Category: Tikkun Olam

Your Tikkun Olam Committee encourages your active support and participation with the following activities. Please read The Shofar and the weekly Shofar Blasts for more information concerning all of these projects.

Interfaith Volunteer Service Day Sunday, August 4^th

Please join with a group of TE volunteers and those from other congregations for an interfaith day of service. This is a perfect hands-on Tikkun Olam activity for family participation. Jean Silk, Coordinator

3^rd Annual Reverse Tashlich  (A Rosh Hashanah tradition)  Sunday, September 22^nd (rain date Sunday, October 6^th)

Partner with “Repair the Sea” and “Save the Sound” to remove litter from our local beaches. This is a perfect hands-on Tikkun Olam activity for family participation. Rebecca Cohen, Karen Fenichel, and Adam Spiewak, Coordinators

31^st Annual High Holy Days Food Drive October 2^nd – October 16^th  (Through the Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot holidays)

Donate non-perishable food to be distributed to the food pantries of both the Jewish Family Service (JFS) and the Town of Orange. Monetary donations can also be sent directly to these two food pantries. Let’s help those in need right here in our own communities. Will Sherman, Coordinator

22^nd Annual Thanksgiving Frozen Turkey and Pie Collection October 27^th – November 17^th  (Pre-Thanksgiving)

Donate frozen turkeys, pies, & all the “fixins” to be delivered to the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK). Let’s surpass last year’s collection of 125 turkeys and help make Thanksgiving special for those in need. Drivers will also needed to transport the turkeys.   Jeffrey Levinson, Coordinator   

Religious School Chanukah Baskets Project December 6^th – December 22^nd

Toys, books, games, clothing, gift cards, and personal hygiene/care objects to be donated to JFS, r’Kids Family Center, Fair Haven Community Health Center, JCARR, and Fellowship Place. Maddy Sussman, Olga Markus, and the Religious School students, staff, and parents

Abraham’s Tent January – March (One week; dates to be determined)

Prepare/serve dinner and socialize with a small group of selected homeless men, coordinated by the Columbus House Homeless Shelter. This is a great hands-on activity. This activity may be coupled with a monetary collection to benefit Columbus House and all their programs. Barb Levine-Ritterman and Lee Stolzman, Coordinators    

Mishloach Manot and Diaper Drive February 2^nd – March 9^th

The mitzvah of giving Mishloach Manot is derived from the Book of Esther which enjoins the Jewish people to send portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. As in the past, TE will distribute a selection of Purim treats and we will continue our tradition of collecting diapers and monetary donations to support The Connecticut Diaper Bank. Michelle Bailey, Rochelle Kanell, and Rise’ Siegel, Coordinators for the Diaper Drive 

Beth-El Pasta Collection Purim, March 14^th

The Religious School children and the adult Megillah reading participants will use boxes of pasta as groggers to drown out the name of Haman during the Purim service. The pasta will then be donated to the Beth-El Homeless Shelter & Soup Kitchen in Milford. A pasta collection box will be available in the lobby. Nancy Weber, Coordinator    

Religious School Purim Mitzvah Project Purim, March 16^th

“Blessing Bags” with notes from the Religious School children containing personal hygiene/care objects will be donated to the homeless program of Fellowship Place. “Welcome baskets” will be donated to Columbus House. These projects are sponsored by the Tzedakah Fund collected by the Religious School students. Olga Markus and the Religious School students, staff, and parents      

In addition to all the above Tikkun Olam Projects, members of Temple Emanuel are actively involved in a variety of additional activities and we urge your active support and participation with the following:

Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (JCARR)

A partnership of six local synagogues and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, JCARR has helped welcome and relocate a number of refugee families from around the world. Your ongoing support and assistance in a variety of ways is greatly appreciated. Jean Silk, Coordinator

Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut (CONECT)

Keeping within our Jewish values of “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” CONECT is an organization devoted to social and economic justice, gun violence and health insurance issues, police reform, and immigration rights. CONECT is currently seeking a Temple Emanuel liaison. Please contact the Rabbi if you’re interested.

