Jews can find space to pray, to gather, and to celebrate the Jewish homeland and the Jewish people?

Twenty years ago I proposed a solution to the problem of access to the Wall, and it remains the best answer. There is ample room to divide the Wall into three areas: one for men to pray according to Orthodox custom; one for women to pray according to Orthodox custom; and one for non-Orthodox prayer and secular and civil ceremonies of various kinds.

He goes on to say that the “Robinson’s Arch solution,” which permits non-Orthodox Jews to pray at an archaeological site at a distance from the Wall, is no solution at all; he goes on to dismiss the idea that permitting Reform and Conservative Jews to pray at the Kotel could lead to chanting by visiting Catholics or Buddhists. Finally, Rabbi Yoffie writes:

And since there is not a single, universally accepted religious standard that governs Jewish religious life, we should make no attempt to impose one at the Kotel. What we need, rather, is to be respectful of each other’s choices and customs.

You can learn more about the Women of the Wall controversy at urj.org/israel/wow, and then listen to a recording of Anat Hoffman speaking about the Women of the Wall (albeit before her interrogation).

What do you think of the Women of the Wall controversy? What should be done? Is there any solution in sight?

Sarah Korn and Ana Dodson of the North American Federation of Temple Youth’s Missouri Valley Region (NFTY-MV) tell their story of raising more than $300 on a plane on the way to a NFTY event. This post originally appeared on NFTY’s Haiti relief site.

On Wednesday, January 13th, a massive earthquake and multiple aftershocks struck Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. We were both very affected emotionally by the devastation that struck the people of the island.

We felt like we should do something about it, and so Sarah had the great idea of holding a mini social action project within Colorado NFTYites and raise money for the cause. On the plane to our regional Winter Chavurah, we both got up and announced to the NFTYites on our plane (members of Friedman Club Temple Youth Group and Temple Sinai Youth Group) our idea, and quickly attracted the attention of the other hundred passengers on the plane.

With the help of the extremely supportive flight attendants, we gained access to the loudspeaker and were able to tell the rest of the passengers our idea, and asked them for anything they were willing to donate, even if it was just a few dollars. We explained to them that the noisy teenagers in the back of the plane were members of a large Jewish youth group called NFTY; we also talked about the concept of tikkun olam and our adamant interest in helping to repair the world and give aid wherever it’s needed.

We expected to collect a decent amount of donations, but we were amazed
when people proceeded to put large bills into our collection bags. In
five minutes, we raised $311 for Haiti, out of 130 passengers! It is
incredible how generous people were and whole-heartedly supported our
spur-of-the-moment project. We gave the money to our youth director,
the wonderful Kara Lampe, who is sending the money to the Union for Reform Judaism, who will in turn send the money straight to Haiti.

We know that our contributions will make a big difference.

This week’s special election in Massachusetts – to fill the seat formerly occupied by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy – has shaken things up in the Senate. The voters of Massachusetts elected Scott Brown, a Republican, over Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, thus ending the Democrats’ 60-seat majority and leaving Massachusetts residents – and the rest of the country – wondering: What’s next for health care?

ZEEK: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture interviewed the Reform Movement’s own Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of Just Congregations (the Union for Reform Judaism’s community-based organizing initiative) about the future of health care reform in the United States. Rabbi Pesner, an ardent support of health care reform and a longtime activist. ZEEK writes, “In addition to being one of the nation’s top Jewish resources on social justice issues, Pesner has an intimate knowledge of Massachusetts health care reform. A former rabbi of Boston’s Temple Israel, Pesner also served as the chair of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, and spearheaded that group’s successful effort to pass landmark health care reform in Massachusetts.”

ZEEK asks Rabbi Pesner hard-hitting health care questions, like “What are your impressions about what this election means?,” “What about people in the Jewish community?” and “Do you think the national health care bill has gone so far off track that Obama should scrap it and start over again?” Answering that last one, he says, in part:

The one clear policy implication of this election is not about health care reform at all. It’s that people still are really struggling. They don’t experience that struggle as being around health care–they experience it as being around the economy. Politicians need to focus on economic programs, on putting limits on Wall Street, on stimulating job growth. If their programs will take 2-3 years, they need to explain that. Someone has to explain why things aren’t getting better and yet we are still paying high (and sometimes higher) taxes.

Head on over to ZEEK for the full interview and then tell us: What do you think the Massachusetts Senate election means for health care?