Repair the World

Shabbat Service: Housing is a Basic Human Right

Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:

The story: This week’s parsha (Torah portion), Terumah, opens with the Israelites building the Mishkan – a portable sanctuary for God. Despite being a temporary/portable structure, it’s a remarkably elaborate piece of construction: “Speak to the children of Israel,” God commands Moses, “and have them take for me an offering; from every person whose heart inspires him to generosity, you shall take my offering… you shall take from them: gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson wool; linen and goat hair.” (Exodus 25:2-4)

The takeaway: This week’s dvar tzedek commentator, Leil Leibovitz writes that there are some startling comparisons between the parsha’s story and today’s modern day economic woes. “[Today's economic catastrophe] was brought about largely due to unhealthy mortgage practices that allowed individuals without much capital to buy houses well beyond their means. And here, as the story begins, are the Israelites acting like the most irresponsible of homeowners. Despite being a nomadic desert tribe, they squander their fortunes on erecting [the Mishkan.]

But, Leibovitz writes, God’s request for a lavish dwelling place acutally helps teach the Israelite’s some important lessons – namely, the importance of sacrifice and of respecting home. He writes, “for a collection of ancient tribespeople becoming progressively accustomed to life on the move, insisting on one particular, fixed structure as holy sends a powerful message: housing—whether Divine or human—should never be taken lightly. Home is imbued with holiness. A home is a basic human right.” It’s a message we would do well to remember today.

The “to-do”: Work to realize God’s lesson in parsha Terumah that “home is a basic human right.” Learn more about the Fair Housing Act, and get involved with organizations like Housing Rights Inc, and Fair Housing Justice Center which fight for equal access to housing for everyone.

Read the full Torah commentary, on which this excerpt is based, over at AJWS’ website.

Join Isabella Freedman for a Purim of Generosity and Justice – March 9-11

Jam-filled hamantaschen, dressing up in costume, parties – there’s a lot to love about Purim. And this year, there’s even more to love. Join the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center form March 9-11 for a weekend of generosity and service inspired by Purim’s themes of mishloach manot (sending gifts of food) and matanot l’evyonim (giving gifts to the poor).

Presented in partnership with Repair the World, American Jewish World Service, Avodah, Pursue, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, it will be a weekend filled with relaxation, celebration, learning and service. Guest teacher Danny Siegel, an expert on microphilanthropy and tikkun olam, will teach inspirational justice-centered learning sessions.

And while you’re there, you can join in the Purim tradition of mishloach manot with “Pack it Up for Purim” – a UJA-sponsored initiative of packing bags of nutritious and tasty food staples like tomato sauce, peanut butter, oatmeal, and fruit juice to be shared with food pantries. The bags you pack during Purim will be donated to a pantry near Isabella Freedman.

Find out more about Freedman’s Purim weekend here, and learn about the Pack it Up for Purim initiative at the video below:

Planning to head to Isabella Freedman this Purim? Let us know by tweeting @repairtheworld!

Repair Interview: Joelle Berman Talks Food Justice and CSAs

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs – which give people the opportunity to pay in advance to receive a season’s worth of produce directly from a local farmer – have skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade. And it’s no wonder why. Members enjoy the personal connection with a farmer, the thrill of trying new vegetables, and the peace of mind they get from eating fresh, local food.

In Brooklyn, New York the 130 families who belong to the Brooklyn Bridge CSA like those things too. But they also see the CSA as a platform to do powerful food justice work in their community and around new york. And with support from two amazing organizations, Hazon and Pursue, they have built a vibrant, justice-focused CSA that is making a difference on the plate and off.

Joelle Berman (who spends her days as the communications manager for the Foundation for Jewish Camp, and her evenings and in-between hours being a volunteer extraordinaire for the Brooklyn Bridge CSA) spoke with Repair the World about using the CSA model to leverage food justice, the importance of working with a strong team, and why volunteering has become her creative outlet.

How is the Brooklyn Bridge CSA different than most others?
It’s a joint project between Hazon and Pursue that uses the CSA model to advance justice work. That’s an explicit part of our mission. We exist for all the reasons every CSA does – to provide local, fresh, sustainably produced, healthy veggies for people who want to receive them from farmers. But we have the additional lens of incorporating justice work into our model and programming.