Beth-El Homeless Shelter & Soup Kitchen (in Milford)

In addition to a variety of collections, volunteers from TE prepare and serve dinner on the first Tuesday of every month. This is a great hands-on activity. Nancy Weber and Rachel Suchoff, Coordinators

Join other TE members as we remove ‘sins’ from the ocean by cleaning up Woodmont Beach as part of TE’s second Reverse Tashlich. The event, part of a worldwide event, takes place on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 1:00 p.m. at Woodmont Beach.

“For hundreds of years, Jews have symbolically thrown their sins into the water on Rosh Hashana,” says Karen Fenichel, co-chair. “We’re going to remove some of mankind’s sins by cleaning up the beach as part of Reverse Tashlich.”

Individuals, families and friends are invited to join the effort, which nationally is part of the Sixth Annual Reverse Tashlich. While we are working on Woodmont Beach, Jews around the world will be cleaning up waterways and beaches near their homes. The effort is the largest Jewish aquatic restoration community in the world. The Reverse Tashlich is sponsored internationally by Repair the Sea. Locally, Save the Sound is assisting with our effort.

“Doing Reverse Tashlich around Rosh Hashana allows us to connect spiritual and ethical values with environmental stewardship,” said Adam Spiewak, co-chair. “When you realize how much trash there is on the beach, it really makes you think about what we’re doing to the world and what we can do about it.”

To learn more about Reverse Tashlich please check out the Reverse Tashlich website here. To register to participate please follow this link.

The Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (JCARR) was thrilled to be awarded a Kraus Immigration Justice Mini-Grant of $5,000 to support vulnerable children during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The Kraus grant is an initiative of the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center, which was formed in 1961 “to educate, inspire, and mobilize the Reform Jewish Movement to advocate for social justice”.  The Kraus grants this year are being given “to support and to encourage our congregations’ essential work with immigrant children and young people during the pandemic.”

Founded in 2015, JCARR is a coalition of Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel, Congregation B’nai Jacob, Congregation Mishkan Israel, Congregation Or Shalom, Temple Emanuel, and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven to further immigration work the congregations had separately engaged in since the 1980s.  Temple Emanuel submitted the grant application on JCARR’s behalf.

JCARR has successfully resettled four refugee families from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, and Iraq, co-sponsoring them with Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), the main refugee agency in Connecticut. We are also assisting IRIS with support for one asylum-seeking family from Angola.  Three of JCARR’s families have young children, ten in all.  All these families have been impacted by the Covid-19 crisis, especially in terms of their ability to keep up with the demands of distance learning for their children and their ability to pay for basic household needs.

Our Kraus mini grant will address these needs.  Specifically, we will: (1) upgrade internet speed in each household so that the children can better participate in remote learning;(2) create a “lending library” of print and electronic educational materials that are age-appropriate and proficiency-appropriate for children who are English learners; (3) provide training to the parents and ongoing tutoring for the children to make use of these materials, some of which will be gifted permanently to the families; (4) use a small portion of the funds to cover emergency expenses to allow families to continue to create a stable home environment for their children during the pandemic.

As a condition of the award, Temple Emanuel and Congregation Mishkan Israel, both Reform synagogues, have signed the Reform Movement’s Brit Olam, a “covenant to create a world in which all people experience wholeness, justice, and compassion.”  As signers, these synagogues commit to participate in peer-to-peer learning, sharing their successes and challenges, and holding themselves accountable to the larger Brit Olam community across North America. 

JCARR’s vision for refugee resettlement is rooted in our Jewish traditions of welcoming the strangers among us and of tikkun olam.  We are an all-volunteer organization. Our work is funded solely by contributions from fund-raising activities, grants, and individual donors. 

JCARR has committed to matching funds for the grant.  If you would like to make a donation to support this or JCARR’s ongoing work with immigrant and refugee families, you can send checks, payable to The Jewish Federation with JCARR in the memo line, to The Jewish Federation, 360 Amity Road, Woodbridge, 06525; Attention:  Amy Holtz.

