Temple Beth El Blog

Successful Juneteenth Drive for Allied Wellness Center Essentials Pantry

Twice each year Temple Beth El members raise funds to purchase critically needed personal hygiene and cleaning supplies, and gas and grocery gift cards for the Nehemiah Allied Wellness Center Essentials Pantry. The first drive is in January around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the second is at Juneteenth. Between the two drives, we raised over $4,700 to support our neighbors in the Allied area. 

According to coordinator Betsy Abramson, the Allied Wellness Center staff is now inspired to reach out to other Madison-area congregations to follow our example, giving the Essentials Pantry a reliable source of funding for these items. Rabbi Jonathan Biatch has also made monthly donations from the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund to help out. If you would like to help with purchasing items, or getting the boxes ready on Mondays or Thursdays from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, contact Betsy Abramson to explore whether this volunteer gig is a good fit for you. 

Six Weeks of Sandwiches for Youth Program at Mount Zion Baptist Church

As part of Temple Beth El's ongoing goal of partnering with African American churches in the Madison area, we are working with Mt. Zion Baptist Church, on Madison’s south side, to provide lunches for students in their summer youth program, which introduces the kids to all kinds of new skills and careers and includes leadership training. For six Wednesdays, TBE volunteers made sandwiches and provided fruit, veggies, and cookies for 25 youth ages 12–18. Thanks to everyone who helped out, including Temple staff who volunteered to take a week!
 

On Sunday, July 24, twenty TBE members met for a sunny summer bike ride around Lake Wingra. Before the ride, we heard from Phil Gaebler, water resources engineer for the City of Madison, who talked about how the Lake Wingra watershed is impacted by runoff from different sources and what we can do to promote the health of the watershed. 

Mr. Gaebler gave us a great hands-on demonstration of how rainwater filters through various surfaces, by pouring water through small samples of turf grass, mulch, permeable and impermeable pavement, and native plants. He was ably assisted in this task by a small frog from the Lake Wingra area. The demonstration showed that we can greatly improve the health of the lakes by reducing turf grass, installing rain gardens, adding compost to the soil or covering it with mulch, and diverting downspouts so the water doesn’t run onto sidewalks and driveways. It’s also important to keep leaves out of the street so the added nutrients don’t end up in our lakes, increasing phosphorous content and algae growth.

Mr. Gaebler noted that a lot of good things are happening locally with lake management. Lake Wingra is heavily managed and is doing pretty well. The county is making progress in addressing agricultural runoff. Residents can also help the lakes in winter by reducing the amount of salt used on driveways and sidewalks, using shovels and push brooms more than salt. For more information about reducing residential salt use, see Saltwise. https://www.wisaltwise.com
 

The Senior Havdalah program on August 27 took TBE members on a journey through the history of Jewish life in Ukraine and the challenges the country faces today in its fight to preserve its independence. 

Ukraine and Jewish History

Folklorist, amateur historian, and TBE member Carole Kantor described early migration routes from Asia to Europe. Antisemitism was a constant threat, and yet, Jews continued to make important religious and cultural contributions in the region. Expelled from their homes during the Crusades and after the Spanish Inquisition, Jews migrated from the Rhineland in western Europe to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where leaders tolerated religious diversity. In the 16th century, princes and landowners hired Jews to manage estates and collect taxes, and bankers and doctors followed them into the region. 

Then, in the 17th century, Eastern Orthodox Ukrainians and Cossacks allied themselves with Russia and led an uprising that targeted Jews along with Catholic Poles. Despite a massacre in 1648–49 that killed 20,000 Jews, Jews continued to come to Ukraine and contributed to economic recovery there. When Tsar Alexander II was killed in 1881 by socialist revolutionaries, violent anti-Jewish attacks followed. 

