Ways Your Congregation Can Act Now for Racial Justice
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.
Related Blog Posts on Civic Engagement, Jewish Values, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and Social Justice
Two Out of Two
As a graduate of both Tougaloo College and Jackson State University, the recent 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.
Taking a Breath for Life: the Union for Reform Judaism's Actions to Build Resilience
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.
Announcing the Launch of the Reform Movement's 2021 Racial Justice Campaign: What You Need to Know
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.
The Bitter and the Sweet: Observing Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut This Year
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.
Creators, Thinkers, and Inventors: STEM in our Synagogue Learning Community
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.
Pandemic Passover, Take Two: The Long Journey through the Wilderness
Last Passover began the urgent quest to reinvent much of Jewish life, highlighting that some of the ways we “do” Judaism needed to be updated. This year has been a powerful catalyst to shifts in how we perform our holy work.
A Promise is a Promise: Our Purim Fundraiser to Cure Childhood Cancers
A few hours after 8-year-old Sammy Sommer and his parents were told by their amazing doctor in Milwaukee there would be no more treatment for his acute myelogenous leukemia, I met them for French fries at a hot dog stand in Highland Park.
The Reform Movement’s Commitment to a Brighter Future in 2021
Though the terrain may be uncertain, we are guided by our deep commitments to justice, learning, and action. As we walk hand-in-hand into 2021, let us make this year one filled with purpose, joy, nourishment, and a renewed sense of hope.
Justice, Justice Shall We Pursue: Resources for Action after the Capitol Insurrection
The Union for Reform Judaism shares resources for use in congregations and Jewish communities, as well as by families and individual, in our shared pursuit of justice.