RJ Blog

Our cup runneth over! Because of our collective efforts, we flooded the Senate with some 10,000 calls from Americans of faith at precisely the right moment preceding the Senate debate and imminent vote on a bill. Our success is a testament to the dedication of more than 75 diverse religious denominations and organizations who worked tirelessly to promote Faiths Calling and to encourage their members and congregants to call the Senate. Among the top recipients of calls during yesterday’s campaign was Senator Toomey (R-PA), who today introduced a compromise bill with Senator Manchin (D-WV) seeking to expand background checks to gun shows and Internet [...]

Earlier this week, Reform Movement leaders outlined their hopes and priorities for President Obama’s State of the Union address. President Obama spoke about almost all the issues our leadership raised, including: ECONOMIC JUSTICE The majority of the President’s speech was centered on the economy and job creation. URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs wrote that “deficit reduction cannot come on the backs of the poorest in our communities” – a sentiment that the President echoed in his speech. The President proposed raising the minimum wage, making clear that “…in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have [...]

As two recent college graduates with many friends who are unemployed or working as unpaid interns, we are all too familiar with bleak employment and financial prospects. It’s disheartening to know, though, that even as the economy begins to recover, statistics show that Katharine might still be paid an average of 77 cents on every dollar that Ian makes, simply because she’s a woman. This disparity is widened for minorities. Paying fair wages is a cornerstone of our Jewish tradition. Leviticus 19:13 commands, “You shall not defraud your neighbor, nor rob him; the wages of he who is hired shall [...]

by Linda K. Wertheimer “You Jewish son of a b….,” a boy taunted my brother on the school bus one day as I sat nearby. I was 14, my brother, Kevin, 16. The comment made us seethe, but we let it pass. Then a few weeks later, my family, the only Jewish one in our neighborhood and rural Ohio school, woke up to find swastikas etched in wax on our home windows and cars. This time, my family did not let it pass. My parents contacted a deputy sheriff, who was friends with my brother through Boy Scouts. The deputy [...]

by Aliza Slavin Gazek “What’swrong with your elbow?” an eight-year old asked during Camp UrbanAdamah, a Berkeley day camp that explores Judaism and the environment.Struggling for a good view of this hard-to-see part of my body, Iyielded to another camper, who responded, “She’s a farmer!” It was thenthat I learned the necessity of scrubbing my elbows; their darkappearance came from dirt — or soil rather. I’ve also learned that soiland dirt are actually the same thing, given two different names basedsolely on their location (dirt is on the ground, soil is in a planter). I’ve acquired dirty elbows and expanded [...]

from the Green TeamTemple Sharey Tefilo Israel, South Orange, NJ Temple Sharey Tefilo Israel (TSTI) is one of eight Reform synagogues that became involved in the GreenFaith Certification programstarting in May, 2010. With support from the URJ and the RAC, wecommitted to a rigorous two-year program that would help our synagoguebecome more environmentally aware and active, and help us become leadersin the Greening Reform Judaism effort.  As a congregation that hadhistorically maintained focus on the environment, joining this programwas a natural next step to add structure and discipline to existingefforts.   One step toward Certification requires participantorganizations to complete 25 [...]

by Elaina Marshalek, TEVA Major TeacherURJ Kutz Camp (originally posted on Kutz blog) Teva,in Hebrew, directly translates to the word “nature,” but if you askedthe members of the Kutz Teva major what it means, they would express anumber of different interpretations of the word. In this program, wehave broken down the barriers between space that we’ve deemed”civilized” and the space that we call the “wilderness” – it turns outthey’re more connected than we thought. From identifying thespecies of the area to figuring out where Kutz’s food comes from, fromhikes along the Appalachian trail to camping in the Catskill mountains,we’ve been [...]

By Rachel Cohen(originally posted on RACblog) The old axiom of Jewish holidays, “they tried to kill us, we survived,let’s eat!” isn’t so simple these days, as Jewish communities acrossNorth America work to redefine “Jewish food justice” through local,national and global efforts. Synagogues, JCCs and Jewish non-profitshave long led efforts to fight poverty by feeding those in need in ourcommunities. However, we’ve recently started inverting the service modelof distributing pre-processed and packaged foods at the end of a longsupply chain, choosing instead to grow food and serve it locally, andtackling the root causes of our inequitable and unsustainable foodsystem. And Reform [...]

by Judith Erger Westchester Reform Temple, under the direction of Rabbi Richard Jacobs, has recently been awarded the LEED® Silver certification for its new Sanctuary and Social Hall designed by Rogers Marvel Architects. LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the recognized green building certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED promotes sustainable building and development practices through a series of rating systems that recognize projects that implement specific strategies for environmental and health performance. “Our congregation is proud to have incorporated sustainable building practices throughout the construction and renovation of our [Westchester Reform Temple] [...]

by Karen Dougherty(originally posted on RACblog) Here at Barnert Temple, we just finished an exciting first year participating in the GreenFaith Certification Program,a rigorous two-year leadership program that focuses on integratingenvironmental sustainability into every aspect of synagogue life (learn moreabout what we and the other Pilot Program congregations are doing tobecome environmental leaders). We’ve started projects ranging fromplanting an organic garden at our synagogue to speaking about theimportance of environmental stewardship at our services. Last month, wetook our food justice, education and interfaith work to a whole newlevel: on June 22nd, we joined several New Jersey GreenFaithcongregations to coordinate an [...]

by Marc FriendReligious Action Center(originally RACblog) This entry is part of our “Let’s Get Sustainable” blog post series -look for an environmentally themed post each week and learn more on ourGreening Reform Judaism web portal. This past week, Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org,released a powerful op-ed in the Washington Post. Titled “A linkbetween climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never!”, the piece looksat the current weather patterns and, in a satirical way, challengesreaders to consider the connection between the recent series of extremeweather events and climate change. “Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of [...]

by Naomi Abelson(originally posted on RACblog)I just picked up my weekly share of the season’s Community SupportAgricultural (CSA) harvest. Although this early summer share,consisting mostly of assorted lettuces, isn’t terribly exciting to mypalette, I know from experience that there are great things to come. Inthe weeks ahead, I’ll receive ripe tomatoes, curly garlic scapes,colorful bell peppers and dozens of other freshly-picked, locally-grownvegetables. But that is only part of the reason why I’m back for asecond season. I am a member of a Hazon CSAbecause of the community that is built around these weekly pick-ups.This community includes city-dwellers and rural farmers, [...]

by Rachel Cohen(originally posted on the RACblog) This entry is part of our “Let’s Get Sustainable” blog post series -look for an environmentally themed post each week and learn more on ourGreening Reform Judaism web portal. MemorialDay has passed and summer is upon us, and that means barbeques,farmers’ markets and lots of other fun ways to eat! And as we prepareto celebrate Shavuot (a harvest holiday with agricultural origins that are too often ignored),it’s a perfect time to talk about food. Luckily we have new resources,initiatives and programs to help your community engage in education,action and advocacy for food justice [...]

by Mike ChodroffAnshe Emeth Memorial Temple, New Brunswick, NJ(originally posted on the RACblog) Thisentry is part of our “Let’s Get Sustainable” blog post series – lookfor an environmentally themed post each week and learn more on our Greening Reform Judaism web portal. By the time this blog has been posted, the Green Team at Anshe Emeth Memorial Templewill have had its last official meeting before the summer break. It’sbeen a busy and fruitful year guiding our Congregation on its journeyto be stewards on Earth. In celebration of a successful first year, wewill have gathered on Tuesday for a “green” potluck [...]