Guest Op-Ed: Guns are Not Toys

The following is an op-ed piece by Sophie Leff, a junior at Northside College Prep. Sophie did Or Tzedek’s Activism and Community Organizing  summer program in 2011 and Advanced Activism in 2012. She was a part of the leadership team who planned Or Tzedek’s first Winter Leadership Retreat in 2011. Sophie is currently the Social Action Vice President of Beth Emet Synagogue Senior Youth. In this op-ed, she writes, “There are times when I have to wonder how many young people my age will actually live to be the age where they can say they were born and raised here in Chicago.”

Guns are not toys. This, I think, we can all agree on. I would venture a guess that even those who don’t believe in stricter gun control laws accept that guns can be dangerous and should be used with care, and most importantly kept away from children.

 Imagine my surprise when, the other night, I stopped in my local Mexican restaurant to pick up a burrito and was met with a 50 cent machine dispensing very realistic-looking, if less than life-size, “Guns n’ Grenades” key chains. For the low price of half a dollar, you too, can arm your son or daughter with a training weapon.

One of the reasons I was so shocked was that it seems so obvious. Giving a child a toy gun will not teach them how serious and dangerous such weapons are. It will not teach them to avoid guns for their own safety. It will not teach them to approach guns, if they ever must, with a strong sense of responsibility.

Introducing Or Tzedek’s Summer 2013 Staff

Spring is (kinda sorta) in the air  and summer is just around the corner. And with summer comes…Or Tzedek’s Summer 2013 sessions! We would like to introduce you to our experienced, passionate, and simply amazing summer staff who will  building and guiding our Or Tzedek community.

Danny Obeler and Miriam Grossman, activists and Jewish leaders who have previously staffed Or Tzedek’s winter retreat and summer programs, will be joining us for all three sessions. Rachel Aaronson and Eliana Fischer, Or Tzedek summer alums and Chicagoland Jewish High School graduates, will be our program interns this summer.

Welcome to all of our wonderful staff and to our 2013 Or Tzedekers. We can’t wait to get the summer started.

Guest Op-Ed: Say “No!” to Bullying

The following op-ed is by Dan Lapidus, a junior at Jones College Prep High School in Chicago. Dan participated in Or Tzedek’s  Activism and Community Organizing program in summer ’11, Advanced Activism in summer ’12, and the Winter Leadership Retreat in ’11 and ’12. Dan is a member of the Mikva Challenge Youth Commission. The following was originally posted on Dan’s Facebook page.

Dan at the Winter Retreat

I was bullied for years, and it sucked. Kids would call me names. They would say things like, “Hey Dan, you’re a fag” or “Hey lapenis, go Jew around somewhere else, we don’t want you here.”

Most people thought they were so creative when they called me lapenis. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was all the kids who were so scared of what might happen to them, they didn’t do anything.

They watched a classmate suffer; they stood on that damned Jones College Prep courtyard and watched people throw oranges at me and try to steal my house keys. There is nothing more confining than thinking that you are alone and no one has your back.

MLK Day of Action: A Declaration of “the Most Evident of Truths”

Roy, Stacy, Hana, Joel, Sam at Bright Star

By Rebecca Katz, JCUA Manager of Teen Programs

On Monday, January 21^st, around 100 people came together for an MLK Day of Action, an interfaith and intergenerational event organized by Anshe Emet Synagogue, Bright Star Church, and JCUA’s Or Tzedek.

Moved by the legacy of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on his federal holiday and President Barack Obama’s historic second inauguration, children, teens and adults from Chicago’s Jewish and African American communities committed their considerable energy, time, and passion to renew their shared commitment to create social justice in their city.

While the temperatures outside were freezing, people inside Bright Star Church talked of the warmth they felt, generated by the openness of all participants to share their own experiences and listen to the assets and challenges of another community.

Rabbi David Russo, Pastor Chris Harris and Rebecca Katz emphasized throughout the day that this was only the beginning of a relationship between both communities; “Lehitraot,” or “see you soon,” were Rabbi Russo’s parting words.

Interfaith and Intergenerational MLK Day of Action

Following Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s 40th yahrtzeit and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, Or Tzedek, Anshe Emet Synagogue and Bright Star Church  are excited to look to the memories of Rabbi Heschel and Dr. King as inspirations, and to be activated by their words to combat the interconnected issues of violence and education injustice today.
What: MLK Day of Action
Where: Bright Star Church, 735 East 44th Street
When: Monday, January 21, 10 am-2:30 pm
Sign up here!

Igniting Activism: Or Tzedek’s 2012 Winter Leadership Retreat

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Last month, Or Tzedek held its second annual Winter Leadership Retreat. Fourteen teens from diverse Jewish backgrounds attended these four powerful days of learning, building relationships and creating change.

Through their actions and workshops, Or Tzedek’s youth leaders demonstrated the power of youth working together to address root causes of injustice and build relationships between teen leaders in Chicago’s diverse communities.

By advocating for immigration reform with the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights to phone banking for Southsiders United for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), sharing experiences with a community of Chicago’s young activists at the Faith in Youth Power Story Slam to working on alternatives to our current unjust detention system with the Interfaith Committee on Detained Immigrants, Or Tzedek was, at its core, combating racism, anti-semitism and poverty in Chicago.

MLK Day of Action on Jan. 21, 2013

Monday, January 21st, 2013 will mark the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday. This milestone is a great opportunity for us to honor Dr. King’s legacy by renewing the shared commitment of the black and Jewish communities to creating social justice in Chicago together.