What does that look like in practice?
It starts with our tiered payment structure program. We have a base price, a discounted share that is $100 less than the base, and what we call a “sponsor” share that is $100 more. Members pay what they can, based on their income level. We aim to specifically do outreach to low income communities, to help raise awareness about CSA as an option. We also share tons of information on food justice in our weekly newsletters to CSA members.

How do you spread the word?
We have spoken to just about every community organization, school, and YMCA in the neighborhood, and focus on forming partnerships with them. For example, we have a relationship with the church around the corner from the synagogue where we hold distribution. Via one of our members who volunteers with the church’s soup kitchen, we’ve been able to involve the greater community in that work. We have also experimented with partnering with the South Bronx CSA – giving them some of the excess funds we raised from “sponsor” shares to help people in their community join their CSA. We’re hoping to scale up that model with other CSAs in the coming year.

Why do you think other CSAs are less likely to focus on food justice work?
What we’ve found is that the kind of justice work we’re doing is not very popular, and it’s not necessarily because other sites don’t want to do it. It’s that there are many logistics involved with running a CSA, and time limitations are real. For many groups, just keeping the CSA running smoothly is the limit of how far they can stretch.

What inspired you to make the time commitment?
I was a member of the CSA it’s first summer. Halfway through the season I went to a film screening of “What’s Organic About Organic?” and ended up re-screening the film for our CSA, and facilitating a group discussion around it. 100 people showed up to the event! Because of that, the CSA’s organizing group swarmed me about getting more involved. I was reluctant to say yes, but before I knew it I was deeply involved. You kind of catch this fever, and end up way more devoted than you expected.

Does the food justice aspect make running a CSA more fulfilling for you?
It’s sort of amazing. I can’t really imagine a CSA without food justice work – it’s exactly the right use of a CSA. Once you’re a member of a CSA, you have already committed to something bigger than yourself. Why not leverage that further?

Personally, this CSA has become a creative outlet for me. 130 families allow 9 unpaid volunteers to manage their money and make sure a farmer gets paid for his work. No one is telling us what to do. The whole thing just happens on a wing and a prayer, and we keep it going because we care about it. As a volunteer, having that level of trust and creative control is very empowering. I have a very solid connection with the 6 other people on the organizing group with me – even though I wasn’t friends with any of them beforehand. They are smart, talented people and an honor to work with.

Do you connect your service with the CSA with your Jewish heritage?
I think it’s no mistake that there is a disproportionate amount of Jewish representation in our organizing croup. 3 out of the 9 of us work in the Jewish communal world. We do it to manifest values and ideas that are important to us, and I think a lot of that comes from Jewish tradition.

Live in New York City? Join Joelle and other great CSA volunteers and members at the Just Food CSA in NYC conference this weekend!

Academy Award “Best Film” Nominees Inspire Service

We’re a little bit (okay, a lot) excited about the Academy Awards this year – the red carpet glamour, the little gold statuettes, and yes, the fantastic lineup of films. When this Sunday February 26th rolls around, we’ll be ready to geek out movie-style with our popcorn and personalized Oscar ballots.

Meanwhile, Repair the World decided to do something special in honor of Oscar season. The best films have a way of not only touching our hearts, but inspiring our consciences as well. Many of this year’s Best Picture nominees touch on social issues – from domestic worker rights to healthcare to taking care of the world’s children. We took a closer look at the nine nominees and paired each one with a non-profit organization that is doing world-changing work related to the films’ themes. Think of it as Hollywood-inspired service. As you enjoy the Oscars this year, take a minute to learn more about or get involved with one (or several!) of the organizations featured below.

And the 2012 Best Picture Nominees are…

Monday Link Roundup

Happy Monday, and happy President’s Day! This week’s round up of service-related posts from around the web is dedicated in honor of the birthday of our country’s first President, George Washington, and to the commitment to service that America’s presidents give to this country.

• The Huffington Post, speaking of presidents, published an article about the history of the Teddy Bear (hint, think Teddy Roosevelt!) and an organization called Teddy Share that empowers kids to support children’s causes.
• Have Fun Do Good produced podcasts with nearly 70 amazing change makers. Listen up and get inspired!
• GOOD’s 30 Days of Good challenge encourages readers to write a letter to the editor about an issue that matters to them. (We think that’s an awesome idea!)
• The New York Times reported about a new museum in Atlanta that shines the spotlight on the Civil Rights era.
• ServiceNation published an infographic that shows the huge spike in interest and applications to AmeriCorps over the last few years. In other words: people really heart service!

