Two weeks ago, The JOIN for Justice summit brought together an amazing group of folks on April 29th and 30th at Hebrew Union College in New York to sharpen their organizing skills, develop relationships with like-minded peers throughout the country, and articulate an growing vision of the movement of Jews committed to social change. The summit was a whirlwind of workshops, relational meetings, one-on-ones, and inspirational speeches. The sessions I attended, “Building Young Adult Jewish Power, Inside and Outside of Mainstream Jewish Institutions,” “Organizing and Mindfulness,” and “Community/Labor Coalitions and Domestic Workers Rights” re-charged me in my passion as an organizer and connected me to some amazing allies in discussions of building a stronger base of power of young Pursue-type folks to move the Jewish community in the directions we hope to see. 

In the opening session, Nancy Kaufman, CEO of the National Council for Jewish Women, gave an anecdote on the long-term movement building work the Jewish community so that something like the JOIN for Justice summit was possible, saying that in 1990, it was a very lonely place in the Jewish community for those working for social justice. Sitting in a crowd of 230 self-identified Jewish organizers, 90% of us under the age of 35–and 100% standing in affirmation of the belief that the Jewish community should be organizing for justice in the world–it was moving for me to be reminded of how far the Jewish community has come in organizing for social justice. As an alum of AVODAH and AJWS, this gathering of organizers, activists, clergy, non-profit professionals, and allies is the Jewish community that I have come of age in. Many of us young summit participants have been trained for leadership through fellowships, seminars, service-learning programs, one-on-ones, and conferences since we were in high school. We are ready for leadership; we are ready to attempt to responsibly wield the power of American Jewry.

Looking around the room, I realized that this was not just a rag-tag group of Jews on the fringe fighting for a slice a pie, but the possibility of the future of the mainstream.

To read more about the summit, check out Leah Kagan’s post on Global Voices, the blog of AJWS, and the article Saul Alinsky’s Moment? in the Jewish Week.

Micah Weiss is the assistant director at Etgar 36, leading experiential education trips for Jewish teenagers that teach about history, politics, and activism, but will be moving back to New York in one month to attend Yeshivat Hadar. Last year, Micah was an AVODAH Corps member in Brooklyn where he worked as an anti-gun violence community organizer and inter-group facilitator at the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center. Micah graduated from Wesleyan University in 2010 with a degree in Religion and African American Studies. Micah grew up in Atlanta, GA and is a southerner at heart although most of his activities and interests would not indicate as such.

Last week, I joined other AJWS food justice advocates at Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s district office in Manhattan, where we discussed reforms to the Farm Bill, which is set for reauthorization this year. Senator Gillibrand currently serves on the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. At the meeting, we spoke with Senator Gillibrand’s Senior Advisor Patti Lubin about the bill’s impact on the hungry throughout the world and how we must do better. We were thrilled to get to speak with Senator Gillibrand’s staff, through whom she has the potential to influence others and introduce early amendments to this bill.

Since our meeting coincided with Passover, I couldn’t help but try to understand this issue in a Jewish context. How might Jewish teaching inform international food aid policy? Exploring the lessons of Passover, I tried to think of how my freedom and duty of responsibility are joined together. As many of us contemplate the history of our own slavery, I can’t help but feel free because I do not have to worry about hunger in my own life. Acknowledging my own sense of freedom, I am reminded of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words, “No one is free until everyone is free.” As a Jew, I have a responsibility to speak out and influence others to fight against injustice, wherever it exists. As the Passover Haggadah says, “This is the bread of affliction our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat; let all who are in need come share our Passover.”

During the meeting we discussed the current shipping and purchasing requirements that delay critical food aid—aid that can mean the difference between life and death. According to AJWS and Oxfam’s latest report, if we amended the Farm Bill by ending food aid monetization and removing U.S. shipping and purchasing requirements, we could provide aid to 17.1 million more hungry people at no additional cost to taxpayers. In the halls of Congress, legislators are debating the bill and need to understand why ending food monetization and purchasing food locally will save lives. Our voice is needed in these next few months to ensure that legislators grasp what’s at stake in this bill.

