Temple Beth El Blog

Many of our programs and worship experiences have moved online. While some events are livestreamed through Facebook, classes and programs like Torah Study and Talking at the Rabbi’s Tisch are on Zoom. Here is a guide to using Zoom.

Please note: The following security procedures have been added to prevent unwanted intrusions (Zoom bombers) from entering our events:

1. You may be placed in a waiting room until the host grants you access to the event. Please be sure your display name includes your first and last name so you can be correctly identified.
2. Entry to Zoom events will be locked 15 minutes after the start of the event. If you know you are going to be late, please email TBE staff at adminassist@tbemadison.org so they can notify the host to let you in.

FROM THE TBE CALENDAR:

• Click the link on the TBE calendar event page or in the confirmation email you received after registering, and Zoom should open in your browser, allowing you to join the meeting.
• If you prefer, you can copy and paste the link into your browser, and it should open the meeting.
• Depending on the event, you may be placed in a waiting room until the host permits you to enter.
• For security purposes, the host will need to be able to identify you by the name that appears in your video window. After entering Zoom, please click on the three dots (…) in the upper corner of your Zoom window and choose Rename. Enter your first and last name so the host can identify you.
•  

Please note: There is also a call-in only option that is available in the meeting notice. You’ll need the phone number, meeting ID, and password.

If you do not have a web camera, you will be able to see the meeting and the shared documents, but you will only appear as a box with your phone number.

If you’re having problems, please try the following options:

FROM A WEB BROWSER:

Google Chrome

• Open Chrome.
• Go to join.zoom.us.
• Enter your meeting ID provided by the host/organizer. You will then be prompted for the password.
• Click Join.
• If this is your first time joining from Google Chrome, you will be asked to open the Zoom client to join the meeting.
• You can check “Always open these types of links” in the associated app to skip this step in the future.
• Click Open Zoom Meetings (PC) or Open zoom.us (Mac).
• Please make sure to enter your full name to identify yourself to the host so you can be granted access to the meeting.

Safari

• Open Safari.
• Go to join.zoom.us.
• Enter your meeting ID and the password provided by the host/organizer.
• Click Join.
• When asked if you want to open zoom.us, click Allow.
• Please make sure to enter your full name to identify yourself to the host so you can be granted access to the meeting.

Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer

• Open Edge or Internet Explorer.
• Go to join.zoom.us.
• Enter your meeting ID and the password provided by the host/organizer.
• Click Join.
• Please make sure to enter your full name to identify yourself to the host so you can be granted access to the meeting.

Mozilla Firefox

• Open Firefox.
• Go to join.zoom.us.
• Enter your meeting ID and the password provided by the host/organizer.
• Click Join.
• If this is your first time joining from Firefox, you may be asked to open Zoom or the Zoom installer package.
• To skip this step in the future, check the option to remember your choice for Zoom meeting links.
• Click Open Link.
• Please make sure to enter your full name to identify yourself to the host so you can be granted access to the meeting.

FROM AN IPHONE

Open the Zoom mobile app. If you have not downloaded the Zoom mobile app yet, you can download it from the App Store.

Join a meeting using one of these methods:

• Tap Join a Meeting if you want to join without signing in.
• Sign in to Zoom, and then tap Join.
• Enter the meeting ID number, the password, and your display name. Please make sure to enter your full name to identify yourself to the host so you can be granted access to the meeting.
• If you're signed in, change your name if your default name does not correctly identify you.
• If you're not signed in, enter a display name that correctly identifies you.
• Select if you would like to connect audio and/or video, and select Join.

FROM AN ANDROID PHONE

Open the Zoom mobile app. If you have not downloaded the Zoom mobile app yet, you can download it from the Google Play Store.

• Join a meeting using one of these methods:
• Tap Join a Meeting if you want to join without signing in.
• Sign in to Zoom then tap Join.
• Enter the meeting ID, the password, and your display name. Please make sure to enter your full name to identify yourself to the host so you can be granted access to the meeting.
• If you're signed in, change your name if your default name does not correctly identify you.
• If you're not signed in, enter a display name that correctly identifies you.
• Select if you would like to connect audio and/or video, and tap Join Meeting.

Do you have some time to give? We have lots of great opportunities to help out in our community.