The Pale of Settlement, from which many of our families emigrated, was established by Catherine the Great in 1791. While Jews didn’t need permission to live there, they did need permission to live outside of it. The birth of Hasidism followed in the 18th century, and the Zionist movement and growth of Jewish literature came next in the 19th century. The city of Odesa, a city today’s Ukrainians are fighting to preserve after Russia’s invasion, is just outside of what was the Pale of Settlement. This unique city, founded in 1794, was considered nontraditional and had no restrictions on Jews moving there. It was a major hub for “highbrow” synagogues, secular music, and Yiddish folk music, as well as jazz and tango. Many noted cantors and Jewish poets hailed from this city, according to Cantor Jacob Niemi.

Between 1917 and 1920, Ukrainians tried to establish a state independent from Russia. When their efforts failed, some 100,000 Jews were killed in pogroms. Later during World War II, the Jewish population fell from 870,000 to only 17,000. Antisemitism continued unabated, and in the 1980s, Jews were finally allowed to leave Ukraine, many finding new homes in Israel.

Present Day: Boris’s story

TBE member Boris Nenide was born in Chernivtsky, Ukraine, and studied in St. Petersburg, Russia, before coming to UW–Madison in 1991 with his family. He described how 92% of Ukrainians supported Ukraine’s referendum on independence after the USSR dissolved that year. A new president and territorial guarantees followed, and later came economic challenges, corruption, and protests against the pro-Russian president Yanukowich. Some 14,000 people have been killed in a separatist war that began in 2014 in the Donbas, a region in eastern Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Ukrainian with a Jewish background, was elected in 2019. He has rallied the world for support after Russia invaded the country in February. 

Called to act, Boris began by helping a childhood friend whose son needed medical help, rallying local friends and students in Middleton schools, where his family lives and his children attend school. He soon helped with drives for needed supplies, and support flowed in after he appeared on a local TV news show. Later he went to Ukraine and worked with a volunteer group of Russian dissidents and other immigrants helping Ukrainians, staffing 12-hour shifts on the Polish-Ukrainian border. Dozens of countries were represented, and Boris spoke of the compassion and solidarity among the volunteers.

Boris described how antisemitism has diminished in Ukraine and Poland, noting Ukraine’s commemoration of the victims of Babyn Yar, the positive reception for a French play about the Holocaust produced in a Russian-language theater, and the respect he saw among Poles toward the memory of that country’s once vibrant Jewish culture. 

He was also inspired by the dedication displayed by his fellow volunteers, some of whom had protested Russia’s invasion and had to flee. “They submerged themselves in helping others, despite enduring harsh conditions and hearing heartbreaking stories told by the people they were helping,” he said. Boris is now assembling humanitarian and military care packages and welcomes contributions to support these efforts. He is also working with others to register a new charitable organization based in the United States. 

Here are other organizations Boris suggested to help support Ukraine: Russians for Ukraine and Grain of Solace. “Helping Ukraine is immensely important,” Boris said, “not just from a humanitarian standpoint, but also for preserving and furthering liberal democracy around the world.”
 

Yom Kippur involves fasting for one day, yet millions of Americans feel this hunger regularly. Every year at this time, we ask the congregation to honor our fast by making a monetary contribution to hunger relief. If you have already made your contribution, we thank you! If not, there’s still time—please do so by Wednesday, October 19.

Last year Temple Beth El was recognized as a bronze level sponsor of Second Harvest Foodbank, which distributes millions of pounds of food each year in southern Wisconsin, and our goal is to reach that level again this year with a $10,000 contribution. The funds will also support our hunger relief efforts through our ongoing partnerships with food pantries, community centers, and schools. 

We hope you will be able to give generously to support these hunger relief initiatives. Any amount you can give will be greatly appreciated. 

You can donate online at tbemadison.org/donate by choosing “High Holy Day Food Drive” as the payment type, or you can send a check to the Temple office. Please make checks payable to Temple Beth El and include “Food Drive” on the memo line. 

A big thank you goes to Julia Katz, baker extraordinaire, who offered to make challah for people’s holiday tables in exchange for donations to the High Holy Day Food Drive. This year she made 21 delicious loaves for TBE members and others!
 

