Our Social Justice
By Sylvia Levy, 5/17/2018
Just as each of us must work to end gender-based violence in our country and world, we are also responsible for challenging our own community – namely the Reform Jewish community – to address its own issues of sexual assault and harassment. I take inspiration from the brave Jewish women who are taking these problems in the Jewish community into their own hands, translating #MeToo into #GamAni, and bringing needed attention to the experiences of our community's survivors of assault and harassment. We must create ... Read More
By Karen Goldberg, 5/15/2018
A pivotal moment in my social justice journey happened last May on my first trip to Israel with the Women of Reform Judaism. Celebrating Rosh Chodesh with Women of the Wall, I experienced first-hand the shocking level of intolerance aimed against Reform Jewish women like me for simply wanting to sing and chant Torah. When I returned to California, I felt compelled to speak out against this injustice as well as other injustices at home. Fast forward a year. I'm headed to Washington, DC, for my first meeting as a WRJ representative on the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. With... Read More
By Dani Weisenthal, 5/10/2018
In my world, I cannot walk around at night without an escort. In my world, one in five American women and one in 71 men will be raped. One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18; one in five women and one in 16 men will be sexually assaulted on their college campus. These are not statistics. These are real people -- myself included. I’m 16 years old. I am already a strong advocate of racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s equality, and so much more. This is largely due to meeting, talking to, and learning from kids and teens who have the same... Read More
By Susannah Cohen, 4/29/2018
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time for us to reflect and re-educate ourselves on the unyielding problem of sexual assault. In the last few months, the #MeToo movement has shifted the national conversation towards the issue of workplace sexual harassment. While related, it is important to continue the discussion around sexual assault as its own issue, building on the awareness that has grown in the last few years. Campus sexual assault remains a pervasive problem and focus on it has reignited in response to troubling moves by Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. In order... Read More
By Alyson Malinger, 4/11/2018
Columbine High School, April 20, 1999 - 15 dead, 21 injured Virginia Tech University, April 16, 2007 - 33 dead, 23 injured Oikos University, April 2, 2012 - 7 dead, 3 injured Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 14, 2012 - 28 dead, 2 injured Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, February 14, 2018 - 17 dead, 14 injured Will the list continue? On March 24, just over a month after a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student used his legal semi-automatic rifle on his teachers and fellow classmates, Reform Jewish women joined together in every major city in North America to... Read More
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