Packing Weekend Food for Thoreau Elementary Families
Temple Beth El has joined with other neighboring congregations and organizations to provide children at Thoreau Elementary School with food to take home over the weekend. We are looking for help packing and distributing food to students. Dates are March 12 and 13; March 18 and 19; March 26 and 27; April 9 and 10. You may work any or all of these days. Packing takes place at Westminster Church on Nakoma Road (usually on Thursday afternoon) and distribution is at 9:00 am at Thoreau Elementary School (usually on Friday morning). Please contact Vic Levy  if you are interested in participating in this activity. To volunteer in the schools, you also need to go through a background check as a volunteer with the Madison Metropolitan School District (go to the MMSD volunteer website).

Serving Meals at the Catholic Multicultural Center
Looking for a fun, easy opportunity to help the community and spend quality time as a team? Help serve the daily meal at the Catholic Multicultural Center! The Catholic Multicultural Center provides free meals every day to low-income community members and people experiencing homelessness. Volunteers set out and serve the food and clean up after the meal; you’re busy the whole time and on your feet. Temple Beth El has agreed to serve on the second Monday of each month. Sign up here or contact Sue Levy.

Shopping and Cooking for Porchlight Men’s Shelter
Our next Porchlight meal is Wednesday, April 29. Each time we serve a meal (4 or 5 times a year), we need shoppers, cooks, cookie bakers, kitchen minders, delivery people, and servers. This is a fun way to get to know your fellow volunteers! Sign up here and learn about Porchlight here .

Cooking Meals for Healing House
Our next week to help at Healing House is May 31–June 6. Healing House, a program of Madison-area Urban Ministry (MUM), gives people without homes a place to recover after receiving medical care. This eight-bed facility at 303 Lathrop Street provides 24/7 recuperative care by medically trained staff and volunteers for up to 28 days. Volunteers are asked to assist by cooking and dropping off meals or by serving and cleaning up after dinner at the house. To help with this mitzvah, please sign up here.

Serving at Emerson Elementary School Multicultural Dinner
Seven years ago, Jewish Congregations for Social Justice “adopted” Emerson School on Madison’s east side, and we have been supporting their academics and family programming ever since. On Tuesday, May 5, Emerson is holding its annual Multicultural Dinner, where families bring foods from their own traditions and local restaurants send food to support the school. This volunteer gig is both fun and delicious—when everyone is served, we eat too! You can sign up here or contact Betsy Abramson.

Help Recent Refugees as They Resettle in Our Community
Jewish Social Services provides case management, job help, and housing for newly arrived refugee families from a number of countries. Our volunteers work to set up their apartments with furniture and food. We also provide summer and after-school tutors for refugee students. To volunteer, contact Sherie Sondel.

Three Easy Steps to Register Voters in Dane County

1. City Clerk of Madison: Voter Education Ambassador Training. This basic training gets you ready to answer frequently asked questions about voter ID, voter registration, and early voting. Trainings are 90 minutes, held monthly, registration required. You need not be a Madison resident to take this training. The next available session is May 11, 2020.
2. League of Women Voters: “Everything you wanted to know about helping voters but were afraid to ask.” This follow-up training reviews and reinforces information from the Voter Education Ambassador training, including practice activities. Learn More
3. Voter ID Coalition Outreach Opportunities. The League of Women Voters of Dane County and the NAACP Dane County branch are the lead organizations in the Dane County Voter ID Coalition. They send regular emails about dates and places where voter registration services are requested. It’s helpful to be on both email lists. Sign up here.

For more information about voter registration efforts at TBE, contact Marcia Vandercook.

At the Sisterhood Shabbat on January 31, Ally Karpel gave a passionate and illuminating talk about the relevance of Jewish values to the debate over reproductive rights and the need for equal access to vital medical care for women both rich and poor. Ms. Karpel is the Reproductive Health & Rights Campaign associate for the Women of Reform Judaism and URJ Religious Action Center in Washington, DC. As part of her work, she supports Reform movement congregations as they speak out on matters of sexuality, family, and personal autonomy.

Ms. Karpel began by recounting her previous weekend, where she was chaperoning a weekend retreat for teenagers called “Sex, Love, and Relationships.” Although at first the mere use of the word “sex” was enough to send the teenagers into nervous fits of laughter, soon giggles and lack of eye contact were replaced by inquisitive questions and thoughtful discussion. By the end, the teenagers realized that their feelings, thoughts, and bodies mattered, and that they were capable of making informed choices that would have a significant impact on the rest of their lives.

