Self Reflection and Social Action for the High Holidays
Chevre, I’m pleased to offer Uri L’Tzedek’s High Holiday supplement, Mah Ani, for free download here. Read, share, enjoy. Wishing you all a shana tova and a year full of sweet, sweet justice.
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New York Muslims and Jews: Serving Together
It sounds like a dream: a Muslim woman wearing a full head covering, laughing and joking with an orthodox rabbi as they paint a mural of Run-DMC for Brooklyn schoolchildren. But on Martin Luther King Day, 2011, that dream was real.
On that day, over 50 Muslims and Jews gathered together in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn to participate in the kickoff event for United in Service: The Jewish Muslim Volunteer Alliance (JMVA). They came came from the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals New York Chapter, Uri L’Tzedek: Orthodox Social Justice, and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, or because they heard about the groundbreaking event from family or friends. Together, they painted several large murals inside IS 292 junior high school.
Kyla Pollack, the Co-founder and Chair of JMVA and Chair of Interfaith Service Initiatives for Uri L’Tzedek, explained that: “We formed the JMVA to create a group where Jewish and Muslim New Yorkers could unite around our commonalities and our shared interest in improving our city. By working on service projects together, we demystify each other and hopefully open up space for dialogue. It’s an opportunity for people who wouldn’t otherwise interact to come together around a shared, positive goal.”
Fariha Khaliq, a member of the JMVA steering committee, added, “It is important to educate ourselves about other cultures, traditions and religions.” Khaliq and Pollack, along with four other young New Yorkers, first met in October to form the JMVA and plan its events. By all measures, last week’s kickoff was a smashing success. More »
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Looking for a job in NYC? Uri L’Tzedek is hiring
Uri L’Tzedek is fast-paced and fast-growing organization: This past year Uri L’Tzedek has grown
from a local, New York based organization to a movement with national importance. We are looking for a self-motivated indivudual who can join this dynamic national team working with the Director, Associate Director of Operations, President, Board, Chair, and many volunteers As a grassroots effort, we show that individual actions can significantly contribute to justice in the world.
The Director of Programs anchors the ambitious programmatic agenda of the organization. The
Director of Programs reports to the Director and also works closely with the Chair of the Board of Directors.
Primary Job Responsibilities:
· Engagement: Recruit and cultivate relationships with Uri L’Tzedek’s core constituencies
including young professionals, students, congregations, Rabbis, and other stake-holders.
· Program Design and Implementation: Develop Uri L’Tzedek’s programmatic
vision. Oversee Uri L’Tzedek’s menu of programming including the Tav HaYosher, Uri
L’Tzedek university fellowships, and social justice Batei Midrash. Leads the day-to-day
operating and logistics for these programs.
· Program Evaluation and Improvement: Evaluate Uri L’Tzedek’s current programs
with a focus on national scalability and replication, innovation, and added quality.
· Management: Recruit and manage committee heads.
Oversee educational and
programming staff including the Tav HaYosher team, Chair of College Initiatives, Social
Justice Rosh Beit Midrash, and local teams.
Please send cover letter and resume to jobs (at) utzedek.org.
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Inside Inside the Activists’ Studio
reposted from Pursue
by on December 8, 2010
On Sunday December 5th, Pursue New York hosted its 3rd annual Inside the Activists’ Studio (IAS) event at the 92nd Street Y in Tribeca. Hip-hop artist and Jewish activist, Y-Love – the event’s emcee – welcomed the crowd and warmed us up for a full evening of dialogue, debate, learning and of course, eating.
I was particularly inspired by the cornerstone of the IAS experience – a panel discussion with four compelling, young, New York area-based change-makers. Tablet’s senior writer, Alison Hoffman, moderated the discussion with thoughtfulness and humor, eliciting “coming of age as an activist” stories from Karin Fleisch, Taylor Krauss, Annie Lewis and Lucas Shapiro, as well as diverse and insightful reflections on how their Jewish backgrounds did – or did not – shape their identities, careers, volunteer choices, and life paths.
Their stories were powerful and accessible – everyone in the audience could likely relate to at least one perspective or experience that the panel shared in the course of their dialogue with Alison and with each other. For example, Karin Fleisch spoke movingly about the successful letter-writing campaign she participated in during college that led to the release of Tibetan nuns from Chinese prison, and how it convinced her that, in some instances, individual actions can make a significant impact .She applies that inspiration now working at the Food Bank for NYC and serving as a compliance officer for Uri L’Tzedek’s Tav HaYosher (ethical seal), ensuring that NYC restaurants follow basic labor laws.
