By Marzy Bauer

My parents were socialists…culturally Jewish, but they rejected what they deemed to be irrelevant Jewish ritual. So, other than attending an occasional cousin’s bar mitzvah, I never set foot in a synagogue for most of my childhood or adolescence. That being said, I was taught certain values from an early age: thou shalt not cross a picket line nor buy clothing without a union label; thou shalt give to the poor and to oppressed minorities, feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and treat people fairly without regard to differences. And so my passion for social justice was instilled, along with a commitment to philanthropy and a desire to keep learning.

Two factors led me to join an organized Jewish community. One was moving from New York City, where one can be Jewish by breathing, to Indiana, where explanations are required. The second was having children. My husband and I became members of a Reform congregation when they were small, and got involved. I joined an adult b’nei mitzvah class in 1986.

Having never read Torah in any form, I was pleasantly surprised when preparing my Torah portion, Emor, to read verse 23:22: “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field…you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger.” Aha! That was the genesis of the stuff I’d heard about all of my life!

Two decades and many classes later, my social justice leanings have morphed into a Jewish context. I am now the Social Justice chair for our congregation, and my passion is Just Congregations, where we enact meaningful social and political change by building relationships within the temple community and with neighboring groups outside of our tradition, with whom the majority of our congregants have no natural interactions.

Speaking truth to power, empowering groups that have never been players in the political system—it’s inspiring. Reform Judaism weaves in our traditional teachings with the present day and urges us to action.

Print

Email

Comment

Comments

Post a comment