While to some, the words “sex” and “Sunday school” may seem incongruent, Ms. Karpel found it natural that a community whose core is based in life cycles should educate its young people about topics like reproduction and health. When the Religious Action Center welcomes teen lobbyists, one of the most popular topics is reproductive rights. The young people of our movement feel strongly about protecting their ability to make autonomous choices about their own bodies.

For this reason, Ms. Karpel finds it heartbreaking to watch as reproductive rights are rolled back across the country, and it is especially infuriating that many of these rollbacks are being done in the name of religion. Progressive faith voices are left out of the conversation when it comes to reproductive rights, but yet our voices are necessary to counter the narrative that the religious community favors these restrictions. While Reform Jews agree that life is sacred, we believe that the national surge in regressive policies is in no way life-affirming. These policies include:

• Extremist bans on abortion that strip away the dignity and moral agency of pregnant people to decide what is best for their bodies, their futures, and their families. Banning potentially life-saving medical procedures and interfering with a doctor’s decision-making runs contrary to the Jewish commandment to protect life.
• Federal policies, like the Hyde Amendment, that render abortion inaccessible and unaffordable to low-income individuals by banning federal health insurance from covering the procedure. Our tradition’s moral mandate to preserve the dignity of marginalized communities means that we need to speak out about how restrictions on abortion access, contraceptive coverage, and sex education affect rural communities and communities of color.
• Sweeping expansion of religious exemptions, often framed as “conscience protections,” that allow medical providers and employers to opt out of providing reproductive health care or covering contraceptives. As a religious minority, Jews strongly believe in religious freedom—yet as Reform Jews we reject the false binary between religious liberty and fundamental civil rights.

The concept of kavod ha’briyot, respect for individual dignity, is one of the core values of the Women of Reform Judaism–Religious Action Center Reproductive Health & Rights Campaign. For nearly 85 years, WRJ has been a leading advocate for reproductive rights and health, mobilizing its members to speak out for the rights of those who are pregnant to exercise moral authority over their own bodies, calling for access to information about contraception in 1935 and for abortion reform in 1965. Ensuring that everyone is able to shape their reproductive lives with dignity, regardless of race, class, age, or geography, is intrinsic to the values our faith demands.

Ms. Karpel urged Temple Beth El to join the WRJ-RAC Brit Olam cohort for reproductive health and rights, a virtual network for congregations working on similar issues, and use the toolkits on the WRJ and RAC websites. She also recommended that we get involved in the Reform Movement’s civic engagement campaign to make sure that everyone’s voices are heard at the polls in November. She concluded with the prayer that we all work together to create a world of justice, compassion, and dignity.

On Tuesday, April 7, 2020, Wisconsin will hold elections for Supreme Court and other judges, school board, local offices, and the presidential primary.

While TBE probably has a high percentage of active voters, in every community there are people who aren’t prepared to vote or who don’t see a reason to vote. Please take a few minutes and think about your friends and family. Do you know:

• someone who has moved in the last four years?
• someone in the military?
• someone away at school?
• someone who travels frequently?
• someone who might have trouble getting to the polls?
• someone who doesn’t have a driver license?
• someone who’s disillusioned and doesn’t see the point of voting?

The most effective civic engagement tool is one-on-one contact with people you know. If you know people who might not be registered or who might not vote, please reach out now and help them get started.

For people who might not have the right voter ID, encourage them to call the Voter ID Help Line. The Help Line can advise on renewing your expired ID, obtaining the documents needed to secure your ID, and covering the cost of getting to and from ID-issuing offices. Call 414-882-8622 or toll-free 844-338-8743.

For people who aren’t yet registered, let them know that they can register at many public libraries, at their city clerk’s office, and at the polls on election day.

For people with trouble getting to the polls, let them know that Union Cab in Madison provides free rides on election day. If time off from work is the barrier, it may help to know that employers are required to give employees three hours off (unpaid) in order to vote on election day. You can also help them check into early voting options in their city.

Finally, are YOU registered to vote at your current address? While you can always re-register and update your address on election day, you can save time and confusion by checking in advance. Go here and look yourself up. You can also see what will be on your ballot and where your polling place is.