Taylor Krauss educated the audience on his experience documenting national and global issues including healthcare, sexual violence, the war on drugs and genocide. He emphasized the importance of showing people the truth, coming to terms with identifying unjust and inhumane practices, and taking the right steps to work towards necessary change in creating more humane societies in the United States and abroad. He also shared his unique story of growing up Reform and being among the few Jews in his Catholic high school in Phoenix. As a result of being in that environment, he felt compelled to explore his own Jewish identity further. While in high school he traveled to South America which influenced his work both in college and in his professional career as a dedicated video journalist – for instance, filming in Rwanda where he has been building an archive for genocide survivor testimonies. He noted that the survivor community in Rwanda feels a sense of solidarity with Jews because of a shared history of genocide.
Annie Lewis discussed the unique path that led her to rabbinical school after working at a women’s center in Jerusalem and a citizens’ rights center in Ashkelon. She expressed her enthusiasm for being a part of the first LGBTQ-friendly program as a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary and spoke of the challenge of spending a year in an Israeli yeshiva that had not yet embraced the same policy as part of her rabbinical program. This perspective affirmed that change takes time, and a policy changes does not mean that the culture will automatically shift – it may take awhile.
As an experienced organizer and active voice in a number of causes ranging from political projects to building queer communities, Lucas Shapiro expressed his frustration with society’s current obsession with social networking devices. He shared with the audience his belief that social networking devices such as Facebook and Twitter often prevent individuals from connecting on a personal level, and more face-to-face contact can allow for better communication in working together to move projects forward. Lucas referenced an ambivalence about his Jewish identity, but even as he spoke, he was wearing a JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) t-shirt, on whose board he sits, and was participating in a Jewish event; an inspiring example of how you can constantly question and struggle with your Jewish identity and still consider yourself a proud Jew.
After participants returned from their workshops, they were greeted with a delicious Hanukkah-themed, Tav HaYosher meal provided by Café 76 of the JCC. Emcee Y-Love closed out the evening with a mini-concert, showcasing hip-hop coated with messages of social activism. With a hearty blend of panel discussions, group workshops, and a hip-hop infused social justice concert, the evening had its fill of inspiring stories and positive ideas for change in the Jewish justice world. As an individual who is new to New York and its Jewish community, I found the event to be incredibly inspiring, and am looking forward to becoming more involved in future change-making events.
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Jewish Educator Mission to Haiti
Uri L’Tzedek is accepting applications from rabbis and Jewish educators to go to Haiti for 4-5 day education missions. The educator will visit with the team of Israelis and American Jews doing community development to further their learning. Applicants should have strong experience teaching:
- Dynamic Jewish learning through texts, spirituality, and ritual
- Leadership development
- Social justice education
The social justice educator will create their own lessons and then receive support and training from an Uri L’Tzedek leadership team. The education mission, in partnership with Tevel B’Tzedek, will cover accommodations, kosher food, and transportation in Haiti. Participants or participants’ organizations will be responsible for the cost of travel to Haiti, which is only about 2 hours off of Florida.
Interested applicants should send their resumes and a ½ page letter of interest to info – at- utzedek.org
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Judaism, Food and Social Justice
Hey yall, this is the first part of 3 part series I’m writing for the Huffington Post about the Jewish food movement. I broke it down into 3 areas: sustainability, social justice, and religion/spirituality. I’m real excited to have this opportunity to get the word out about all the great things going in Jewish food to the Huffpo audience. What do you think I’m missing? What should I include in future posts? How does food, spiritual tradition, and social justice intersect in your life?
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The Tav HaYosher comes to Chicago (and a whole bunch of other states)
The certification of kosher restaurants upholding the rights of their workers continues to spread across the country…
Chicago native Shmuly Yanklowitz wants to encourage kosher restaurant owners to think about another dimension to the way they make and serve food. Yanklowitz and the organization he co-founded, Uri L’Tzedek (“awaken to justice” in Hebrew), have full confidence in kashrut boards that examine a restaurant’s compliance with Jewish dietary laws. His main concern is workers’ rights in kosher establishments. The cooks and servers who make the kosher food deserve to have their rights protected, said Yanklowitz, a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York. These rights―fair pay, fair time and a safe work environment―are at the center of the Tav HaYosher (“ethical seal”) program Yanklowitz helped develop.