On October 2, a group of 25 Temple members visited the Chazen Museum’s free exhibit, Sifting and Reckoning: UW–Madison’s History of Exclusion and Resistance, and learned about the treatment of many marginalized communities in UW’s history. The group uniformly felt it was a very informative and valuable experience. Learn more about the exhibit and the university’s Public History Project.

Go with a friend or family member, and then consider these discussion questions that the Temple group discussed after their visit. 

1. What was your reaction to the exhibit? How do you feel about what you saw and read?
2. How do you think you were affected differently than if you had read about this history in a written report to the chancellor?
3. What were some new things that you learned from the exhibit?
4. What surprised you about the exhibit?
5. How do you think the UW administration has balanced the requirements of the First Amendment with their goal of making the campus a welcoming and safe place for everyone?
6. What did the exhibit tell us about the greatest barriers to change and the greatest facilitators of change?
7. In pursuing its goals of diversity, equity, and inclusivity, what do you see as the pros and cons of creating UW-sponsored and UW-funded cultural centers for specific groups?
8. Based on this exhibit (or not), what could/should the UW administration do to continue to work toward a more inclusive campus?
9. Based on this exhibit (or not) what could each of us do to work toward a more inclusive campus? Temple? Workplace? Neighborhood?
10. What might be good next steps for this exhibit to expand its potential to be a positive force for both reckoning and change?
     

Temple Beth El’s fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. Our report to the Board of Trustees on FY 2022 included these details.

• Membership contributions increased by 1% in FY 2022 over FY 2021. We always appreciate any increase in contributions, and we will continue to emphasize the need for increases each year. Annual membership contributions are our biggest source of revenue.
• Our total revenue decreased by 13% in FY 2022 from FY 2021. This was due to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan of $180,000 which was 100% forgiven in 2021.
• Our total revenue for FY 2022 was $1.16M.
• Personnel compensation, our largest expense, increased by 1%, or $11,000, over FY 2021.
• Our total expenditures increased by 5% over FY 2021. Most of these increased expenses came from program expenses now that we have resumed in-person events, and we are incurring other building-related expenses as well.
• Our total expenses for FY 2022 were $1.25M.

Our fiscal year ended with a deficit of $96,249. The board voted to close the year with a deficit and not fund it, at this time, from any of our endowments.

As expenses continue to rise, increasing our revenue is the only way to combat our deficit. For this fiscal year, FY 2023, we are working to find new streams of revenue. New income sources, along with increased annual contributions and a successful Endowment for Spiritual Leadership campaign, will create a secure financial future that allows Temple Beth El to thrive.

If you have any questions about our financials, please contact Stefanie Kushner at exec@tbemadison.org.

The second year of Temple Beth El’s summer internship partnership with the Boys & Girls Club interns came to a successful close at the end of July. Through this project, 11 high school and college students were placed in summer internships with employers from Temple Beth El and the broader Jewish community, up from six students last summer. 

The project is a five-way partnership: 

• Temple Beth El conceived of the project, found willing employers, and applied for a grant to fund stipends for the interns, led by Betsy Abramson of the Racial Justice Action Team. 
• The Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County (BGCDC) selected the interns, matched them with employers, and worked with employers on job expectations. 
• The Jewish Federation of Madison provided a $10,000 grant from the Cheryl Rosen Weston Fund to pay for some of the stipends. 
• The host employers provided meaningful work, supervision, and encouragement. In addition, most of the employers generously donated between half and the full $1,800 stipend to support the students’ work. 
• Last but not least, the 11 students worked hard and came away with valuable job experience.

The 11 TBE-initiated sites and the supervising employers from the Jewish community were Books4School (Amy, Marty, Molly, and Randy Fields), Community Justice Inc. (Carousel Bayrd), Frank Beverage Group (Elizabeth Frank Friedman), Frank Productions (Marla and Larry Frank and Jesse Sherman), General Beverage Group (the Minkoff family), Jewish Social Services (Jim Mackman), LIFT Wisconsin (Marsha Mansfield), Madison Youth Arts (Mike Ross), Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (Joe Loehnis), Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice (Rabbi Bonnie Margulis), and Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association (Aleksandr Kladnitsky).

