Just Congregations is an initiative of the Union for Reform Judaism whose primary goal is to engage and train Reform synagogues in congregation-based community organizing, while simultaneously strengthening the congregations. In the words of Bob Heller, Chair of the Board of the Union for Reform Judaism, “At its essence, Just Congregations is about building a congregational community in which action for the public good is integrated with ritual and educational life.”
Congregation-based community organizing is a process in which congregations build deep relationships among their own members and with other institutions across lines of faith, class, and race. Through building relationships, congregations identify deeply and broadly held concerns of injustice and then bring their collective power to successful action to transform their communities. Working with local community organizing groups, Reform congregations across the country have already achieved significant victories on issues of affordable housing, health care access and affordability, nursing care quality (for both patients and employees), air quality improvement, and much more.
What are the results of synagogue involvement in congregation-based community organizing?
Our synagogues become stronger as we identify and develop new leaders, strengthening the fabric of our community.
We create connections with other congregations engaged in organizing, building deep relationships and a shared commitment to improve the lives of both synagogue members and the broader community.
Ultimately, we act powerfully on our most deeply held Jewish values by working together to bring about a redeemed world.
The Just Congregations Initiative's goals fall into two related categories, congregational development and social justice. We believe that for congregations to be effective agents of social change, they themselves must develop strong leadership and a culture of deepening internal relationships.
Congregational Development Goals
Identify key congregations and train their leaders (lay and professional) in community organizing skills.
Guide congregations through “relationship-building campaigns,” in which leaders create opportunities for members to learn one another’s stories, concerns, and resources.
Train rabbinic, cantorial, education, and Jewish communal service students in leadership and organizing skills that will prepare them to lead congregations in the public arena.
Aid Reform congregations in increasing the numbers and depth of commitment of their congregations, as Jews increasingly see their synagogues as relevant in their community.
Set a model for synagogues from the other denominations.
Social Justice Goals
Significantly increase meaningful social justice engagement by congregations (increasing both the number of congregations involved and the number of people involved within them).
Foster a synagogue culture that fully integrates social justice into congregational life, ensuring that the pursuit of justice is at the center of congregational life alongside learning and worship.
Enable synagogues to join with neighboring religious congregations of all faiths, recognizing and developing their capacity to be agents of effective social change for the common good.
Connect congregations to each other and to congregation-based community organizing (CBCO) networks in their local community; increasingly train leading congregations to mentor others in CBCO.
Strengthen the relationships of synagogues to non-Jewish congregations, building an effective context for coalitions to address issues of particular Jewish concern (e.g., Israel and anti-Semitism).
Strengthen the Reform Jewish Movement’s impact on critical social justice issues.
Just Congregations teaches Reform Jewish synagogues to strengthen relationships within their congregations, reach out to the broader community, and become effective in combating injustice. We do this by engaging our member congregations in local congregation-based community organizing. Just Congregations conducts trainings for clergy and lay leaders in target regions, as well as at Union regional and North American biennials and other venues. We provide direct phone consultations, and match congregations with experienced mentors. We also train rabbinic and cantorial students on all three domestic campuses of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in partnership with the Jewish Funds for Justice’s Leadership for Public Life Program.
Synagogues become involved in the initiative in two different ways. First, the Just Congregations staff conduct ongoing training in targeted congregations; in addition, the staff provides general support to interested congregations outside the target regions. This includes connecting these synagogues to local CBCO groups that can help train them.
Just Congregations began our work with an initial focus on synagogues in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas, and in other areas across the country. Criteria for strategic engagement include: regions in which there is a Reform synagogue experienced in or interested in being intensively trained in CBCO; additional synagogues with the capacity to organize; and the presence of a strong local community organizing group.
Despite the initial selection of these target regions, Just Congregations connects to and supports organizing in synagogues throughout the country.
In each region, the Union’s Just Congregations staff trains at least one congregation to mentor surrounding synagogues. The mentoring congregations are selected because of their current CBCO involvement, or their capacity and interest to become involved and trained. Just Congregations staff help mentoring congregations in each region to identify other Reform synagogues that they will train and mentor.
In our work, Just Congregations partners with Union regional offices, the Jewish Funds for Justice, and community organizing groups. We provide direct ongoing support (but not the actual training) for synagogues’ efforts or connect them to our on-the-ground partners.
Specifically, in concert with local community organizing groups, the Union’s Just Congregations staff trains leaders to:
Conduct individual meetings and house meetings. Such intentional conversations foster new relationships and identify shared interests.
Conduct relationship-building campaigns to create a congregational network to engage significant numbers of members in actions reflecting their values and concerns.
Integrate Jewish learning and ritual into social justice organizing and action.
Evaluate and strengthen existing social action activity and efforts to integrate social justice fully into the life of the synagogue.
Lead effective public actions for social justice.
Evaluate the relationship building process and the public actions.
Forge relationships with leaders of other faiths and backgrounds in order to build a shared social justice agenda and increase their influence.
Assist leaders in developing funding sources for their social justice organizing.
Just Congregations provides trainings in a variety of venues. Our staff members and the synagogue lay and clergy leaders with whom we work conduct community organizing workshops at North American and Regional Biennials, and other Union gatherings. In our first year, Just Congregations reached hundreds of Reform Jews through trainings at four Regional Biennials, the Religious Action Center's Consultation on Conscience, and more. We also work closely with the Jewish Funds for Justice to train rabbinical and cantorial students, and to hold their national gathering of synagogues engaged in congregation-based community organizing.
