Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

               Now in its fourth year, Human Rights Shabbat is RHR-NA's annual celebration of Jewish values and human rights. This year's resources include innovative curricula on Solidarity with Muslim Americans (including RHR-NA's groundbreaking Stand Together videos), Fair Trade and Human Rights, Manifesting K'vod Habriot (human dignity) in Our Communities, and Speaking About Human Rights From Your Pulpit, along with sample sermons, children's programs, and human rights prayers. Synagogues can either use RHR-NA's Human Rights Shabbat resources or celebrate a human rights issue that resonates with their community.

More than 80 congregations from coast to coast have already signed up for Human Rights Shabbat 2011.

Human Rights Shabbat is December 9-10 (alternate weekend December 2-3 or the date that works best for your community).  read more »

The following JRF communities were among those who made a public commitment to Human Rights in 2010-11:  

JRF joins East Africa Relief

https://www.jdc.org/jcdr_main.html
Countries in the Horn of Africa including, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti are experiencing the worst drought in 60 years. As a result, millions of people are in desperate need of food and water. Livestock and crops are deteriorating due to the lack of access to water and malnutrition is on the rise. A famine has been declared in a number of regions of Somalia and elsewhere, causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee to neighboring countries.  read more »

We Were Strangers TooJRF Supports Immigration Reform

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation continues to work with a coalition of Jewish and interfaith organizations towards comprehensive reform of the immigration system in the United States. Our key partner in this endeavor is HIAS (The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, see http://wewerestrangerstoo.wordpress.com/).  read more »

Sustainable WorldIn 1990 JRF passed a movement-wide resolution (see attachments below) on the environment and congregational life. Since 2006 we offered conference calls and resources on Sustainable Synagogues and Living a Jewish Life Rooted in Ecological Values.

Read the notes from the 2007 call.  read more »

With the enthusiasm around JRF's Omer Learning Initiative, (2010 Omer Sustainability call- http://jrf.org/pearl/2011/Sustainability) as well as the solid response of JRF congregations in the Climate Change and Blessing the Sun (Solar Energy) Initiatives, JRF continues to deepen our work with member communities, other religious movements and partner organizations (JCPA, COEJL) in the area of sustainability.

Faithful Reform- Interfaith Coalition for Healthcare“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?” --Jeremiah 8:22

JRF and our member communities have been actively supporting the need for healthcare reform in the United States. We will continue to join other Jewish religious movements and organizations to this end.
As people of faith, we envision a society where each person is afforded health, wholeness, and human dignity.

That vision as collectively articulated by the interfaith coalition Faithful Reform for Healthcare and the former "We Believe" interfaith action, embraces a system of health care that is inclusive... accessible... affordable... and accountable.  read more »

A number of us in the Jewish and larger social justice streams have been tracking the issue of child slave labor and the chocolate industry (Hershey is not the only or worst culprit here) for some time. My cousin’s son gave a dvar challenging his congregation to audit their chocolate choices in 2009 at his bar mitzvah. He came to this issue by identifying with Joseph being tossed down the pit and crying out with no one to hear him, abandoned by those he loved (his dvar Torah is attached on this page). You will also see a Fair Trade Chocolate Seder, an Adat Shalom supplement supplied to me by Rabbi Erin Hirsh, some information from Fair Trade Judaica who are organizing their own Jewish community campaign, links supplied by Cantor Eric Schulmiller of Reconstructionist congregation RSNS, NY. You may have your own information, which I invite you to send to me at SZevit@jrf.org. For thousands of children on this planet, slavery is not a historical event, but a current reality. We can make a difference.  read more »

The JRF-GreenFaith Partnership

GreenFaith and the JRF through the Department of Congregational Services and Tikkun Olam are pleased to announce a three-year partnership to promote a deepening of JRF’s existing environmental initiatives. GreenFaith is a leading national interfaith environmental coalition whose mission is to help diverse religious communities become environmental leaders.  GreenFaith is a leading interfaith environmental coalition whose mission is to educate, equip and empower diverse religious communities for environmental leadership.  Founded in 1992, GreenFaith offers a range of programs that help faith-based groups nationwide put their beliefs into action for the earth.  The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation has had a long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship and the role of the Jewish people in building sustainable communities (http://jrf.org/Sustainable_Synagogue_Resources).  read more »