The above reforms to the Farm Bill can go a long way to creating self-sufficiency, which is needed for individuals and communities that are in need of aid. An example of our current approach to food aid can be seen most recently in Haiti, where the U.S. donated rice following the 2010 earthquake. This coincided with Haiti’s rice growing season, and the influx of cheap U.S. rice devastated the incomes of local farmers. This approach often doesn’t address the larger goal of self-sufficiency—where aid can build a community up. We learn in Judaism that the highest level of tzedakah, translated as justice, is to enable the receiver to be self-sufficient. The Farm Bill must move toward enabling individuals and communities to become self-sufficient and truly free. 

Overall, our meeting at Senator Gillibrand’s office was a success. Patti Lubin was very receptive to our points and signaled that the Senator may support these issues. Our next step is to work with her staff to confirm this support and encourage Senator Gillibrand to be an advocate on this issue. We also need to keep the momentum going and discuss the importance of the Farm Bill with more senators and U.S. House members. 

This is where you can really get involved and help. All elected officials track letters of support on legislative matters. In fact, Senator Gillibrand’s staff was thrilled to receive a stack of postcards supporting a Just Farm Bill. In a few seconds, you can simply click on this link and let your representatives know that this issue has support and action is needed. The more support elected officials know is out there, the more likely these needed changes will become a reality.

Elizabeth Buck is a Master’s Candidate at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at NYU. She previously managed former Congressman Sestak’s campaign office in Ardmore, PA during his United States Senate campaign.

In his recent piece on the Huffington Post, Max Klau of City Year (and former AJWS group leader) writes that “causes of justice and equality have always been advanced through the collective efforts of vast numbers of civic leaders working together for change.” He highlights one person in particular: Bayard Rustin, the man behind the hundreds of thousands of people who made it to the National Mall for Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Without the crowd—and the organizers that got them there—the speech would not have had nearly as great an impact as it did, nor would the struggle for civil rights have been nearly as successful.

The relationship between leaders and participants in social justice movements can be tenuous. History remembers iconic figureheads, while behind the scenes, connections are quietly forged that bring change to fruition. On the other hand, the challenges of working within a large group of people can seem insurmountable. How can movements embody the kind of respectful and participatory decision-making and collective action that they hope to bring about in society?

Pursue is not a single issue-focused project. Yes, we are serious about our food justice work (and taking action to Reverse Hunger), but we are not policy or advocacy experts, and individual Pursuers work on a whole range of social justice issues in their volunteer and professional lives. What we strive to do, however, is to build a network of young Jewish change-makers that understand the power and potential of working together to achieve justice. We offer skills workshops so that people can become leaders not for the sake of attracting followers, but to become adept at facilitating change-making efforts among a wider group of people. Even our City Team embraces a non-hierarchical collaborative work mode. 

And we take it upon ourselves to learn from the best: organizers, mobilizers, and advocates who harness the collective energy of communities to make real change. On February 28th, we’ll be learning from the change-makers of Occupy Wall Street, a movement that has truly dedicated itself to consensus-based action across gender, class, race, and political affiliations—and has captured the world’s attention in the process. Join us as these “civic leaders” facilitate for us an opportunity to meet and network with other like-minded change-makers. The classic Margaret Mead quote rings true: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Suzanne Lipkin is Pursue’s Program Officer for Operations at AJWS.

Applications for the 2012 conference Siach: An Environment and Social Justice Conversation are now open! Pursue is proud to have served on the steering committee of the first conference — you can read a report-back from that gathering, held at the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center in Connecticut, here.

Below are all the details for applying to the next installment of this three-conference series:

WHAT: A unique opportunity to meet, share and collaborate with fellow social justice and environment activists from across the Jewish world.  Siach, an Environment and Social Justice Conversation, brings together committed activists from across Israel, North America, and Europe. Supported by the UJA Federation of New York, with anchors in the US, Israel and Great Britain, and scores of member organizations, Siach is deepening the nuanced understanding of Jewish Peoplehood and Israel engagement with those for whom the pursuit of social and environmental justice is one of the defining characteristics of their identity. 

WHERE: The second annual Siach conference will take place in Ohalo Manor Hotel, on the Kinneret in Israel.

