Nu? This Week in Jews and Social Justice

There were many successes in LGBTQ rights this week. While, despite viral messaging saying so, Prop 8 was not overturned in California, on an international scale, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the United Nations in Switzerland for Human Rights Day. In her speech, Secretary Clinton declared unequivocally that LGBTQ rights are the same as racial equality and rights for women. AJWS staff attended the speech representing the organization as a member of the Council for Global Equality, a coalition of 20 NGOs advocating for an inclusive global human rights agenda.

In the Jewish realm, both the Jewish Week and JTA covered the 15th annual conference of Nefesh International, an association of Orthodox mental health professionals. Included in this year’s convergance was the organization Jewish Queer Youth (JQY), which was able to spread the message of inclusion of LGBTQ Orthodox Jews in the broader community. The Modern Orthodox rabbi who performed what the press called “A Gay-Orthodox Wedding” wrote an article for Jewish Week explaining why he decided to perform a committment ceremony for two Orthodox men, after denying other same-sex couples for years.

Is climate change on the minds of Jews today? In her article for the Huffington Post, Climate Change Means: Enough Already With What’s Good for the Jews, Joelle Novey writes about her experience protesting in front of the White House regarding the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline this August and September. Of the over 1200 diverse religious leaders who were arrested on August 29th, only a fraction were Jewish.

With Chanukah coming up in just a few weeks, people’s preparations are no doubt well underway. Fair Trade Judaica offers suggestions for bringing ethical consumption to the forefront of your holiday celebration, whether through the purchase of fair trade gifts or exploring how the system benefits artisans and farmers through educational resources you can share during your candle-lighting. Of course, they wouldn’t forget the gelt – check out The Story Behind Fair Trade Kosher Chanukah Gelt as well.