Jewish Social Services of Madison (JSS) traces its roots back to the Jewish Central Committee of Madison, established in the 1930s, and to the Madison Welfare Fund, created in 1940 to help resettle refugees fleeing the Holocaust. Today, JSS helps resettle refugees from all over the world, often from the Middle East and Africa. TBE volunteers are active partners in the resettlement process, setting up apartments, driving, tutoring, shopping, and helping people adapt to their new way of life.

At our National Refugee Shabbat service on March 27, we will honor the many volunteers who have supported the refugees. We will hear from Ahmed, a recent refugee, who will talk about what it means to flee your home, spend years in a refugee camp, and then settle in a foreign country. JSS refugee coordinator Becca Schwartz will talk about the negative impact of our current national refugee policies and explain some local refugee needs.

Dinner and schmooze will precede the service. Please join us for any or all of the evening:
6:00 pm Dinner from Banzo—registration required 
6:45 pm Shabbat Schmooze—a casual wine-and-cheese reception free and open to all
7:30 pm National Refugee Shabbat Service with oneg Shabbat to follow

Please register for dinner by March 18 ($18/adult, $11/youth). Menu includes falafel, pita bread, hummus, marinated chicken, chopped salad, majadra rice, and more. For more information, please contact Aleeza Hoffert.

Thank you to all TBE members who have returned their membership renewal form. Receiving either your 2020 payment in full or your payment schedule allows us to better predict cash flow throughout the year. We are so grateful to those who were able to give the additional suggested donation of 10 percent of your membership contribution, playing a crucial role in ensuring Temple’s financial sustainability.

If we didn’t receive your renewal form by January 6, your membership was automatically renewed at your 2019 membership contribution level, with the 10 percent donation increase and the $100 security contribution. If you have any questions about your renewal, please contact Stefanie Kushner.

With the goal of keeping lines of communication open, we have formed a new task force that will look at Temple’s overall financial needs and the ways we convey messages related to funding and development. We strive to present our annual financial picture clearly, as well as convey our needs for our building and long-term planning. Look for updates on our progress in future Giving Spotlight emails.

Do you want to take a deeper dive into the social justice issues shaping our society? Try one of these informative local programs.

Black History for a New Day
It often seems as though black and white Americans live in separate worlds of experience and understanding. One starting point for bridging the gap is for non-black people to come together to think and learn about the history that has shaped our world and worldviews. Our purpose is to understand how the African American experience has shaped the world we all live in, and how allies can find roles supporting racial justice today. Over nine Monday evenings (7:00–9:00 pm, January 27 through March 23), Justified Anger will be collaborating with history professors from UW–Madison to revisit the American past with justice in mind. We will celebrate our learning with a potluck on April 6. The program takes place at place Fountain of Life Covenant Church, 633 West Badger Road. Registration is $300. Learn more here.

Dane Sanctuary Coalition Announces Its “Big Read”: The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez
What happens when an undocumented teen mother takes on the U.S. immigration system? In The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story, author Aaron Bobrow-Strain takes us into detention centers, immigration courts, and the inner lives of Aida and other daring characters. This emotional narrative reveals the human consequences of militarizing what was once a more forgiving border. Congregations are encouraged to hold book groups to read and discuss the book together. The author will be coming to Madison in the spring (date to be determined) to give a talk and hold a discussion about the book and the issues raised in it about our broken immigration system.

If you are interested in reading the book and discussing it, please contact Erica Serlin to join the reading group.

Observations from the Border: WORT Interview with Rabbi Bonnie Margulis 
Listen to Rabbi Bonnie Margulis speaking about her recent trip to the border to bear witness to the horrendous situation facing asylum seekers in El Paso and Juarez. You can find the interview in several places:
WORT website
SoundCloud
Facebook
Twitter

Carrie Fox-Kline, the immigration legal services director at Jewish Social Services (JSS), recently gave a talk for members of the Jewish community concerned about ongoing events at America’s southern border. In September, Carrie traveled to El Paso, Texas, to ensure that asylum seekers received much-needed legal representation. On Wednesday, December 11, she spoke at a program organized by Jewish Congregations for Social Justice and JSS.

Carrie explained that asylum seekers are people who have fled persecution in their home country and are seeking safe haven in a different country, but who have not yet received any legal recognition or status. A right to seek asylum was created by international agreement following the Holocaust, after many countries had turned away asylum seekers. After the war, 146 countries joined a treaty agreeing to allow asylum claims. The United States created a more formal process after the influx of applications in the wake of the Vietnam war.