WHEN: June 15-18, 2012

WHO: Individuals who are doers, networkers, out-of-the-box thinkers and visionaries with the desire to share our vision of creating a global network of collaboration in the areas of environment and social justice.

HOW: Click here for more information and to apply.

Last year we asked Pursue’s matriarchs to share their New Year’s resolutions. One year later, we asked them to reflect and share their commitments for 2012 (to read last year’s resolutions, click here).

Last year I committed to trying to figure out how service work can be done in partnership with work for systemic change. One week, one month, one year is not near enough to rise to the challenges marginalized individuals face in a time of recession and economic crisis. 
In 2011 we responded by completely changing the way we conceive of our work. The AVODAH experience begins with a Corps year in each of our hub cities. The real work begins when these young leaders have concluded their time at their placements and disperse to grow an energetic, sustainable movement for social change with the support of the AVODAH network. With this paradigm shift we are playing a crucial role in engaging and involving young Jews in fighting growing poverty in the United States both through service work and community organizing.
This year I commit to supporting alumni of Jewish service and social justice organizations as they partner with the dispossesed and win justice for the poorest among us. None of us can achieve justice on our own.  

-Marilyn Sneiderman, Executive Director of AVODAH

This post originally appeared on AJWS’s website.

The Neta Fellowship, generously supported by the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, is a yearlong fellowship designed to support select Rabbinical Students’ Delegation alumni in creating replicable programming to promote global citizenship in their communities. AJWS will provide both funding as well as coaching in order to support the Fellows on their respective journeys.

The Hebrew word neta refers to both a small plant and to the act of planting. Like a sapling, these projects will be relatively small. However, AJWS hopes that by offering nurture now, they will grow and help make global justice a central concern of the American Jewish community.

Rabbi Andy Kastner is the Silk Foundation Campus Rabbi at St. Louis Hillel at Washington University. Rabbi Kastner received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and became a licensed shochet (kosher slaughterer) through an apprenticeship while living in New York City. While in rabbinical school, he also participated in RSD 8 with AJWS. An avid outdoorsman, a lover of food and the natural world, Rabbi Kastner may not be able to pat his head and rub his tummy simultaneously, but he is fond of digestive consciousness, thinking while chewing.  Andy currently lives in St. Louis with his sweet wife Leslie and their vivacious toddler Asher.

About Rabbi Kastner’s Neta Project: St. Louis Hillel at Washington University is launching a year-long program called the “Takkana Social Justice Initiative: Seeding a Sustainable Future.” Guided by the meaning of the initiative’s name, Takkana (from the Hebrew word, l’takken, to repair) seeks to explore ways of change in the world by bringing together university students committed to the values of environmental sustainability, stewardship and food security for a year of education, community service and social justice. The students’ experience will culminate in the creation of environmental sustainability projects at local public schools in St Louis. Andy is hopeful that this model will be transferable to other college campuses that are interested in long-term, community-based learning and service.

Rabbi Elizabeth Richman is the Program Director & Rabbi in Residence at Jews United for Justice, Washington DC’s local Jewish social justice organization. She also serves on the Rabbinical Assembly’s Social Justice Commission and the steering committee of DC Interfaith Worker Justice. A trained community organizer and teacher, Rabbi Richman has taught about Judaism and justice around the world, from California to Qatar. She was a participant in AJWS’s RSD 4 trip to El Salvador, and worked in the field of international development and human rights before entering the rabbinate.  Rabbi Richman was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, and holds an AB from Princeton University and a certificate in Talmud, Tanach and Halacha from the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education.

About Rabbi Richman’s Neta Project: “Green and Just Celebrations” – Simchas (celebrations) and lifecycle events such as bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, commitment ceremonies and baby namings are unique opportunities in our lives to publicly celebrate Jewish values and identity. They are also the largest and most expensive events that most people will ever plan. In the DC area alone, the Jewish community spends approximately $30 million annually on its celebrations. To help individuals and families align the many spending decisions that go into planning a lifecycle celebration with Jewish values such as the fair treatment of workers, protecting the environment and decreasing waste and excess consumption, Jews United for Justice published Green & Just Celebrations, a guide designed to empower Jews to choose Jewish ethical consumption options.

