Jewish Social Justice Training: Here, There, Everywhere
The righteous Progressive Jewish Alliance is currently accepting applications for its next cohort of Jeremiah Fellows, a two-year program for 22-30 year-old Yidden to do text study and practical leadership stuff in L.A. I know a bunch of the people on faculty, and they’re a pretty excellent bunch. The deadline was today (Oct. 15th) but the email I just received said that they’d hear requests for deadline extensions, so if you’re interested, email and ask. More information on the program and application info here.
Also, a whole bunch of orgs (including Jewish Community Action, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, and the Jewish Funds for Justice) are sponsoring a Jewish activist training in Chicago on Dec. 4-6. I think it’s geared towards Jewish activists and professional Jews, but the email also said explicitly that they were open to anybody who wanted to learn, so again, check it if you’re into it. The application is due Nov. 15th and can be found here.
I live in Melbourne Australia, in which there is a solid, yet small and somewhat homogenous Jewish Community. Recently, in the face of a fundraiser to raise money for Sudanese Refugees jointly hosted by two shules, there emerged a debate concerning the merits of engaging in social justice activities which do not directly effect Jews. Many were of the view that Jews should not be looking to help those outside the community while there are still Jews who do not have access to weekly Shabbat dinners.
Meanwhile, many Jewish people are active in wider activist circles. However, this is generally conceptualised as being entirely seperate from one’s Jewishness. A Jewish activist friend revealed to me that he sees his activism (read: hope for change, challenging established social and political orders) and his judaism (read: pro-establishment, slaves to tradition, insular, inwardlooking) as entirely mutually exclusive.
Upon learning about the Jewish activist movements, activities, social networks and events in the US, I grow deeply envious.
How does one foster such a community here in Australia?
wondering, find a group of jews who really don’t like being jewish; who look with distain upon israel for being too jewish; for the most part are irreligious; and who blame the problems of the me and radical muslims not on muslim religious fanatics but the jews – put all those jews together, and then you too can have your very own progressive jewish organization.
Yo avigreen–I call bullshit on your right-wing credentials. No true right-winger would include the word “green” in his moniker. You’re obviously a mole for the Green Party and are attempting to destroy conservatism from within by making robotic, all-the-same comments in response to any mention of the words “liberal,” “progressive” or “social justice,” or any suggestion that Jews should *not* try to one-up their enemies in hatred. Take your birkenstocks and your copy of Kahlil Gibran and go back to Russia, hippie.
badchen, you write well, you can spell, and youre humorous – ill make a bet that 10 years from now youll be a conservative
Wow! I don’t know which weird planet some of you folks inhabit but I know many liberal and progressive Jews who are proudly Jewish and pro-Israel. Like many American and Israeli Jews, we hope for a negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians that will require a two-state solution. Call us crazy optimists if you will, but don’t call us self-hating or irreligious Jews.
Why don’t I find a community of Jewish people who don’t really know much about the richness of Jewish culture, history or heritage, who aren’t really interested in delving into the brilliant intellectual tradition of their people, but who only associate with other Jews, who base their entire Jewish identity on antisemitism and ‘how much the Arabs hate us’ and who uncritically defend the actions of Israel and lable any (Jewish or not-Jewish) critic of Israeli policy as handing Hitler a posthumous victory on a silver platter!
why dont we find a group of jews who study and believe in the torah, try to lead their lives in an ethical fashion under rules laid out in the torah, believe that israel has many weaknesses compared to its ideal but is head and shoulder above most of the rest of the nations, believe in a 2 state solution but are realistic enough to know that radical muslims would like nothing better to kill and rape them (just before killing and raping xtians, buddhists, and hindus), and are willing to go up against anyone who attempts to harm jews and/or israel — once we gather this group, lets give them a name – ive got it: RELIGIOUS JEWS
*blink blink*
Avigreen, did you just say you believe in a 2 state solution? I’ll make a bet that 10 years from now you’ll be a liberal.