“Kashrut boards do a phenomenal job making sure that standards are met,” said Rabbi Ari Weiss, Uri L’Tzedek’s executive director. “Our idea is to have a second conversation with restaurant owners—one that focuses on workers’ rights and work conditions. It’s a way to add another dimension to the production of a service we enjoy.”
More here on the expansion to Chicago.
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The Vort: Tzav – Transparency, Accountability, and the Priesthood
We are in the thick of an entire set of parshiot dealing almost exclusively with priests. A large amount, especially when we consider the following how the fundamental aspects of Jewish life: sacred time, sacred family relationships, sacred eating, etc, are each given only have a few verses here and there. In total, these fundamental aspects of Jewish life cover a small fraction of the space given to parshiot dealing with the priestly service in the mishkan. Why?
Why is the Torah so fixated on priests? If the Torah is supposed to be a document for the entire Jewish people, why so much detail about the practice of priesthood, something only 1/24 of the population would engage in? I had the honor to hear an answer from Rabbi Saul Berman, who explained it as follows:
To understand the Torah’s lengthy description of the practices our priests, we need to understand what the biblical reference point for priests was: the extremely powerful priests of Egypt. We see this from Genesis 47:20:
“And Yosef made it a law until this day for the land of Egypt to be a fifth part unto Pharoah; only the land of the priests alone was not Pharoahs“
The priests were above the law; even Pharoah couldn’t touch them! And what was the source of the Egyptian priests’ power? Death. Egyptian religion was focused on death and attaining afterlife. In order to make it to the afterlife, one had to be guided through the end of this life with the right objects, the right incantations, and have ones body preserved in the right way. These activities, and therefore the passage to the next world, were entirely controlled by the priests.
The potential for corruption is striking: the priests had a monopoly on the afterlife. That left them untouchable, free to use their power in any way they wanted. No accountability, no transparency, total power. Want to get into afterlife? That will be $100,000. Have sex with me. Worship me. Scary stuff.
The Torah is a direct critique to this concentration of power. Jewish priests, as we see in these parshiot, are not only not in control of death and the afterlife, they are forbidden to even come near it! The priestly taboo around death is so that they do not become gatekeepers to the next world, but instead stay focused on this one. Jewish priests are servants and facilitators, to teach and serve and help the Jewish people to “choose life” and grow closer to God.
And what about the secret rites and lack of transparency characteristic of Egyptian priests? The Torah rejects them. That’s why the Torah spends so many chapters detailing the priestly rituals, to create transparency of everything they’re doing. No hidden tricks or secret knowledge. That transparency protects the common person from abuses of religious power.
The Torah’s focus on priesthood is not just some cultic show and tell. There is a profound critique of religious power and control, and a call for literacy and transparency throughout the people. These are fundamental Jewish values. May we be successful in realizing them in our world today.
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The Vort – Lose Yourself: Parashat Vayakhel
Do you know this feeling?
“I felt, as the group passed over its metaphorical clif, that I had literally become weightless. I had abandoned gravity, was greater than it. I felt myself to be hovering above myself, capable of perceiving everything in slow motion and overwhelming detail.”
Pretty cool. It’s from “Among the Thugs,” sociologist Bill Buford’s book about the time he spent running with soccer hooligans in the UK. It could also describe experiences at Burning Man, an intense melavah malkah in Jerusalem, or a political rally: all gatherings of people striving to reach something beyond themselves.
The first verse of this week’s parasha, Vayakhel also describes a collective gathering:
וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶׁה, אֶת-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל – “And Moshe gathered the whole congregation of Bnei Yisrael (Shemot, 35:1)”
This spiritual gathering of the people in our parasha this week is for a specific purpose: to join and perform the physical and spiritual work of building the mishkan. Through adding their personal contributions to the efforts of the collective, the Jewish people were able to build something they never could as individuals: a dwelling place for God. Those who have been a part of meaningful service on behalf of a good and just cause know the intense feelings, meaning and power that come as a result of doing the work in a large group. It can be a real high.
But there is an extra significance to this week’s gathering. More »
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The Tav HaYosher is Turning 30!
Thirty restaurants signed on that is. Thirty kosher business owners who have stepped up, allowed for us to ensure that they are treating their workers according to basic ethical to ethical standards, and been awarded the Tav. Ethical kashrut is real folks. Uri L’Tzedek has gone from having 7 businesses in Manhattan when
we launched less than a year ago to 30 across the nation today. This is real grassroots change happening in the Jewish community. If you’re in New York, come support and celebrate with author and Rabbi Joseph Teluskin, Dyonna Ginsburg of B’Maaglei Tzedek in Israel, and assorted other rockstars.