The employers provided a combined $11,000 toward the stipends. The full $1,800 stipend was donated by Books4School, Frank Beverage Group, General Beverage Group, and Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association. Partial stipends were paid by Jewish Social Services, Madison Youth Arts, Frank Productions, and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

On July 29, TBE hosted a Shabbat dinner celebration for the interns, their families, employers, and staff from the partner organizations. While enjoying their first tastes of challah and kugel, the interns spoke about what they learned and enjoyed about their experiences, and what they hoped to do in the future:

• Abae Fobate, who interned at Books4School, noted that she learned a lot during her internship in the book warehouse. She realized that even the routine job of packing books is really exciting when you see how important these books are for the schools and children receiving them.
• Peyton Barber, who interned at Frank Productions, thought it was amazing that she got to learn so much of the nuts and bolts of running performances at four different Madison venues.
• Claudia Salgado, who interned with LIFT Wisconsin, said she felt pretty overwhelmed at first, jumping into two direct service clinics for clients, but her supervisor’s assistance and support helped her get up to speed and learn a great deal.
• Olga Gatesi, who interned with Jewish Social Services, initially thought she wouldn’t be interested in learning about social services. But having been born in Rwanda, she became especially interested in the work when she discovered that JSS helped resettle and support refugees. The experience strengthened her interest in becoming an immigration attorney.

Similarly, the employers uniformly noted that the students were delightful, added new perspectives to their work sites, and demonstrated impressive focus and commitment.

According to TBE’s Betsy Abramson, “At this point, the sites TBE has recruited represent over 20% of the sites that BGCDC matches interns with. We are totally delighted at the success and growth of the program, and we are confident that the model we have created has great potential for expansion. We are enormously grateful to the Jewish Federation of Madison for providing the seed money and to our most generous employers in the Jewish community for their donation of time and funds to support these impressive young people in gaining valuable job skills and knowledge.”
 

Within the Jewish calendar we find a variety of “cycles,” periods of time that have layers of meaning and opportunities for spiritual growth and reflection associated with them. The two largest cycles in our calendar are the one that culminates in Shavuot in the late spring and the one that culminates with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the early fall (arguably extending through Sukkot and Simchat Torah). In the second of these cycles, three major observances frame the seven weeks leading to Rosh Hashanah. 

Tishah B’Av

The first of these observances, Tishah B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, marks a spiritual low point in our year, when we recall a variety of tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, including the destruction of the First Temple (circa 586 BCE), the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE), the expulsion of the Jews from England (1290 CE), the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (circa 1490 CE), the beginning of World War I in 1914, and the beginning of operations at the Treblinka death camp and the start of deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. 

This fast day, on which we read from the book of Lamentations, teaches us about the importance of making space for grief and brokenness. Yet even by its end, there is already a suggestion of the possibility of rebuilding and renewal. In the final service on Tishah B’Av afternoon, the Torah reading includes verses about forgiveness that are included in the High Holy Day liturgy. When chanting those verses, the Torah reader customarily switches to the melodies used when chanting Torah on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Rosh Chodesh Elul

The second major milestone in this seven-week period is Rosh Chodesh Elul, the beginning of the month of Elul. While the few rituals for this day are similar to those marking the beginning of other months in the Jewish calendar, the day does introduce certain customs that continue throughout the month, the most notable of which may be the sounding of the shofar. The shofar, a ram’s horn that is sounded during Rosh Hashanah services, every day during Elul (with some communities excluding Shabbat), and at the end of Yom Kippur, reminds many people of a crying voice. 

Hearing the shofar’s call reminds us to look inward and to engage in the spiritual process of cheshbon hanefesh (literally “accounting of the soul”), as we take stock of the last year and think about ways that we might want to improve ourselves, our lives, and our relationships in the year to come. 