Shabbat Service: Remembering the Soul of the Stranger

Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:

The story: This week’s parsha (Torah portion), Mishpatim, is a biggie on the social justice and service front. The Israelites have just received the ten commandments at Mt. Sinai (kind of a big deal) – and in this parsha, they hear more including the first two appearances of the commandment not to oppress the stranger: “You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:20) and similarly, “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.” (23:9)

The takeaway: When you think about it, it’s pretty incredible that the Jewish commandments would include the mandate not to oppress others – and stress it here not once, but twice. And the reason? Because we ourselves know, in our souls, what it feels like to be oppressed.

Throughout recent history, these verses have been at the root of Jewish participation in local, national and global efforts to support marginalized populations – from the Civil Rights movement, to the crisis in Darfur. And yet for those of us who live in relative privilege and safety, far away from any sense of real-life oppression, it can be a challenge to continue to identify with the heart and soul of the stranger.

The “to-do”: This parsha begs the question: how do we continue to remember the soul of the stranger? How do we tap into that sense of obligation to others that’s born of connection and empathy? One way (though certainly not the only way!) is to get to know the communities around us better. To meet people face to face, and listen to their stories and needs. Try volunteering with an organization like 826 – a national literacy, tutoring and writing organization that engages young students in story telling. Or get involved with Just Congregations, an organization that works within synagogues and communities to identify community organizing strategies that truly reflect the needs of the community.

Read the full Torah commentary, on which this excerpt is based, over at AJWS’ website.

J-Serve Interview: Rebecca Slatkin

This is the first in a series of interviews featuring a handful of the nearly 10,000 awesome teens who are involved with J-Serve – the International Day of Jewish Youth Service coming up on April 22. First up: Rebecca Slatkin of Fairfax, Virginia.

Have you always been passionate about service?
Yes, it has always been important to me – particularly issues around drinking or texting while driving. I started the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) club at my high school, and we have been advocating within our high school about the issue. We focused our activities around dances like homecoming and prom, and worked to demonstrate the potentially horrible effects related to making bad decisions. It’s an issue that everyone can relate to, and I have been really passionate about spreading the word.

How did you first learn about J-SERVE?
I first heard about it through my synagogue, when our youth group did a J-Serve project. We went to a shelter and put together necessities kits with food and medicine for refugees from other countries who had recently moved to America. Many refugees first arrive in Washington DC, where I live, before settling in other places, so it was a very local issue. Many of them were escaping awful experiences in their home countries and had to leave everything behind.

Once I joined BBYO, I began to get more involved with J-Serve and started to understand it from a global perspective. I saw how J-Serve gets teens from all over the world to serve together. Although we live far apart, we all have the common goals of tikkun olam, tzedakah and helping others.

How are you involved with J-Serve today?
I head the international J-Serve committee. Our committee works together throughout the year to help communities around the world plan their projects. The projects are youth led and planned, and we assist them with all aspects. We connect them to people around the world doing similar projects, so they can build greater connections. Another thing our committee has done is hold a monthly call that anyone can listen into that all focus on different topics. The first month was about how to start a J-Serve project. The second month went into greater detail about project ideas. This month is focused on the global perspective and how it connects to Jewish heritage. We have people from all over the country and Canada on the call – and we reach out to the overseas community as well, though it is hard for them to participate on calls because of the time difference.

Which J-Serve event do you personally plan to participate in this year?
I’ll participate in an event in my community in Virginia. BBYO is partnering with the JCC to host a carnival for the whole community. On the one hand it will just be a fun carnival with games, ring toss, darts, and different activities that anyone can do. But we will also have a priority to educate people who come to the event about people with disabilities. We are partnering with a home for people with mental and physical disabilities for the event, and have invited their residents to attend.

What inspires you most about J-Serve?
J-Serve is one of the few opportunities for a ton of Jewish teens to connect with one another and make change. It’s not just about one youth group, synagogue or day school. It’s about everyone together, serving and having fun. There will be thousands of participates doing service at the same time – I don’t know of anywhere else that you get the same experience.

Read more about J-Serve’s mission and impact on Repair the World here. Then find out how you can get involved with J-Serve on April 22 and beyond here!