Presently, more than 40 DC-area synagogues currently distribute Green and Just Celebrations to members planning lifecycle events. The Neta funding will help deepen and multiply the impact of the Guide by allowing Rabbi Richman and her team to partner with one local synagogue to transform how it teaches about planning simchas. Through this partnership, JUFJ will create a series of engaging educational modules to help members use Green & Just Celebrations more fully and productively, and help educate our broader Jewish community on the Jewish values of ethical consumption. As a result, families and individuals will transform their simchas into more just events, support the growth of worker- and environment-friendly businesses and create teachable Jewish moments for the whole community. Rabbi Richman will collaborate closely with Rabbi Weiss, as the goals and visions of their projects are similar though their audiences and regional focus may differ.

Rabbi Ari Weiss is the Director of Uri L’Tzedek. A frequent scholar-in-residence, Rabbi Weiss has taught at foundations, synagogues and on campuses nationwide. Prior to Uri L’Tzedek, he was co-director of the Meorot University Fellowship at YCT Rabbinical School, served as the Rabbinic Fellow at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at NYU and taught as part of the Judaic Studies Faculty at the Heschel School. In the summer of 2006, Rabbi Weiss was a JCUA Rabbinical Student Fellow and interned at We The People Media, a Chicago-based public housing advocacy group. He has served as a Jewish educator for American Jewish World Service, Bnei Akiva and the Lauder Foundation on missions to Nicaragua, Ghana, Israel and Hungary. He also travelled to El Salvador with AJWS on RSD4.

Rabbi Weiss received his rabbinical ordination from YCT Rabbinical School in June 2007. He is completing a Master’s degree in Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University where received his B.A. in philosophy and religion. He has studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion and Beit Morasha of Jerusalem. In April 2010, Rabbi Ari Weiss was selected as a Joshua Venture Group fellow, a prestigious honor bestowed upon Jewish leaders that show particular promise for social change and social entrepreneurship.

About Rabbi Weiss’s Neta Project: “Just Celebrations” will transform synagogue life in America by incorporating meaningful social justice as a core component of Jewish lifecycle events. Birth, b’nai mitzvah and weddings are powerful moments in our lives where we transition to becoming parents, adults, and spouses. Judaism has developed precise rituals to mark these liminal moments, including festive occasions to celebrate these transformations. “Just Celebrations” will provide the tools necessary to create ethical celebrations including, curriculum linking life-cycle events to authentic Jewish social justice teachings, creating ethical institutions in our synagogues by ensuring that in-house kosher caterers pay fair wages and an interactive website that provides information highlighting ethical choices such as “blood diamonds,” and “fair trade.” Rabbi Weiss will work in collaboration with Rabbi Elizabeth Richman of JUFJ to create these tools and hopes that his project will have great impact on traditional synagogues nationwide.

Last week, we at Pursue stumbled upon The Jewish Week’s annual  “36 Under 36” list, a yearly pat on the back for Jews under 36 in leadership positions in the Jewish community. We sniffed out the social justice related folks for you, below. One trend we caught: the name of the game this year is using media to promote human (and animal!) rights.

Who do you think was missing from the list?

Bryan Elliot, 30

Elliot, as an LGBT rights advocate, sees legal equality on the horizon.  He is the founder of Friendfactor, an organization that reasons that while it may be hard to inspire individuals to support an abstract cause, assigning the face of a friend or loved one to an issue will rally a force for change in the country. Elliot argues that as a gay American he is denied many rights in many states but that social networking can expedite change.

Jennifer Joseph, 30

This TV producer for ABC has traveled to India, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Australia. When stateside, she spends her time co-chairing Global Circle, an AJWS initiative to spread the message of its development work in 35 countries across the world. Global Circle service trips, film screenings, discussions and fundraising events engage nearly 1,000 young New York Jews who want to make a difference in the world.

Sara Greenberg, 23

Greenberg’s documentary, “B-2247: A Granddaughter’s Understanding” tells her grandparents’ story as Holocaust survivors and delivers a message: the responsibility of the third generation — Greenberg’s — is to preserve survivors’ legacies. It has been shown at several film festivals, and has screened since 2009 at the UN’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies.

