Rabbi Ben Greenberg Joins JCUA Staff; Seder Set for April

Be a Part of JCUA’s Next 50

From Judy Levey, Executive Director

Before this frozen January concludes, we want to thank you for making 2013 a resounding success. Your generosity allowed JCUA to enter 2014 with strong footing and an expanding road map for building our momentum.

Whether you are interested in immigration reform, responding to gun violence, a fair state tax structure, community investment, or building bridges with communities that face poverty and racism, JCUA is creating spaces for you to get involved, develop leadership skills, and get to know your city.

Rabbi Ben Greenberg Joins JCUA Staff

(Guest Post) Are There “Boy Holidays” and “Girl Holidays”? A Reflection on Diversity.

by Rachel Patterson

Rachel is a student at Loyola University Chicago, and alumna of JCUA’s Or Tzedek program and serves as a counselor in Or Tzedek’s summer and year-round programs. This article originally appeared in Loyola’s Broad Magazine.

Rachel Patterson

When I was five years old, I shared with my friend the concept of girl holidays and boy holidays. It was strange to me that she was unaware on this concept. Hanukah and Passover were girl holidays, while Christmas and Easter were obviously boy holidays. It was simple – My mom and I celebrated Hanukah and Passover while my dad and my brother celebrated Christmas and Easter.

Once my parents stopped laughing at my generalization, they wondered how to correct my assumptions.

In reality, my mom and I are both Jewish and my dad and my brother are Baptist, which explains the difference in celebration rituals. That hadn’t occurred to me at five. I just knew there were traditions my dad and my brother had, while there are others that my mom and I shared. I was as excited to see a tree in our house without presents under it for me, as I was to light the menorah with my mom for eight nights. There was no “dual dilemma” as interfaith households are often described to have.

Children have the unique ability to process information as they come across it, whether they are taught the information or not. I was not adhering to gender norms, nor was I concerned with stereotypes that are too often used to describe followers of the Jewish and Christian faiths. I was never taught those things. I was simply describing something I was witnessing without malice and without indifference.

Boy holidays. Girl holidays. There is beauty in that description. It is not always beautiful to see differences as black and white or night and day. There are in fact nuances that I was not aware of as a five year old. However, it is beautiful to accept people for who they are. Innocence is not always ignorance.

My mom and dad decided to raise me Jewish. My mom always knew she would have a little girl named Rachel. In the Jewish faith, children take the religion of the mother so I would be born Jewish but every family has to make the decision to raise or not to raise their child with religion in his or her life.

JCUA’s Passover Seder Highlights Urgent Need for Immigration Reform

Nearly 200 people attended this year’s Freedom and Justice Seder, an annual pre-Passover event produced by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. This year’s Seder was led by Rabbi Alison Abrams, JCUA’s Director of Organizing; and Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann of Mishkan Chicago.

“This year, as we shine a light on detention, violence and discrimination—urgent issues that plague Chicago and our country—we strengthen our resolve to end the injustices that afflict the lives of our neighbors,” said Judy Levey, JCUA executive director, in her introduction.

Held at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, the Seder included all of the symbols of a traditional Passover celebration, combined with a call to use our collective power in pursuit of meaningful immigration reform. Participants read from JCUA’s customized Haggadah (view or download it here).

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Too many people are still on their journey toward the promised opportunity and liberation. JCUA’s Seder marks our collective commitment to continue the work for achieving justice and securing basic human rights for all.

[VIDEO] Watch JCUA on ABC7 Marching for Immigrant Rights and Take Action

by Rabbi Alison Abrams
Director of Organizing, JCUA

On Sunday, March 10, 2013, JCUA participated in the National Coming Out of the Shadows March and Rally to call for a stop to deportations and an end to criminalizing immigrants (scroll down to read how you can take action in March and April).

JCUA volunteers at the march

By the end of the day, hundreds of people were gathered to hear stories of undocumented individuals and the impact of our broken immigration system on families.  These men and women stepped out of the shadows to say they lived as both “undocumented and unafraid.”

Through chants, prayers, songs, and stories, we stood in solidarity with our immigrant brothers and sisters to say change must come and it must come now.  To this end, we will continue our fight for a just and compassionate immigration system that honors all peoples’ human rights.

