Temple Isaiah is a Social Action Congregation!
Temple Isaiah's Social Action Committee is actively involved in coordinating the efforts of Temple Isaiah's multifaceted activities, fulfilling the mitzvah of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). Task groups that function within our committee’s framework address current issues of social justice on the local, national and international levels. We have also joined with and are part of the planning group that is helping to create the Temple Isaiah Caring Community. This group led by the Temple VP of Tikkun Olam includes the Bikur Cholim, Gemulut Chasadim, and Bereavement committees, and the Sisterhood VP of Religious Action. We joined this planning group because we see our work often addressing issues whose impact can be both internal to and external to the congregation.
Temple Isaiah's Social Action Committee includes both service (Tzedakah) and social justice (Tzedek) programs. Reports on each program are on the following pages.
Our service programs include Jewish Family Table, Literacy Project, Bristol Lodge Soup Kitchen, Lexington Food Pantry, Project Ezra, and the annual Blood Drive. Projects include advocacy (e.g., Darfur), raising funds for special causes (e.g., Hurricane relief), and work with our Religious School and youth group, including our annual Mitzvah Day.
Our social justice programs fall under our Temple Isaiah Organizing Project and are focused on addressing the root causes of injustice. Organizing is fundamentally very different from how we have traditionally done our social action work. We engage people based on their own self-interests and identify the specific issues that are actionable (we can do something about it); winnable; important to the members of the Temple as well as people in other communities; and address a root cause of a problem, rather than a symptom.
Our organizing projects connect us to congregations from diverse religious, racial, and economic backgrounds, and together we become a potent voice for change. Health care, aging with dignity, the environment and affordable housing are but a few of the issues we are tackling through congregation-based community organizing. We are a founding member of the Greater Boston Synagogue Organizing Project and a member of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) comprising over 55 churches and synagogues working together to change our world.
1. Tzedakah Opportunities (Direct Service or Chesed work)
2. Tzedek Opportunities (Community Organizing)