She has brought the film to the Anti-Defamation League’s Bearing Witness program for Catholic school educators, worked with Steven Spielberg’s USC Shoah Foundation to inspire other grandchildren of survivors, and shown the film in several New York and Philadelphia schools, mostly for non-Jewish audiences. “It’s more,” she says, “than a fulltime job.” Currently, she is working in Hong Kong for Thomson Reuters.

Skyler Seigel, 18

In 2009, along with two of his schoolmates, Siegel launched the website Veguary.org, aiming to get “pledges” from people around the world to eliminate or reduce their meat consumption for just the month of February.

“We don’t preach vegetarianism, we preach awareness,” said Siegel. The second year of Veguary, in 2011, had pledges from over 700 people. Siegel has always been environmentally active, and saw vegetarianism as a way to advance those concerns, since meat processing is a major contributor to pollution.

Rabbi Rachel Kahn Troster, 32

Kahn-Troster, whose career goal is nothing short of “saving the world and teaching Jews,” is the lead organizer for Rabbis for Human Rights North America’s campaigns against slavery/human trafficking and U.S.-sponsored torture. Since January, she has also served as the organization’s interim co-executive director.

Kahn-Troster has also worked for the American Jewish World Service and is on the board of the Jewish environmental group Hazon.

• The Union for Reform Judaism announced this week that AJWS board member Rabbi Richard Jacobs has been nominated to be the movement’s next leader. Currently the rabbi of a suburban NYC congregation, Jacobs has traveled to Chad and Haiti with AJWS and is a dedicated to bringing greater environmentalism and pluralism into contemporary Jewish life. In an interview with the JTA, Jacobs said he is also interested in “making Jewish communal life relevant for Jews in their 20s and 30s.” Between this and Ruth Messinger’s praise that “Rick has been a powerful voice on international social and economic justice,” we at Pursue look forward to his efforts in this new leadership position.
• Hazon intern Ilana Krakowski blogged this week on The Jew and the Carrot about a Jewish response to the inevitable food waste that comes even from reputed “sustainable” farms. As with Purim, when we are required to give gifts to the poor, farming also requires that part of the harvest be intentionally left for the poor. While this may be difficult to put into practice, she highlights the Israeli organization Leket, whose food rescues from farms and private celebrations around the country have become a serious contribution to sustainably fighting poverty by providing fresh food to low-income populations.
• Tackling Torah blogger Elyssa Cohen posted this week on the recent Torah portions of Vayikra and Tzav, focusing on the meaning of sacrificial offerings. While in Biblical times, a physical object was sacrificed, Cohen believes that today, we may instead sacrifice our evil inclination – selfish impulses that take us away from our concern for others. Drawing on her study of Mussar as a Jewish social justice practice, she writes, “We need guidelines for how to maintain a healthy balance of the sacrifices we each make in our lives in order to maintain a caring community and larger global society while still fulfilling our own needs.”
• Expanding on the notion of sacrifice, Rabbi Danielle Stillman wrote a commentary in the Jewish Exponent on this week’s Torah portion, Shemini. Though animal sacrifices are no longer part of Jewish practice, the consumption of animals according to the laws of kashrut still is. Stillman believes that in taking these laws a step further through eco-kashrut – considering the environmental impact of one’s food choices – and the Magen Tzedek – a new ethical seal for kosher products – kashrut can be a model example of how to make sacrifices for a more just world. In making hard food choices, “holiness comes from paying attention to what we are eating in order to be more compassionate to other humans, animals and the earth.”

While most Pursuers are well into their 20s and 30s, we know that the next generation of young change-makers is not that far behind. So we were excited to learn about a new resource for educating this generation about power, privilege and other social justice topics. Published by Ma’yan, friends of Pursue (see Repairing the Idea of Repairing the World), the guide provides activities and context for exploring these issues with Jewish teens, grounded in political theater.

“A future full of girls who are critical thinkers, creative, confident and skilled in leadership: this is the vision that inspired us,” explains the Ma’yan website, where you can download the guide for free.

Jewish youth professionals of today, please get your hands on a copy for your lessons and programs. The next generation of Pursuers is counting on you!