TV Coverage:

Watch ABC7’s coverage of the march (including JCUA volunteers raising the Jewish voice for immigrant justice):

Take Action With JCUA:

• Wednesday, March 20, 2013: Join us at the National Museum of Mexican Art for our Freedom and Justice Seder on March 20th at 6pm where we will again make our voices heard.
• Friday, April 5, 2013: Please join us at the detention center in Broadview, IL, where we will participate in an interfaith vigil, drawing attention to the injustice of current detention and deportation practices.

Please RSVP for these actions so we know to expect you.

Questions? Contact:

Rabbi Alison Abrams
Director of Organizing
alison@jcua.org

[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.

Download JCUA’s Freedom and Justice Haggadah

The JCUA Passover Haggadah celebrates freedom and justice.

JCUA celebrates Passover with the popular Freedom and Justice Seder. We remember and celebrate the important work of social justice and that work that remains to done.

As the Haggadah says, “from generation to generation, each of us is obligated to see ourselves as though we personally had just been freed from slavery.”

► DOWNLOAD THE HAGGADAH HERE

We must remember the past to understand today and to protect our tomorrows. Therefore, in each generation and each year, we retell the story of the exodus to our children and to our grandchildren, in order that they, too, will understand the pain of slavery and the value of freedom.

Sukkat Shalom: Between Slavery and Liberation

By Miriam Grossman and Jill Zenoff

Take part in JCUA’s Sukkot Action for Justice, during Sukkot, on Oct. 11. At the Mortgage Bankers Association meeting, we’ll be calling attention to how the foreclosure crisis is affecting Chicago families. Learn more and register for the event.

At the beginning of their journey from slavery to liberation, the Israelites found themselves displaced from their homes with little to no forewarning. Scrounging what supplies that could be found and only enough food and water to last a few days, they constructed sukkot, temporary shelters made from sticks and twigs, in which they would dwell.

Unable to see beyond their past circumstance towards the promised land, when their food and water supplies ran out, many were ready to return to Egypt. The inhumanity and brutality of slavery seemed a fair exchange for what passed as food and housing security.

It wasn’t until the Israelites became a food-secure people with the miraculous appearance of mana at morning’s dew and water from Miriam’s well, were they ready to continue on their 40-year journey towards freedom.

Sukkot Action for Housing Justice: Oct. 11

This graphic banner will be used in the portable Sukkah at the housing action day.

With American bankers meeting just feet away next week, Chicagoans will share stories about how the economic crisis has affected them.

It all happens on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at a special interfaith Sukkot action and press conference inside a makeshift Sukkah in front of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago.

Representing shelter in a time of wandering and crisis, or the halfway point between slavery and liberation, this may be the first time a portable Sukkah has been used in a protest action.

Sukkot: An Opportunity for Change

By Rebecca Katz
Or Tzedek Teen Programs Coordinator

Take part in JCUA’s Sukkot Action for Justice, during Sukkot, on Oct. 11. At the Mortgage Bankers Association meeting, we’ll be calling attention to how the foreclosure crisis is affecting Chicago families. Learn more and register for the event.

Download the Family Guide for Sukkot. This booklet, designed to be read in your Sukkah, features true stories of challenges faced by recent immigrants to the U.S.

Teshuva, the process of repentance, occurs on multiple levels: between individuals, the community and the Divine.

During the 10 days of atonement beginning on Rosh Hashanah, we undertake the very human process of repairing fractured relationships. We look at our mistakes, the very acts that demonstrate our humanity, and strive for personal growth. Then, on Yom Kippur, we remove ourselves from the practical demands of every day life — eating, bathing, working — and renew our connection to justice and to a force greater than ourselves.

We come together as a congregation, a kehilla, and ask forgiveness for the sins we have, and the the sins we have not, committed. This act of communal atonement demonstrates our renewed promise to be a more responsible member of our community. “We are truly sorry and we will prove it to you.”

But once God closes the Book of Life and we’ve done our best to assure our future for one more year, who holds us accountable to our grand promises to be a better person?

Sukkot is our first opportunity to follow through on the changes we’ve reflected on during Yom Kippur. Instead of seeking out people in our lives we have wronged, we invite friends and family, neighbors and strangers, to be a part of our homes and share in our food. The past is not forgotten, but has become a foundation on which to build new relationships. During Sukkot, we demonstrate to God and to our community that we have not issued an empty apology and traded action for apathy.

As you seek ways to achieve your New Year’s resolutions, please join us during Sukkot and throughout the upcoming year as we strive to live up to our commitments – commitments to a powerful Jewish voice for justice, to upholding the dignity of the oppressed, and to establishing meaningful partnerships with Chicago’s diverse communities.

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,