Wednesday March 10th
7:00-8:30 P.M
At Cafe 76 – the JCC
(76th & Amsterdam – 1st floor).
Dinner and suggested donation is $18.
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Investment that will generate a 9,100% return on your money!!!
That’s right folks. For every dollar you put in, you’ll generate $91 (no Ponzi). How? It’s easy!
Invest in advocacy and community organizing. This study of Los Angeles County nonprofits found that those engaged in advocacy and organizing generated nearly $7 billion in benefits for local residents, including higher wages, affordable transportation, healthcare, and much, much more. Article here.
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Decade in Review: Social Justice
Jewschool’s decade-in-review series began with the best JewFilms of the 2000s, Independent Minyanim, and the Jewish Food Movement and continues with this roundup of the Social Justice phenomenon.
Organizations which either didn’t exist or hadn’t yet gotten their voice a decade ago: Progressive Jewish Alliance (with regions in Los Angeles and San Francisco), Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps, which launched in New York, and now has branches in DC, Chicago and New Orleans, the environmental group Hazon, American Jewish World Service (actually AJWS with Ruth Messinger—whole different thing than AJWS), Jewish FundS for Justice, the New York group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jews United for Justice in Washington DC, Boston’s Jewish Organizing Initiative, Minnesota’s Jewish Community Action. In addition, the eminence grise of Jewish social justice organizations, Chicago’s Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, hired Jill Jacobs, a Conservative Rabbi as Director of Outreach and Education in 2004, and started a summer seminar for rabbis (modeled on Interfaith Worker Justice’s “Seminary Summer”) which integrated Torah study and the practice of social justice. (Jacobs was then hired away from JCUA by JFSJ).
Cautious embrace of some social justice goals by the institutions of the Conservative and (to a much smaller extent) the Orthodox movements: Spurred on by the exposure of the unjust treatment of workers and the abuse of animals at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here -this is not an exhaustive list- for various JS posts on this never ending source of nausea) in Postville, Iowa, the Conservative movement launched the so-called heksher tzedek. This is a kosher seal of approval which guaranteed that the product under supervision was manufactured ethically—that workers’ rights were being respected and that animals were not being abused. An Orthodox group called Uri L’tzedek (“Awaken to Justice”) organized shortly afterwards to the same end. Also during this time, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly approved a decision (a “responsa”) authored by Rabbi Jill Jacobs (by then having moved to the Jewish Funds for Justice as their Rabbi in Residence) requiring synagogues to pay their employees living wages. There is also a concurring responsa by Rabbi Elliot Dorff.
Finally, the latest Rabbinical seminary on the block, the Modern Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCC) has a social justice track which culminates in doing a social project (Canfei Nesharim was started by students at YCC).
Add it all up: the old split between the Jews who are interested in ritual practice and Jews who are interested in ethical practice is finally being eroded. The practice of social justice as a Jewish textual and ritual and political practice got a solid footing in the past decade. Keep it up.
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Decade in Review: Jewish Food Movement
Jewschool’s decade-in-review series began with the best JewFilms of the 2000s, and Independent Minyanim, and continues with this roundup of the Jewish Food Movement.
This last decade has seen a burgeoning of awareness into the source of our food, our lack of connection to our food systems and the environmental and health problems inherent in factory farm methods.
The Jewish community, like many communities around the country and globe, became much more active and involved in their food systems and spent much of the last decade establishing the foundations for real change that will bring us into the next decade with a better posture to protect our food security and protect our environment.
In 2000, a book came on the scene that, at the time, received little attention, but soon would be on many reading lists. I’m referring to Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America by Stephen Bloom, who wrote of a small group of New York Lubavitcher Hasidim who ventured to Postville, IA to run the Agriprocessors meat plant in 1987. No matter which way you look at it, this last decade in food in terms of Jewish community and involvement is most notably marked by the emergence of reports of worker and animal abuse and illegal activity in America’s largest kosher slaughter house. More »
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The Vort – Mission Statement: Jewish People. Parashat Yitro
This week’s parasha, Yitro, is a classic. A righteous father-in law dropping solid leadership advice. The Big 10 Commandments. Psychedelic prophecy. My highlight though is the following verse. I like it so much because, for me, it’s like the Jewish people’s theological mission statement in 17 words. Let’s me try and break it down. First, the verse:
ועתה אם שמוע תשמעו בקלי ושמרתם את בריתי והייתם לי סגלה מכל העמים כי לי כל הארץ
“And now, if you hear my voice and keep my covenant, you will be for me a treasure from among the nations, for all the world belongs to me. Exodus, 19:5″ Now, the breakdown.
