As an Israeli citizen and white citizen of the United States, I believe that Black Lives Matter – and that no American of good conscience can simply opt out of engaging with the pervasive issue of racism in America. If we will it, it is no dream.
This “idea checklist” is a starting point for reflection, conversation, and action within your community. It is intended to help your leadership team identify the steps needed to become a community rooted in principles of REDI, help you build on your existing measures, and aid in initiating new ones.
As COVID-19-related challenges escalate, we ask how our methodology and experience might shield the Jewish community from partisan torches and pitchforks. Here’s an approach to healthy decision-making under these circumstances.
The Book of Proverbs instructs us to “speak up for those who cannot speak...to raise our voices on behalf of the vulnerable and downtrodden.” (Proverbs 31:8-9). The individuals who make up America’s prison population are isolated, vulnerable, and voiceless.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a bright spotlight on the deep structural racism in the United States. We have known that our Jewish community is not exempt from racism, even though we have always been multiracial.
The video below is a recording of a webinar
While evaluating my role in handling the situation, I found that the leadership skills I acquired over the years in different organizations and settings served me well in dealing with COVID-19. Most of these skills were learned as a camp counselor.
As we struggle to consider all our options in this ever-changing environment, we strive to make decisions using a values-based matrix that will help us to act in a consistent manner that is in line with Jewish tradition and modern sensibility.
On March 1, I arrived in Israel to visit the 87 teenagers I had brought there just five weeks earlier. Within hours, the world turned upside-down.
Help your members stay engaged with their Judaism from home by sharing helpful, relevant, and interesting Jewish content on your social media channels, congregational website, email communications, and more. Here's a list to get you started.
Recently, our synagogue leaders found itself in a similar position to Nachson. With news that coronavirus had reached our community, we stood between a known threat and unknown consequences.