In response to Madoff

by: Rachel Berger

Tue Jan 13, 2009 at 13:38:46 PM EST


( - promoted by Mik Moore)

The New Year is a natural time to think about fresh starts and new beginnings. The Jewish Community is entering this year especially fraught with the need for something new, in the wake of the Madoff scandal (not to mention general financial upheaval). I want to honor a JFSJ Congregation Based Community Organizing grantee, Chapel Hill Kehillah, that started new organizing initiative in Chapel Hill, NC and is using its power to create social change and act responsibly on behalf of the community.

Chapel Hill Kehillah is a founding member of the Orange County Organizing Committee, an IAF affiliate, which launched a new platform last month. Drawing 300 leaders from 23 faith-based members, they laid out their new action agenda which addressed the need for change in North Carolina in affordable housing, living wages, environmental justice, education, healthcare, and quality of life for immigrant families.
Rachel Berger :: In response to Madoff
This was not O.C.O.C.’s first major meeting. Started almost one year ago, O.C.O.C. got behind the residents of the Rogers and Eubanks Road neighborhood as they fought to prevent a waste-transfer station to be built in this rural, historically black community. Their community had already served as a site for a landfill for the last 30 years, and this new proposal reeked (pardon the pun) of environmental racism.  Chapel Hill Kehillah, a JFSJ synagogue challenge grant recipient, was a part of the action and protest that ultimately persuaded the Orange County, NC commissioners to rethink their decision, and propose new locations in October 2008.

At a time when Jewish communities are collectively looking in the mirror and asking themselves “how could a Madoff come from us?,” I think it’s important to remember the Chapel Hill Kehillahs, the synagogues that are using their power to come together as sacred communities, and for us to celebrate the justice work that is happening within our congregations.

To learn more about the organizing happening with Orange County Organizing Committee you can click here:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4096391/
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/30332.html
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/30336.html
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In response to Madoff | 2 comments
Thank you (0.00 / 0)

Rachel, thank you for your kind words about our synagogue's work in the community.  We are fortunate to have both a rabbi, Jen Feldman, who has worked tirelessly from the beginning to help spearhead this community organization, and also a group of congregants who have really stepped up.

 


actions should speak louder than words, but (0.00 / 0)

unfortunely they don't always. I was disappointed that a story like the one Rachel recounts here was not included in the recent JTA article about Obama's efforts to revive the black/Jewish alliance. This work in neighborhoods and communities has been happening for years, without much notice, across the country. Dialogue is important, as are leadership meetings, but it is hard to replicate the kinds of relationship that are built through joint actions like this one.

 



"When something important is going on, silence is a lie." -- A.M. Rosenthal
In response to Madoff | 2 comments
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