J Street’s national online advocacy has gone meatspace. In 23 cities around the country, J Street supporters are throwing launch parties for their new grassroots field program — J Street Local. Inheriting Brit Tzedek’s existing leadership and structure means a national presence that’s shovel-ready. Infusing it with some 130,000 new recruits is nitroglycerin in the engine. Adapting that structure with online organizing means J Street Local is 150,000 supporters in number, based in over 40 cities, hiring four regional directors, and thus bringing foot-power clout to its existing online operation. The kick off events seek to recruit new leaders in advocacy, outreach, social media, and education to reach a shul nearest you. Here are the RSVP links for Seattle, San Fran, Philly, NYC, Boston, and Chicago. Otherwise, find one closer.
[Editor’s update: J Street Locals hosting kick off events below the fold. ] For your entertainment, I humbly submit this video of J Street’s Jeremy Ben-Ami debating right-wing apologist Alan Dershowitz at the 92nd Street Y last month. For the reasons Ben-Ami highlights here, American Jewry needs to realize that the status quo is killing Israel. And instead of doing nothing to prevent it, Dershowitz and fellow apologists are building a world where, as Henry Siegman just wrote in The Nation, Israel is apartheid.

Kick offs across America:
Albany, NY
Ann Arbor
Boston
Chicago
Cleveland
Denver
Eastern Maine
Eugene, Oregon
Madison
Minnesota
Central NJ
Durham-Chapel Hill
NYC
Philly
Pittsburgh
Portland, Oregon
Rhode Island
SF Bay Area
Santa Cruz
Seattle
Western Mass