170 Jewish Social Justice Leaders to Meet with Obama Administration

Members of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable

July 28, 2011— Today leaders from JCUA are in Washington, D.C. meeting with Sen. Dick Durbin and his staff on the federal DREAM Act and other immigration issues. Tomorrow they join some 160 other representatives of organizations that are part of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable (JSJRT) at the White House for a policy briefing to exchange ideas on housing, healthcare, food justice and education. The JSJRT is a group of 21 nonprofit organizations promoting economic and social justice as a core tenet of Jewish life.

“Many people think the Jewish community has only one message to bring to Washington and it’s about Israel,” said Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, director of the Jewish Life and Values Program of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which funds the JSJRT. “In reality, the Jewish community is deeply involved in issues of social justice here and around the globe. We are so pleased to have been invited to discuss these issues with the White House staff as we work to create a more just world.”

Around the Nation, a Rebirth of Jewish Social Justice

The below article was originally published in The Jewish Daily Forward and was co-written by Jewish Funds for Justice President and CEO Simon Greer and Board Co-Chair Amy B. Dean. The New York-based Jewish Funds for Justice is a partner organization of JCUA.

By Amy B. Dean and Simon Greer

Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the most pre-eminent rabbis and theologians of the 20th century, was a Jewish leader who insisted that our faith be linked to the struggle for social justice in America.

In the Fight: Abraham Joshua Heschel (center left) joins with Martin Luther King in 1968, at one of many joint appearances. Getty Images

He lived this conviction by actively supporting causes such as the Civil Rights Movement and serving as an adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. “In the realm of the spirit,” he said, “only he who is a pioneer is able to be an heir. The wages of spiritual plagiarism is the loss of integrity… Authentic faith is more than an echo of a tradition. It is a creative situation, an event.”

This statement identifies one of the central tasks of modern Judaism — the need to ground religious practice in a legacy of Torah study, observance and ritual, and to perpetuate tradition by adapting to contemporary times.