S’lichot

The third major moment preceding Rosh Hashanah is S’lichot, a service of penitential prayers that occurs in many Jewish communities on the Saturday evening immediately preceding Rosh Hashanah (or, if Rosh Hashanah falls on a Monday or a Tuesday, the Saturday evening the week before). Many Jewish communities continue to recite S’lichot prayers in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah. Sephardi and Mizrachi Jewish communities observe S’lichot on the second of the month of Elul and continue reciting these prayers throughout the month. Regardless of when it occurs, this ritual combines prayers connected to the liturgy of Yom Kippur with additional poetic writings and meditations, as well as a beautiful focus and midrashic expansion on the 13 attributes of God’s mercy. 

In addition to introducing prayers and melodies that are carried throughout the High Holy Days, it is also customary to use S’lichot as an opportunity to change the mantles on the Torah scrolls to those specifically designed for the holiday season (often white). This is thought to be in reference to the prophet Isaiah (1:18): “If your offenses be like scarlet, like snow shall they turn white. If they be red as dyed cloth, they shall become like pure wool.”

Summer is a time for TBE staff and leaders to evaluate last year and look to plans for the coming year. We welcome the new trustees who were installed at our annual meeting on June 8. The combination of new leaders coming together with continuing ones gives us consistent leadership with fresh eyes on governing for our future.

Summer also means the start of a new fiscal year and budget cycle starting on July 1. Staff and leaders, once again, stepped up to create a tight budget. We looked at all our expenses carefully to be fiscally responsible, especially in a time of rising costs. Approximately 80% of our expenses come from personnel and building costs. The only way to a balanced budget, especially at a time of continued rising costs, is to increase revenue. With about 70% of our revenue coming from membership renewals, we ask each household to do what is possible to increase your 2023 membership contribution. 

Membership renewal packets will be mailed to you later this year. As always, automatic renewals will continue for members who do not actively renew by the start of the calendar year. In January 2023, however, we will include a 10% increase in contribution when automatically renewing members’ contributions. If you want to choose how much to increase your contribution, it’s important that you actively renew your membership when those materials are mailed to you. As always, you’ll have the options of returning the renewal card in the mail, managing your renewal online, or calling Executive Director Stefanie Kushner to discuss the amount you are comfortable giving. 

We understand that not everyone is able to increase their contribution by 10%, and we will continue to remind you of this change as we approach the renewal period later this year.

To ensure our long-term spiritual vitality, Temple leadership has taken the bold step of establishing the Temple Beth El Endowment for Spiritual Leadership. Our aspiration is an $8 million endowment to fully fund the costs of providing spiritual leadership for the foreseeable future. We have successfully secured just over $4.1 million in pledges in the foundation-building phase of the campaign.
 
This endowment campaign was established in early 2022 out of our tremendous admiration and appreciation for our clergy and a strong desire to continue to ensure outstanding spiritual leadership for the foreseeable future. The purpose of the endowment is to fully fund the costs of our spiritual leaders, which will provide financial stability for them and the congregation. While this is a tremendous undertaking, we know that this community is very forward-looking and committed to the success and financial health of the congregation. 

To reach our goal of $8 million, we are seeking the active and generous participation of every member of the congregation. Please look in your “snail mail” mailboxes in August for an invitation to participate in this transformational opportunity to secure the financial future for clergy at Temple Beth El. 

David Feingold is a lifelong member of Temple Beth El. After graduation from UW–Madison and University of Chicago Law School, he returned to practice law in Janesville. David marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and trained as a community organizer with Saul Alinsky.

Based on lifelong friend Jon Lampman’s recommendation of the moving book “East West Street” by Philippe Sands, we find new ways to understand the concept of human rights.
Whatever the terminology—war crimes or crimes against humanity or genocide—history is rife with instances of mass human destruction.

War crimes have been recognized as far back as the 15th century (no doubt much further), when a tribunal of the Holy Roman Empire convicted and beheaded a Western European knight for ordering barbaric acts of rape and murder during a military occupation.