This year, Anshe Emet, Bright Star Church, and Or Tzedek have partnered to  honor Dr. King’s extraordinary social justice work by bringing together members of Bright Star Church and Community Outreach and the Chicago Jewish Community for our MLK Day of Action in Bronzville.

We see this at the first step in building a powerful relationship, particularly between youth, to combat education injustice and the interconnected issue of violence, specifically in the southside Chicago neighborhood of Bronzeville.

We are bringing  together 75 people from each of our communities: 25 students in 6th-8th grade, 25 high school students, and 25 adults. Join us in spending  the day getting to know each other, learning about issues of education in the Bronzeville community, and working with the non-profit organization Beyondmedia and Bright Star’s Media team to raise awareness about some of the challenges in our education system today.

We will not be providing food for this event, so please bring your own lunch and snacks. Buses will leave from Anshe Emet at 9:15 AM for Bright Star Church and they will return to Anshe Emet at approximately 3:30 PM. Bright Star Church is located at 735 East 44th Street.

We have limited space available, and we will accept people on a first come, first serve basis, so please sign up as soon as you can.

Sign up online to attend MLK Day of Action!

If you have any questions, please contact Rebecca Katz, JCUA’s manager of teen programs, at 312-663-0960, ext.124 or rebecca@jcua.org

3 Minutes, 1 Mic, and a Roomful of Youth Activists = Story Slam

You’ve got three minutes, a microphone and an audience. Your assignment: to tell a funny/sad/absurd/joyous/empowering/dis-empowering/irony-laden experience about the intersection of faith and power in your life.

On December 27th, 2012, Or Tzedek is co-sponsoring a “Faith in Youth Power Story Slam”, along with AVODAH: the Jewish Service Corp, Jewish Student Connection, Mishkan, and Moishe House Chicago. This open mic storytelling event brings together Chicago’s youth activists, organizers and leaders to share their faith in youth power or the power they find from faith.

These stories will make you laugh, and some may even make you cry, but one thing is certain: this is not an event to be missed!

While the focus of this story slam is on youth power, we encourage you all to attend! You can come to listen, you can come to share, or you can come just to be a part of this unforgettable experience.

The Faith in Youth in Power Story Slam will take place on December 27, 2012 from 7:00PM-9:00PM at 722 West Aldine Avenue. TELL YOUR STORY! Click here to RSVP

Guest Op Ed: Social Action in the Life of a Jewish Teen

The following article (originally printed in Congregation Beth Judea’s Dec. 2012 issue of “The Word”) was written by Or Tzedek summer 2012 participant Joel Spiegel. Joel is a junior at Stevenson and the Beth Judea USY Social Action and Tikkun Olam Vice President.

 

In the following post, Joel discusses the importance of taking action as a teenager and issues a call to action for Chicagoland youth leaders to take part in creating social justice. He writes, “To my generation: in a few years we will dominate the economy, and the political scene. We need to start tackling the issues of tomorrow, today. We must ask ourselves, if not now, when?”

 

Make a change in your city and join Joel at Or Tzedek’s Winter Leadership Retreat. Register online today! Registration for the Winter Leadership Retreat has been extended to Monday, December 17, 2012. 

Or Tzedekers Vered and Joel (right) canvassing.

Ever since I can remember, I have been passionate about social issues in my world. Unfortunately, for the first 3 or 4 years of my adolescence, I had no direction to channel this passion. This would change one day when a spunky teen program coordinator from an organization in the city called the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs named Rebecca came to give a presentation to us during USY for a Social Action summer program called Or Tzedek.

While I munched away at my carrots and hummus, my ears perked up when she said the phrase, “if not now, when?” This question hit me particularly hard because that was the exact question I had been avoiding for years. I had been putting off the social issues that I knew needed to be addressed. This was the moment when I knew that I needed to start taking action to improve this great world we all live in.

This inspired me to sign up for Or Tzedek’s July program, and it proved to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. Knowing no one, I went to the first day pretty nervous, but I was welcomed with open arms. As my co-Or Tzedekers and I went through those incredible 8 days, we all became incredibly close while we faced the incredible adversity that challenges our communities.

JCUA’s Or Tzedek Honored by Slingshot Fund

NEWS RELEASE

Teen social justice program is the only Chicago organization recognized among the nation’s 50 ‘most innovative’ Jewish nonprofits

CHICAGO, Nov. 8, 2012 – A Chicago-based program that engages Jewish teenagers in social justice activism has been named one of North America’s 50 most innovative Jewish nonprofits. Or Tzedek, the teen social justice program of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, is the only Chicago organization included in the 2012-2013 edition of Slingshot, a funders’ resource guide for Jewish innovation.

Or Tzedek, which means “Light of Justice” in Hebrew, offers 8-day summer immersion sessions, a winter break leadership training retreat and numerous programs during the year. Crossing racial, religious and ethnic lines, Or Tzedek teens work closely with peers in Chicago’s diverse communities.

Enrollment in Or Tzedek has increased fivefold since its debut in 2007. Now engaging and inspiring as many as 500 young people each year, Or Tzedek participants have come from 18 states and Germany.

The 2012 Or Tzedek Winter Leadership Retreat is scheduled for Dec. 26-29 in downtown Chicago. Curriculum information and registration is available at ortzedek.org.