Fresh Updates from RAC

For the second weekend in a row, I have spent my time at a hotel outside of Washington, D.C. with over 200 high school students at the RAC’s L’Taken Social Justice Seminar. Over the course of four days, students from congregations around the country had the opportunity to learn in a hands-on setting about public policy issues, including ensuring reproductive rights for women in the military, the challenges of indefinite detention, the ins and outs of the judicial nominations process, and more.

But the first program of the weekend is often the one that sticks in the minds of chaperones and students alike. On Friday evening after we have come together as a community to welcome Shabbat, we embark on a discussion and simulation about the issues of hunger and homelessness in America. The students first hear from a speaker from the National Coalition for the Homeless and then participate in a simulation that allows them to learn the challenges of food insecurity and of finding nutritious food on a tight budget.

There are many root causes of homelessness and hunger, some of which are impossible for Congress to truly fix. However, while Congress is debating and (hopefully) compromising to keep us from sliding down the fiscal slope come January 1^st, numerous states are discussing an issue that can be legislated: raising the minimum wage. According to a recent report by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, it is impossible in all 50 states to afford a modest two-bedroom rental working 40 hours a week on minimum wage. In New York State, a minimum wage worker would need to clock in for over 130 hours a week in order to afford modest housing.

In New York, over one million workers would benefit from an increase in the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 an hour. New York should follow in the footsteps of Washington, Connecticut and Massachusetts, who have raised their minimum wages to $9.04, $8.25 and $8.00 an hour, respectively.

Back in Washington, in addition to the fiscal cliff debate, New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have co-sponsored The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012 to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $9.80 over the next three years.

As some New York legislators on both the state and federal level continue to demonstrate their commitment to this vital issue, we must join together to create an effective echo chamber, making our voices heard. Reform Jewish Voice of New York State, the voice of Reform Jewish social justice in Albany, is urging its state legislature to realize this commitment to helping people pull themselves out of poverty. They need to hear from you, so if you live in New York, send an email to your State Senator or Assembly member and everyone should send an email to your Members of Congress.

If I’ve learned anything from watching students learn about these issues and passionately speak with Congressional offices, it’s that each voice is necessary, but that hundreds of voices can make a difference. Join the chorus of voices and fight for a living wage across the country.

Image courtesy of Center for American Progress.

So you want to change the world, but don’t know how? Join the RAC, NFTY and the American Jewish Archives at the Hebrew Union College campus in Cincinnati for a weekend of Jewish learning and community made just for high school students.

We all have an obligation to repair the world. Spend the weekend of Oct. 12-14, 2012, learning the most effective way to make a difference. Explore the differences between social action and social justice and delve into our Movement’s rich history of working to create a more just world. Will you answer the call to be one of the next social justice voices of our tradition?

Be sure to register for this once in a lifetime program!

In 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, colloquially known as DOMA, which forbids the government to extend benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married in their state of residence. In recent years, there have been a string of legal challenges to DOMA and numerous federal district judges and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit have held that the law is a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Last Friday, the Obama administration alerted the Supreme Court that they would be submitting requests in two new cases concerning the constitutionality of DOMA. These new cases will join the seven cases about equal marriage that are already pending at the Court, six of them involving DOMA and one regarding California’s Proposition 8. Read more…

Yesterday, the D.C. Circuit Court struck down an onerous and potentially costly Texas voter identification law. Due to a history of discriminatory practices, Texas is one of 16 states or districts of states whose voting and elections laws must be approved by the Justice Department. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires the Justice Department to “pre-clear” new election laws in covered states, counties, and districts to ensure the new rules do not discriminate based on race, color, or language.

After the Justice Department refused to allow the Texas law to proceed, the state appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court, which ruled that the law violated Section 5. In response to this decision, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center, issued the following statement:

“No election should be won or lost based on the exclusion of eligible voters. Barriers at the polls are a violation of a basic principle of our democracy; our country relies on the participation of its citizenry in choosing elected officials, without regard to race, gender or geographic location.”

Read the entire statement here.

Reform Jewish Voice of New York State is excited to announce our first annual Advocacy Month! In previous years, we have provided resources and asked congregations to set aside a Shabbat service in the fall to discuss a specific public policy initiative with their congregants. To provide more flexibility for congregations and rabbis who have busy schedules, RJV has turned our Advocacy Shabbat into Advocacy Month. During the month of Cheshvan (October 17-November 14), RJV is asking congregations to dedicate one Shabbat service, one adult education program, or one religious school period to learning what our tradition teaches about fair and living wages. Read more…

The D.C. Circuit Court refused to give the Texas state legislature the green light for their redistricting plan that would elect the state House of Representatives, Senate and their 36-member House delegation. Texas decided not to ask the Department of Justice to review their redistricting plans, one available option under Section 5, and instead asked the D.C. Circuit Court for approval.

Read more…

Rallies have occurred in front of the Governor’s Mansion, around Albany, and across the state. Some lawmakers have worked tirelessly to assuage fears and cajole constituents, while others have spoken up about the deficit of scientific data and the lack of enthusiasm from citizens. And celebrities have found a new cause to throw their support, voices and faces behind.

Despite the protests and célèbre, it seems that hydrofracturing is here to stay in New York. It has been reported that the state is set to issue guidelines for the controversial drilling procedure after Labor Day. New York has stood as an example of the power that citizens have to delay, and perhaps even halt, this method of drilling that involves a highly pressurized mixture of sand, water and unknown chemicals. States like North Dakota and Texas have embraced hydrofracturing as a means to obtain previously inaccessible natural gas deep below the Earth’s surface, but the disclosure of chemicals has remained elusive. It is only within the last year that Texas instated disclosure regulations. Across the border from New York, hydrofracturing is occurring in rural Pennsylvania. Read more…

Since the implementation of the first federal minimum wage in 1938, there have been several successful attempts to increase the wage on both the federal and state level to account for cost of living increases. The last increase at the federal level took place in 2007, when the minimum wage was increased $2.10 over a period of two years. In late July of this year, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012, which seeks to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.80 an hour by 2014.

This legislation has over 100 Congressional co-sponsors, including New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. The co-sponsorship by members of the New York delegation is highlighting the stalled attempts in the New York State legislature to raise the state minimum wage to $8.50 an hour. There are currently 1 million New Yorkers earning a living at minimum wage jobs, making $7.25 an hour, who would greatly benefit from a wage increase. Read more…