HEALING THE WORLD
The Jewish value of tikkun olam, healing the world, is at the heart of CBE’s identity. From our rapid response to Hurricane Sandy, which spurred our CBE Feeds program, to our study series on systemic racism in America, which led to our Dismantling Racism Team, to our partnership with Council member Brad Lander that led to the #GetOrganizedBK initiative, which has led thousands of our Brooklyn neighbors to work to protect human rights, stand with vulnerable communities, and defend democracy.
If you would like opportunities to do good and create change in the world, from acts of kindness to service, from giving to mitzvot, from advocacy to community organizing, CBE is a place to get involved. We welcome you to bring your skills, commitments, and heart to any or all of our social justice initiatives.
Neutrality when life is at risk is not a Jewish value. Silence in the face of injustice is not a Jewish value. The Jewish thing to do is to take a stand, to speak, to act. —Rabbi Rachel Timoner
ONGOING INITIATIVES
Thousands of asylum-seeking families have been settled in Brooklyn, and many are living in hotels near CBE. The CBE Refugee Task Force is made up of local community members who want to make a difference. Here are some of the ways we work to support our neighbors and how you can get involved:
CBE Feeds: volunteer to help local refugees
Hanukkah Collection Drive 2024: from Nov 30-Dec 15
Distribute food to asylum-seekers in local shelters (sign up to volunteer with CBE Feeds for one or more slots here)
Assist individual immigrant families
Host events to help furnish apartments for immigrants (with Ruth’s Refuge)
Hold drives for essential items for immigrants, such as coats, toiletries and metrocards
Host book/film events
Want to get involved? Have ideas? Contact us here: bonniekerker@yahoo.com
Looking for a concrete way to protect our planet for generations to come? We’ve joined a coalition of 20+ climate organizations to launch the Costco: Clean up Your Credit Card campaign.
The basic idea? To urge Costco to live up to their own well-earned slogan, “Do the right thing!,” and tell Citibank––Costco’s credit card holder––that they need to fulfill their Paris Agreement commitments or risk losing Costco’s business. It’s an ambitious but doable plan, it would make a huge difference, and our action begins this week! Questions? Check out our FAQ.
- Summer of Heat Faith Week Action: Thursday, August 1, Time TBD, at Citibank Headquarters, 388 Greenwich Street, New York, NY
- A family-friendly gathering to wake up Citibank! Join us as people of all faiths come together to call out this moral imperative of our day––and share ice cream, music, art, and prayer.
Questions? Want to get more involved? Email climate@cbebk.org.
The Dismantling Racism Team (DRT) is part of CBE’s larger history and commitment to pursuing social justice for all. We have two main working groups that we warmly welcome all interested members of the congregation to become part of. The group is open to non-members as well. If you are interested in learning more and/or attending please email: cbedismantlingracismteam@cbebk.org
-The Antiracism Working Group focuses on CBE’s own congregational norms, practices, and policies, with the goal of making CBE an antiracist congregation and a more inclusive community for all, including congregants, worshipers, family members, guests, and students.
-The Advocacy Working Group is actively engaged in advocacy, in alliance with more directly impacted groups, for reforms of the state and local criminal legal system. The group’s efforts have included participating in the Raise the Age coalition to sharply curtail the prosecution of teenagers as adults, helping pass laws eliminating cash bail, and more recently, advocating for police reforms to end police brutality.
On March 1, 2021 as part of CBE’s speaker series “Member Mondays,” the DRT presented “#LessIsMoreNY: A Conversation on Combating Racism Through Parole Reform”. Click here to watch our presentation
Thanks to our community’s generosity, the CBE K’far Aza Healing Committee has raised $300,000 for our sister community in Israel. But our support—and prayers—are still needed.
More information: https://cbebk.org/kfar-aza/
About the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
(From Souls of Poor Folk)
“In 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. launched the Poor People’s Campaign. It was an evolution of his work leading the Civil Right Movement. He connected those affected by the interfunctioning evils of poverty, race, and the war economy. He was killed while organizing a mass mobilization and encampment in Washington DC for the summer of 1968. Still, that summer, a “’freedom church of the poor’ gathered by the thousands in Washington. They erected “Resurrection City,” their encampment on the National Mall, to demand that their government address bitter poverty in the wealthiest nation in the world. They confronted fundamental questions about America’s moral and Constitutional vision for all of its people, regardless of their wealth, race, gender or national origin. They demanded attention to the hungry children and inadequate schools from Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta to the devastated inner cities across America. They made moral witness against America’s long, pointless, and immoral war in Vietnam, and tried hard to be heard as they carried their testimony forward into public life. The hard history that compelled them to “pray with their feet,” as Rabbi Abraham Heschel said, also compelled many Americans to ask whether the republic for which they stood would ever stand for them.”
In 2018, the Campaign was relaunched by Rev. William Barber and Rev. Liz Theoharis. It calls us to understand now five interfunctioning evils: deepening poverty, ecological devastation, systemic racism, and an economy harnessed to seemingly endless war, and the perpetuation of false moral narratives.
“The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is rooted in a moral analysis based on our deepest religious and constitutional values that demand justice for all. Every major religious tradition places challenging oppression and criticizing systems of injustice at the center of its moral considerations.”
Click here to read a d’var Torah Rabbi Timoner wrote for the RAC about the Poor People’s Campaign in 2018.
Click here for a video from the URJ about the Poor People’s Campaign.
In the coming year, the Poor People’s Campaign is focused on their MORE Campaign: mobilizing, organizing, registering, and educating voters as fundamental to combating the inter-functioning evils of poverty, racism, etc. At CBE, we will be working with members participating in other social justice efforts to build connections and support for all this critical work.
CBE operates a Respite Shelter for 11 weeks, in the evenings, from April 1 through June 14, 2024. It is in the Rotunda of the Sanctuary Building and provides a warm, safe place to sleep, along with a hot meal, for our homeless guests. The Shelter is an entirely volunteer effort, coordinated by CBE congregants and supported by members and non-members alike. Guests are brought to the Shelter by bus from a drop-in center operated by CAMBA, the largest social service agency in Brooklyn. We provide a hot, protein-based, evening meal each night. Volunteers may bring dinner or a dessert or they may sleep overnight.
The signup calendar link is here: 2024 CBE Homeless Shelter sign up
Questions: Please contact shelter@cbebk.org or Carol Shuchman at carol.shuchman@gmail.com.
GET INVOLVED
Click the button below to stay in touch with the Tikkun Alliance and learn more about social justice opportunities with CBE.
Are you interested in becoming a member of CBE? Click here to learn more about membership.