Be Here Now
“ועתה And now”
Our purpose on this earth as Jews is happening in this very moment. It’s not sealed in history, and it’s not waiting for us in a next world. It’s happening now, and it’s real.
The Search for God
“אם שמוע תשמעו בקלי If you hear my voice”
Implicit in these words is that God is speaking. It’s our job to try and tune in and hear. It might come obviously, in flames and smoke, or it might come still and small, in the cries of the poor and the sick, in a silent cave, in the question of a child. But it’s there. Waiting.
The Power of Relationship
“ושמרתם את בריתי And keep my covenant”
The primacy of relationships, to God, parents, family, and strangers, and more are an absolute fundamental to Judaism. Our relationship to God is a primary model of that. We have many covenants with God, covenants about land, about justice, about how we treat others, how we treat ourselves. What I believe was so revolutionary about Judaism is not that there is a single force in the world responsible for its creation, but that every human being can be in relationship with that force. You, yes you, can be in relationship with the creator of the universe! How sweet is that!? But there’s expectations that come with it. Of course, we understand those expectations and that relationship differently. I believe that relationship, and those expectations, are expressed to the Jewish people through Torah.
Love and Destiny
“והייתם לי סגלה מכל העמים- And you will be for me a treasure among all the nations”
Ah, here we get to the stickiest one to our enlightened post-modern ears. Particularism! Ethno-centrism! Racism!
This is how it works for me. Let me know in comments if you feel differently…
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Is nothing sacred? – The Shame of Orthodoxy
Heavy criticism of the Orthodox establishment coming from Shmuly Yanklowitz, Founder of Uri L’Tzedek and YCT rabbinical school student:
According to the Talmud, the very first question one can expect to be asked at the gates of heaven pertains not to belief or ritual, but to whether one acted honestly in all of one’s business dealings (Shabbat 31a). How many members of our community could pass that admissions test?
See the rest here: www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1104222.html
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Just Workplaces in Kosher Restaurants – Tav HaYosher Update
Since launching on May 12th, Uri L’Tzedek’s Tav HaYosher has sealed an additional four places in Manhattan (and unfortunately had to remove two).
Check out who’s on, who’s off, and learn more about The Tav here.
Click here to get involved with the campaign to bring just workplaces to Kosher restaurants.
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AJWS launches On1Foot.org
Now we’re talking. Just in time for your Shavuot Night Torah Study, the American Jewish World Service has launched On1Foot.org, a user-editable repository of social justice-oriented texts from Jewish tradition.
If you were wondering where in the Jerusalem Talmud is the original source for the dictum “one who saves a single life has saved the world entire”, a simple search yields Sanhedrin 4:22.
If you’re looking for a well-spoken prophet of antiquity who railed against the exploitation of the poor — Amos pops up with some choice words.
If you are curious what statement was made by some Jewish leaders arrested working for civil rights in Florida in 1964, you can read a passage from it here.
It’s a veritable wiki-concordance of “tikkun olam”! Here is how it is described in an announcement from AJWS:
On1Foot is an online, open source database of Jewish social justice texts. We invite you to visit On1Foot to explore this exciting new resource for Jewish social justice education.
On1Foot allows users to:
- Search and browse hundreds of biblical, rabbinic and contemporary Jewish texts about social justice
- Upload new texts
- Comment on existing texts
- Create custom source sheets using the texts and suggested discussion questions
On1Foot is a project of American Jewish World Service and is co-sponsored by AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, Hazon, Tzedek, Mechon Hadar and Uri L’Tzedek.
As we say down here in the District: Happy learning!
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Tav HaYosher launches in 7 NYC restaurants
Exactly one year to the day after revelations of highly treif labor practices at Agriprocessors, Uri L’Tzedek, the Orthodox Social Justice Movement, is publicly launching the Tav HaYosher, the ethical seal for kosher eating establishments. “After seeing the pain and suffering inflicted by our own kosher industry on the stranger and the poor, the very people the Torah demands we protect, we realized we needed to be proactive and make a change,” said Shmuly Yanklowitz, founder and co-director of Uri L’Tzedek. “We asked ourselves – how can we, as Orthodox Jews, create a system to protect the standards that Jewish law and ethics demand?”
Check out the Tav HaYosher blog for the list of restaurants that carry it, more information on the project, and how you can get involved.
Also posted at – JTA, JCarrot, Chicago Tribune, Mixed Multitudes.
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