Historically, asylum seekers have been able to apply for asylum at a port of entry into the United States, where they would undergo a “credible fear” interview by immigration personnel. If their story was found credible, they would be scheduled for a hearing in front of an immigration court judge to argue that they should be allowed to remain in the United States. Although some people were detained pending this hearing, many were able to post bond and remain free in the United States while awaiting their hearing.

In early 2018, the US government began to limit the number of asylum seekers it would let into the United States, regardless of the danger alleged. Since that time, asylum seekers have been waiting in the border cities of Mexico for three months or longer to have their “credible fear” interviews. They are required to return to Mexico between hearings, living in tent cities with no way to earn a living, unable to safely go back to the homes they fled.

Carrie said the current system causes confusion and chaos. Most asylum seekers do not have legal representation, and the number of petitions granted is very low. Even when asylum seekers have representation, hearings are so often rescheduled that it’s hard for volunteer lawyers and accredited representatives like Carrie to be there. Even with clear allegations of domestic violence, police persecution, or LGBTQ harassment, asylum seekers are sent back to wait until their cases are called a year from now. There is an estimated backlog of 1 million cases pending in the immigration courts.

HIAS is seeking volunteers to help at the border, particularly lawyers and people with Spanish-language skills. Attorneys do not need immigration experience. Delegations are currently being formed for February and March.

• February 9–14, 2020: HIAS de Mexico (El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juarez, Mexico)
• February 24–28, 2020: JFS San Diego (San Diego, California)
• March 22–28, 2020: HIAS de Mexico (El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juarez, Mexico)

For more information, email Rachel Zoghlin. You can also see local volunteer opportunities here, including refugee resettlement through Open Doors for Refugees and volunteer driving to immigration hearings through Dane Sanctuary Coalition.

For more information about the work that HIAS is doing at the border, see here. 

For more information about the JSS refugee program, contact Rabbi Renee Bauer.

As many TBE members know, Jim and Nan Youngerman are active volunteers within and beyond the Jewish community. They have proved tireless in their efforts to register voters, focusing their efforts on registering students to vote on the UW campus and then volunteering at polls on Election Day. As they continue to do so in 2020, the Youngermans suggest that others step forward as well, since this year is especially critical.

Nan views voting “both as an invitation to participate in governing decisions and an opportunity to let my voice be heard,” and she finds that her role in encouraging others to vote is essential as an interpretation of her commitment to tikkun olam. She enhances her small, but potentially powerful contribution by building her understanding of the electoral process and making time to support those registering to vote. She says that she derives a great deal of satisfaction from helping others “join the conversation.”

By assisting 18-year-old first-time voters, Nan feels she’s “supporting their passage into adulthood.” When she’s working with a new citizen, she sees the experience as “a welcoming action to our society, where every person can express a choice without fear or penalty.” Even in less dramatic situations, such as when a person has moved or has a name change, she acknowledges that just by “offering my time and knowledge of the process,” she is doing her part to increase voter participation. With voter suppression such a major obstacle, everything we can do to increase the percentage of those voting helps ensure that our democracy can continue to flourish. And, she affirms, “If I can do something that assists others as they vote, I have contributed to the well-being of my community.”

Jim notes that when he assists voters in processing or completing their voter registration, he is “helping the voter to fulfill their right to vote, which is fundamental to our democracy.” He devotes much of his volunteer efforts to registering UW students at on-campus sites. Like Nan, he feels especially “privileged and gratified to have played a small part in assisting first-time voters,” since that’s the case for many of the students he has registered. And, similarly, he’s glad to guide others who may have voted previously in other in-state or out-of-state locations, but who are now required to register in Wisconsin for the first time or reregister in Wisconsin due to an address or name change.

Jim is “always struck by how polite and appreciative the students are for whatever assistance I provide. It is rare that a student won't thank me, and in turn, I try to always thank the student for voting. I find the experience very rewarding and very positive.” Even though Jim has been involved in many other political volunteer efforts, he consistently finds that “assisting with voter registrations for me has been the most gratifying and rewarding experience of all.”

Since we are blessed with outstanding resources in Madison, it’s not difficult to be trained in helping the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) effort. The city clerk’s office and the League of Women Voters, in particular, supply the necessary training and resources to educate and empower potential volunteers. Other agencies also make it easy to volunteer. Please keep attuned to the ways the Social Action Committee at TBE can help you get involved.

