[EVENT: 3/20] “Parsley, Plagues, and Power”: JCUA’s Seder

by Max Harkavy
Communications Intern, JCUA

On Wednesday, March 20^th, 6-8:30pm, The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs will be hosting a unique and meaningful community Passover Seder.  The event is titled “Parsley, Plagues, and Power: JCUA’s Annual Freedom and Justice Seder” (see event details).

This Seder seeks to connect the themes of Passover with the pursuit of justice, addressing community struggles, and engaging Jews with the mission of JCUA.

“A Jewish voice in social justice work is very important,” says Rabbi Ali Abrams, JCUA’s Director of Organizing.  Rabbi Abrams will co-lead the Seder with Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann of Mishkan Chicago, a spiritual Jewish community committed to soulful musical prayer and learning.

Through this event, JCUA hopes to reach out to many local, young, Jewish adults about specific advocacy efforts and community organizing in which JCUA is involved.  The goal of this event is “for us to create energy around our work, engage large numbers of new people, and bring in new leadership for the Jewish community” remarked Abrams.

Taking Passover from Remembrance to Action

Right about now you may be preparing for next week’s Passover Seder. Each year we gather with family and friends to share the story of a people with newly found freedom who vowed to teach their children (and their children’s children) the lessons of oppression.

The Israelites were freed from Egypt, but oppression still exists: hundreds of people lose their homes every day, workers are unable to earn a living wage, parents are separated from their children…

Every year, JCUA’s Or Tzedek program teaches Jewish teens these important lessons of oppression. Through a summer intensive program and year-round institute, Or Tzedek gives teens the chance to learn about issues of poverty and inequity by combining unique hands-on service opportunities with reflection on Jewish texts and history.

This year, why not fulfill the promise of Passover by helping teach our children how to create a world free from oppression. Please give today to support this life-changing program. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar.

The Passover story doesn’t change, but each year, the world around us does. Please give to Or Tzedek, a program that moves the Passover story from remembrance to action.

Thanks for your support.

Wishing you, your family and friends a happy Passover,

Home: A Poem About Displacement

This poem, by Or Tzedek alumnus Benjamin Jacobi, was performed at the 2011 Freedom and Justice Seder organized by JCUA and Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation.

Home
Is where the heart is.
And the thing I find the hardest
Is to stop the cycle once it’s started,
So let’s start this
Now.
Home
Should not be merely a privilege, but a right.
But beyond where you lay your head at night,
It’s community, it’s relationships, and for this is what we fight. Displacement can cause destruction—the level of which is awesome.
To be uprooted is to suffer, a tree with no roots will never blossom.
It carries with it not merely change of location,
For a look at what it does let’s focus on incarceration:
Every sentence is life despite judge’s intended.
A prison term isn’t like you’re life’s suspended
Put on pause, press play once the term has been served.
No, the world spins while one sits—tell me is that what’s deserved?
A year, is not a unit of time, it’s a
Unit of missed birthdays, weddings, lessons, moments, memories
Or opportunities, promotions, new friends it’s these
Things
That are impossible to take into consideration.
This is my dissertation
I can offer no consolation,
Until one provides an alteration.
The system’s position on this is abdication.
One example not enough? You require further explanation?

Freedom and Justice Seder 2011: Exploring Themes of Displacement

The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation invite you, your family and friends to join us in song and celebration at our annual Freedom and Justice Seder.

Our Seder includes Jewish choral music and readings from many ethnic traditions. This year’s theme focuses on displacement in relation to Chicago history, incarceration, immigration and housing.

Tickets sell quickly so RSVP today! We are looking for event sponsors. Purchase extra tickets for our friends who may not be able to afford the cost for the event.