Co-Chairs, Alana Rosenberg and Jean Silk

Temple Emanuel is a member of CONECT, Congregations Organized for a Greater Connecticut. CONECT is a collective of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and civic organizations from New Haven and Fairfield Counties – representing more than 20,000 people from different races, faith backgrounds, and living in both cities and suburbs – that have joined together to take action on social and economic justice issues of common concern. Our efforts form the foundation of a powerful collective voice that demands change on the social, economic, and political issues affecting our families and our communities. CONECT has made an impact on issues as varied as gun violence, health insurance rates, police reform, immigrant rights, and more. CONECT’s website is  http://www.weconect.org/

Temple Emanuel members of mixed ages, interests, skills, experience and political preferences are involved with CONECT.  The projects we’re currently involved with include:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM TEAM 

Police Accountability: CONECT played a key role in getting the police accountability bill passed in the Summer 2020 short session of the Connecticut legislature. Next steps include educating the public about the bill and further action needed, in partnership with other CONECT congregations and authors of the legislation.   

Clean Slate: Believing that “A criminal record should not be a life sentence,” CONECT has a team working actively on CLEAN SLATE, a proposed bill that provides access to jobs, housing and education through criminal record expungement.  Contact Jean Silk to get involved.

Prison Reform: A subcommittee of the team will be setting in-prison advocacy reform goals in the coming months. Examples of issues may include abolishing solitary confinement and ensuring safety from COVID 19 in prison. Contact Alana Rosenberg to get involved. 

GET OUT THE VOTE COMMITTEE

Our goal is to encourage TE members to vote in the November election, either in person or by mail. Contact Linda Drazen or Betsy Ratner to get involved.

GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION TEAM

The DO NOT STAND IDLY BY (DNSIB) campaign is using law enforcement purchasing power to press the gun industry on gun distribution and gun safety technology. There have been some discussions about gun violence in New Haven, and some are interested in distributing gun safety technology in the streets.  Contact Rise Siegel to learn more.

HOUSING

CONECT is working with Open Communities Alliance to build community understanding and support for changes in zoning to allow for affordable housing. Initial action has been based in Woodbridge. CONECT may expand this work to include other towns and partners. Contact Alana Rosenberg to get involved.

OTHER CONECT PROJECTS include addressing health care (fighting for mental health parity and lower insurance rates) and immigrant rights (defending the safety of all Connecticut residents by keeping ICE out of courthouses).

CONECT is a vehicle for taking action, in partnership with other TE congregants and other congregations, on issues that you feel passionately about. TE Members comment that getting involved with CONECT makes them want to get more involved in TE.  To learn more or to join CONECT at TE, contact Alana Rosenberg.

Tentative Projects for the 2019-2020 (5780) Calendar Year

September/October 2019    

26^th Annual High Holy Day Food Collection – Will Sherman, Coordinator

Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur & Sukkot

Food to be picked up by JFS and the Town of Orange between 10/23 & 10/25

November/December 2019  

•  Thanksgiving Turkey Collection – Peter Stolzman, Coordinator
•  New Haven’s Lighthouse Point Park “Fantasy of Lights” – in conjunction with Easter Seals – Goodwill Industries (Monday, Dec. 9, 2019) – Adam Spiewak, Coordinator
•   Religious School Chanukah Baskets (Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019).  Baskets will be donated to: JFS, ‘r Kids Family Center, Fair Haven Community Health Center, & Fellowship Place. Sara Shanbrom will coordinate with assistance from Rebecca Olshansky and Lily Katsovich. 

January/February 2020

• Religious School MLK Day Project.  Sunday, January 12, 2020.  “Welcome Kits” to be donated to Fellowship Place and Columbus House.  Janet Adams, Coordinator
•  Abraham’s Tent.  Week of February 24, 2020.  Lee Stolzman & Barbara Levine-Ritterman, Coordinators
•  Diaper Drive Collection – Marisa Kogan, Coordinator

March/April 2020

•  Continuation of the  Diaper Drive Collection — Marisa Kogan, Coordinator
• Purim Pasta Collection – Nancy Weber, Coordinator.  March 8-10, 2020.  All collected pasta to be donated to the Beth El Shelter in Milford.
•  Federation Mitzvah Day (Sunday, March 15, 2020): “Rise Against Hunger” project hosted at Temple Emanuel.  Melissa Perkal &  Adam Spiewak, Coordinators
•  Kosher-for-Passover Food Collection.  Food to be distributed to JFS prior to the start of Passover (which is April 8, 2020).  Will Sherman, Coordinator

May/June 2020

•  Red Cross Blood Drive at T.E.  Adam Spiewak, Coordinator  (Need date)
•  Collection of specific items for Milford’s Beth El Shelter.  Nancy Weber, Coordinator