To be trained to register voters in the city of Madison, you can contact the city clerk's office at https://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/elections-voting/election-officials/training. On the website, you can sign up for training on various dates. Because each training is limited to 50 participants, you simply select the date you can attend (monthly Monday evenings 5:00–6:30 pm at the clerk’s office in the City-County Building), and register.

The nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Dane County is looking for volunteers, and you do not have to be a member to do so. Jim says that you can easily find out about upcoming events and opportunities for outreach by getting on the League’s email list. All you need to do is send a request to be added to their email list to office@lwvdanecounty.org.

At the annual TBE Sisterhood and Men’s Club dinner on December 17, Rabbi Bonnie Margulis offered an inside look at how Wisconsin Council of Churches and Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice are working together to maximize the role of people of faith in the public square and to forge connections between faith communities in the common goal of civic engagement.

Rabbi Margulis began with a text study highlighting Jewish teachings that require us to stay positively engaged with the cities and nations that we live in. In a modern democratic society, this involvement takes the form of civic engagement, voting for leaders, and making sure they represent the values we consider most important.

Similar teachings are common to a number of faiths, and many congregations wonder what they can do to make their voices heard. For that reason, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) offered grants to five organizations nationwide to explore how faith-based organizations could make a greater contribution to democracy and civic life. The Wisconsin Council of Churches and Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice were honored to receive one of these five grants.

The Wisconsin project seeks to increase voter registration and turnout, particularly in underserved regions and populations, and to promote interfaith relationships among the participating organizations and congregations. They hope to organize several communities around the state where interfaith groups will work together toward these goals, in ways that seem appropriate for each particular location. Some locations will offer voter ambassador training for participants and voter registration drives, followed by get-out-the-vote activities in the fall.

A kickoff event will be held on February 13 in both Madison and Milwaukee, with education, entertainment, and community organizing. Discussion will include possible local activities and how to stay safely nonpartisan as a nonprofit organization. If you would like to attend this event, please contact
Marcia Vandercook.

This effort dovetails beautifully with the URJ Religious Action Center’s 2020 initiative, Civic Engagement: Every Congregation Counts, Every Vote Counts. This initiative seeks to empower all people to exercise their right to vote and ensure that Jewish voices and values are present in the public square. This campaign was previewed at the December Biennial in Chicago, where congregations were urged to get involved. Learn more here.

At TBE, the Social Action Committee is developing a plan for our own involvement, in conjunction with these statewide and national efforts. Stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, if you want training to assist with voter registrations, learn more here. 

Do you have some time to give? We have lots of great opportunities to help out in our community.

Catholic Multicultural Center: Serving Meals at the Catholic Multicultural Center Is Fun and Easy
Looking for a fun, easy opportunity to help the community and spend quality time as a team? Help serve the daily meal at the Catholic Multicultural Center! The Catholic Multicultural Center provides free meals every day to low-income community members and people experiencing homelessness. Volunteers set out and serve the food and clean up after the meal; you’re busy the whole time and on your feet. Temple Beth El has agreed to serve on the second Monday of each month. Sign up here https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0B44ADAC22AB9-multicultural or contact Sue Levy at slevy51@gmail.com.

Porchlight Men’s Shelter Needs Cooks, Bakers, and Servers
Our next Porchlight meal is Wednesday, January 29. We need shoppers, cooks, cookie bakers, kitchen minders, delivery people, and servers. This is a fun way to get to know your fellow volunteers! https://signup.com/go/tHdHhJz

Learn about Porchlight at https://porchlightinc.org/.

Healing House Volunteer Opportunities
Our next week to help at Healing House is February 9–15. Healing House, a program of Madison-area Urban Ministry (MUM), gives people without homes a place to recover after receiving medical care. This eight-bed facility at 303 Lathrop Street provides 24/7 recuperative care by medically trained staff and volunteers for up to 28 days. Volunteers are asked to assist by cooking and dropping off meals or by serving and cleaning up after dinner at the house. To help with this mitzvah, please sign up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0E48A8AC22A4FF2-healing2.

Emerson: Emerson School Is Seeking Reading and Math Mentors
Seven years ago, Jewish Congregations for Social Justice “adopted” Emerson School on Madison’s east side, and we have been supporting their academics and family programming ever since. We would love to have you join us.