Repair Interview: Alexis Ortiz on HIAS, Immigration and Working with Regina Spektor

For the last 130 years, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) has provided rescue and refuge for persecuted and oppressed peoples – both Jews and, more recently, refugees and immigrants from all backgrounds – around the world.

On February 23rd, HIAS is throwing a benefit concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City in honor of their 130th anniversary. Headlining the concert is Regina Spektor, one of America’s most beloved young singer songwriters – and also an immigrant who, with HIAS’ help, moved from Russia to the United States in the late 1980s.

In the lead up to the concert HIAS Young Leader representative, Alexis Ortiz, talked with Repair the World about how she got inspired by HIAS, how their work around immigration has remained vital throughout the organization’s history, and what it’s like to work with Regina.

How did you get involved with HIAS?
I first got involved in Washington DC about two years ago. I had led some trips for AJWS in Central America, and wanted to stay involved with that community. HIAS in DC has a partnership with the Central American Resource Center, which is a one-stop center for Latin American immigrants in DC. I volunteered through HIAS teaching ESL and citizenship classes. We would hold big celebrations for Christmas and Hanukkah where we’d make papusas and latkes. I also got involved on Capitol Hill, lobbying for refugee policy. I recently moved to New York City, and have continued my work with HIAS here.

In Memory of Whitney Houston, Volunteer to Help People Facing Domestic Abuse

This past week, the entertainment industry said goodbye to one of it’s legends: Whitney Houston. The pop icon and many-time Grammy Awards winner was known for her phenomenal singing, as well as for starring in movies like The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale. She was only 48.

The cause of Houston’s death is still unknown. What is known is that Houston struggled for many years with substance abuse and alcohol addiction. It is also known that her relationship with husband Bobby Brown was, as her New York Times obituary put it, “marred by drug use and by his professional jealousy, psychological abuse and physical confrontations.”

While Houston’s talent was a rarity, domestic violence is unfortunately all too common. Physical, mental and sexual abuse within a domestic context are societal problems that impact both the famous and not, adults and children, men – and primarily women. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.” Meanwhile, the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse reports that, “abuse occurs in Jewish families at about the same rate as in the general community – about 15% – and the abuse takes place among all branches of Judaism and at all socio-economic levels.”

In honor of Houston’s legacy – and especially today on Valentine’s Day, when thoughts of love and partnership are in the air – make a commitment to helping people facing domestic abuse and domestic violence. Here are some organizations that are doing great work:

• Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance: Check out JOFA’s comprehensive list of domestic violence-related resources, books and websites.
• Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse: This organization supports and empowers victims of domestic abuse. Sign up to be a part of their Volunteer Corps.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: Volunteer to answer calls and provide support to abuse victims through this national hotline.
• Safe Horizon: Volunteer as a childcare assistant, tutor, program assistant – or in many other ways – for this organization, which is dedicated to providing services and support to victims of abuse and violence.

Rock Valentine’s Day with Sustainable and Fair Trade Gifts

Valentine’s may be a sappy (and sometimes stressful!) Hallmark holiday – but we think it’s pretty great to have a day entirely devoted to spreading the love. Unfortunately, the business of showing and sharing our love isn’t always so peachy. Nearly 80% of the cut flowers sold in America are grown in South America and Africa – often by exploited workers. Meanwhile conventional cocoa bean production, which helps to produce those iconic heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, shares a similarly sketchy reputation.

So this year – whether you’re blissfully in love, or fixin’ to head out on the town (or stay in and watch a romcom) with friends – rock Valentine’s Day by sharing sustainable and fairly traded tokens of your affection. Here are some easy, last-minute ideas:

• One World Flowers: Surprise your sweetie with a bouquet of beautiful fair trade certified flowers.
• Organic Bouquet: The flowers from this eco-friendly company come with an added bonus – each bouquet you order helps support a non-profit like the Global Fund for Women, The American Lung Association and The National Wildlife Foundation.
• Equal Exchange chocolate: Show how much you really care with a bar of chocolate caramel crunch from this fair trade company.
• Green Restaurant Association: Make a reservation at a restaurant that’s as ethical as it is delicious. Check out the Green Restaurant Association or the Tav HaYosher (founded by Repair the World grantee partner Uri L’Tzedek!) for ideas.

How are you sharing the love this Valentine’s Day? Let us know by tweeting us at @repairtheworld.