Here are a few things your congregation can do now to support Black and Brown people both within the Jewish community and beyond, both directly and on a systemic level.
Sixty-two years ago, the founders of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (the RAC) stood in the White House Garden and presented President John F. Kennedy with a historic Torah from the Isaac Mayer Wise Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio. This auspicious anniversary allows us to look back on milestones like this one with pride as we renew our inspiration.
We sat down with Rabbi Jonah Pesner to discuss his work in the Reform Movement, as a SCoRE member, and his experience as the first Jewish person appointed to SCoRE.
Reform communities across North America have strengthened our Movement's collective power by engaging voters and advocating for racial justice. Let's continue this work on May 10-11 together in Washington, D.C.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) in the U.S. Each of us likely knows someone, either in our Jewish community or our secular communities, who has been impacted by or is a survivor of domestic violence.
As a graduate of both Tougaloo College and Jackson State University, the bomb threats to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are personal to me. Since January 2022, over a dozen HBCUs have received bomb threats; several of those threats were received on the first day of Black history month. The continuous attacks on institutions of higher learning; places of worship and individual attacks are a direct threat to our everyday existence.
On Tu Bishvat we celebrated trees and a season of new growth. I've been doing lots of thinking about trees, as I frequently do, and the role they play in providing oxygen for the planet. At the Union of Reform Judaism, we provide oxygen to our communities by creating compassionate spaces for our participants to grow and thrive. We can respond to current and future challenges by fostering resilience that reflect our Jewish values.
This campaign aims to help dismantle systemic racism by educating, inspiring, and empowering individuals and communities to look inwardly to make communal change and outwardly to win legislative change.
We at the URJ are working with you, our congregations, to instill a love of Israel, make it central to the identity of Reform Jews, and advance efforts toward ensuring that it is a nation of equality, tolerance, pluralism, and justice.
As the STEM educator and director of education, respectively, at Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland, MA, we’re sharing reflections on introducing STEM to Jewish learners in our building pre-COVID and in our online learning community.