We’re looking for adults who want to work with elementary-age children on reading and math skills:

• Reading mentors work with beginning readers. Your job is to help children build skills and discover the joy of reading.
• Math mentors work with children on basic math concepts and lessons. You don’t have to be a math whiz—many kids need support with very basic math facts and strategies that most adults are comfortable with.

Interested? Please contact Marcia Vandercook at marcia.vandercook@gmail.com.

Immigration Assistance Fund: Raising Awareness for Local Immigration Assistance
Temple Beth El is a member of the Dane Sanctuary Coalition, joining with other congregations and organizations to support immigrants in our community. The coalition is starting a project to raise awareness and to fundraise for the Immigrant Assistance Fund. This fund pays for legal services, emergency aid, bail, travel costs, and other aid for undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in Dane County. The fund is administered by the seven members of the Immigration Collaborative (Catholic Multicultural Center, Centro Hispano of Dane County, Community Immigration Law Center, Jewish Social Services, Literacy Network, Rise Law Center, and UW Immigrant Justice Clinic). You can read more about the fund here. https://www.madisongives.org/immigrantassistance

We are looking for volunteers with public relations and/or fundraising experience to be part of a small committee to work with the Immigration Collaborative and move this effort forward. For more information, and to volunteer, please contact Rabbi Bonnie Margulis at rabbibonnie@charter.net.

Many students at Thoreau Elementary School and their families lack sufficient food on weekends. Forty-five percent of the children attending Thoreau receive free or reduced-fee lunches, and students have asked their teachers for food help for years. While Thoreau students are not the only children in Madison facing weekend hunger, this school, on Nakoma Road, is the public elementary school serving students in the neighborhood of Temple Beth El.

A coalition of local congregations and neighborhood groups has mobilized to address this need. Westminster Presbyterian Church minister Scott Anderson organized a coalition that includes Midvale Baptist Church, Glenwood Moravian Community Church, and Temple Beth El along with the Nakoma League, a century-old neighborhood association, and Brad Bodden, whose American Family Insurance agency is located directly across Nakoma Road from the school. The Thoreau Weekend Food Bag Program also obtained grants from American Family Insurance and GHC. The program is also affiliated with the school nutrition program Food for Thought, which already distributes food at several other public schools.

Vic and Sue Levy live in Nakoma, and their children attended Thoreau. As a Social Action Committee member, Vic represented TBE as he began attending coordination meetings beginning in the fall of 2018. The Thoreau Weekend Food Bag Program worked to find the most effective means for dealing with the weekend hunger issue by providing four meals per weekend for as many of these children as possible.

After months of figuring out the logistics—establishing a fiscal agent and affiliations, learning the health and safety rules regarding food storage, and writing grant applications to raise funds—in October volunteers finally initiated the program to place the necessary food in students’ backpacks on Friday mornings.

School social workers chose the initial group of children to receive the shelf-stable food, which comes from the River Food Pantry. The meals include protein-rich food and a fruit cup. Although the program involves only 50 students this year, it will double during the 2020–21 school year and reach an additional 50 students the following year. The $30,000 budget already secured covers all three years of operation.

Thanks to the generosity of TBE members through the increase in High Holy Day Food Drive funds, Rabbi Biatch’s discretionary fund, and other members’ financial commitments to the program, TBE’s participation matches that of the other neighborhood partners. In March 2020 , TBE will be in charge of the actual food distribution, and Vic will be looking for volunteers to help with our congregation’s commitment to pack the bags each Thursday of that month and deliver them each Friday. To participate, contact Vic at levy@uwplatt.edu.

At the Sisterhood Shabbat on January 31, Ally Karpel from the WRJ-RAC Reproductive Health & Rights Campaign will address some of the most contentious public policy issues today: the debate over reproductive rights and what restrictions a society may impose on reproductive health care decisions.

The legal rights to women’s health care, birth control, and abortion do not guarantee access for all, even with Roe v. Wade in place. Many women face financial barriers, lack transportation to a clinic, or may not be able to take the time off from work. The problem is far bigger than a legal issue alone.

Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) and the Religious Action Center (RAC) are working together to address these issues on behalf of the North American Reform movement. Ms. Karpel’s work focuses on reproductive health and rights advocacy and mobilizing Reform communities to take action on the local, state, and federal levels.

TBE member Jane Taves is on the board of WRJ and serves as the vice president of advocacy, marketing & communications. She says: “I am proud that Women of Reform Judaism is championing this important work, and I am honored to work closely with Ally Karpel. She is a true expert on the issues around access to reproductive healthcare. I look forward to introducing her to our TBE community.”

The right of individuals to control their own bodies is deeply rooted in in Jewish law and has been the position of the Reform movement since 1935. It is grounded in the concept of human dignity —Kavod Ha’Briyot—which supports the right of individuals to make moral decisions about health care. It is also consistent with our respect for the sanctity of life. Banning potentially life-saving medical procedures, interfering with a doctor-patient decision-making, and restricting family planning methods only to those who can afford or access them—all of these run contrary to the Jewish commandment to protect life. These problems are also closely tied to other social justice and human rights concerns like poverty, sexism, and racism.

Ms. Karpel will also address how the Jewish community can amplify its impact on this issue. With states across the country passing abortion restrictions and the future of Roe v. Wade up in the air, now is the time to put our Jewish values into action to protect and enhance reproductive rights. You can read more about the collaboration between WRJ and the RAC here. https://rac.org/reproductive-rights-and-womens-health

We hope you'll join us for this very interesting evening. More details are available here. https://www.tbemadison.org/event/SisterhoodShabbat2020

About the RAC: For nearly six decades, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism has been the hub of Jewish social justice work. The RAC mobilizes around federal, state, and local legislation; supports and develops congregational leaders; and organizes communities to create a world overflowing with justice, compassion, and peace. Their work is completely nonpartisan.​

On November 22, we welcomed Rev. Marcus D. Allen Sr. and his wife, Tara, to our Social Action Shabbat. Rev. Allen serves as pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church and is the newly elected president of the African American Council of Churches in Dane County. Rev. Allen’s talk focused on the struggle for racial justice and how the black and Jewish communities can work together more effectively.

Rev. Allen said that he came to Madison after three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and four years as a pastor in Virginia. He and Tara had read all the articles touting Madison as the best city in America on many measures, but they soon found that the reality for black people is quite different. The black community in Madison ranks the highest on every negative measure, including poverty, school test scores, homelessness, unemployment, and incarceration. He asked us to picture what would happen if white religious congregations went together with black congregations to tell the government that this is wrong.

Assuming that we knew he was a Baptist preacher when we invited him (we did), Rev. Allen drew on biblical stories to illustrate his remarks. He spoke about the power of “radical relationships,” relationships different from the usual, where differences don’t matter. As an example, he cited the way Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi after the death of her husband, Naomi’s son, even though Ruth and Naomi were of different people and religions. Although hard times were looming, Ruth threw in her lot with Naomi, saying, “Wherever you go I will go, and wherever you stay I will stay. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” Because of this radical relationship, Ruth supported her ally when times got tough. According to Rev. Allen, “Collaboration is never truly effective until what’s bad for me causes you discomfort.”

The story of Purim also revolves around a radical relationship. Esther was brought up as the adopted daughter of Mordecai and became queen of Persia. When the evil Haman plotted to kill Mordecai and all the Jewish exiles in Persia, Mordecai prevailed on Esther to speak to the king to defend her people, even though she could be put to death simply for speaking out of turn. Mordecai prevailed upon her, saying, “Who knows if you were put in your royal position for such a time as this?” Because of the trust built up between Esther and Mordecai, she gathered her courage and was able to foil the plot.

Rev. Allen enumerated five practical ways to be an ally to the black community:

1. Get to really know each other, not just through an occasional coffeeshop visit.
2. Know your role—be there to assist and not to take over.
3. Have meaningful conversations about race within your own communities and families.
4. Be committed to stand by your ally when the going gets tough, like Ruth.
5. Use your position to speak truth to power, like Esther.

Reflecting on Rev. Allen’s talk, TBE member Alice Kavanagh said: “We need to meet and listen to those experiencing inequity in Madison, so we can work together to eliminate the racial disparity that exists here in education, affordable housing, incarceration, and food accessibility. Our Temple community already contributes to solving these problems, but I’d like to learn more about what we can do to engage with others around these issues.”

Rev. Allen closed by asking us to speak on behalf of the voiceless even when it doesn’t directly affect our way of life. “What if it is YOUR voice that can make a difference?”