Opposition to slavery at home stimulated 19th-century language that affirmed human rights. The Republican Party platform of 1856 called slavery a “high crime against the Constitution, the Union, and humanity.”

The slaughter of a million or more Armenians by the Turks occurred in the early 20th century. This truth, slowly acknowledged, was shocking. Even though such barbarity has occurred throughout history, our language lacked a word to describe it.

Ultimately the Holocaust revealed that an advanced Western society would choose to annihilate entire peoples. This reality is undeniable, but it is still denied by those who thirst for the blood of others.
When it happened, millions remained in communities scattered throughout Eastern Europe, where Jews had been forced to live for generations. Millions of others, including all four of my grandparents, had escaped to safety and freedom around the turn to the 20th century, decades before their old world and own people were decimated.

“East West Street” follows two Jewish men, both scholars of international law, who were born near but did not know each other. Their communities lived under constant abuse and rising hatred. Researching this book, the author discovered that his own family also derived from the same city—today known to the world as Lviv, Ukraine.

Separately the two observed society and studied law, then managed to leave before annihilation was unleashed. Both of them searched for words to describe the violent denial of human rights. Finding the correct words would enable people to grasp and react to such horror.

What is the name for it? Hersch Lauterpacht chose “crimes against humanity”; Rafael Lemkin coined a new word: genocide. The former focused on individual victims, the latter on tormented groups of people. Both concepts were employed in the postwar Nuremberg conviction of Nazi leadership. Legal scholars currently debate the relative usefulness of their alternative words for future prosecutions.

Do the words matter? Certainly, but not so much as our commitment to root out all that is inhumane.
Now, every day the news is horrible. Maybe it has always been that way. Old friends fondly remember our youthful years struggling to extend civil rights along with Martin Luther King Jr. and to end the war in Vietnam.

In anguish we observe Ukraine, Buffalo, Uvalde, and more. It’s hard to realize such human destruction is occurring in this month of May, all happening in this 21st century.

While most people of European ancestry have found a path forward, an escape to safety and justice is still obstructed for those viewed as people of color and an array of others treated as outsiders in lands beloved for democracy.

The seed of humanity is within all of us. Taking action to nurture it is natural. But the potential for growth is often ignored, and sometimes twisted.

We can do little, but always something. It’s great that we, and so many others, have never given up.

The Kesher Israel Committee of Temple Beth El attempts to bring Israel to our community through speakers, discussions, and films. This year we are focusing on the good Israel has to offer. The upcoming viewing and discussion of “Ben-Gurion, Epilogue” is a highlight of our efforts. Its importance to our community and the diaspora at large is clear. 

Movie reels of Ben-Gurion, spliced with the recently discovered soundtrack and archival material, bring us Ben-Gurion, vibrant and alive, as he shares his life and the legacy he bequeathed to us as the first prime minister and founder of Israel. Ben-Gurion’s words, thoughts, and feelings have meaning for us all.

Here, we share with you some of Ben-Gurion’s history. David Ben-Gurion was born David Gruen on October 16, 1886, in Płońsk, Poland.

In 1906, Ben-Gurion emigrated to Israel, which was then Palestine, where he worked as a farm laborer.

In 1910 he began writing for a Zionist journal. At that point he changed his name to Ben-Gurion. His life was greatly influenced by the temporary takeover of the region by the Ottoman Empire, and by the ever present Palestinian Arabs.

In 1919 Ben-Gurion participated in the establishment of the Achdut Ha’avoda party, and between 1921 and 1935 he served as the secretary general of the Histadrut, the national federation of Jewish laborers in Israel. 

In 1930 he participated in the establishment of the Mapai party and was its representative in the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency. 

From 1935 to 1948 he served as chairman of the Jewish Agency, and in 1946 he assumed responsibility for matters relating to the security of the Jewish community in Israel.

At the onset of the 1948 War of Independence, as the leader and a founding member of the Zionist movement, Ben-Gurion formally proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel and offered to the world Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

As George Washington is referred to as the father of the United States, Ben-Gurion is remembered as the father of the nation of Israel.

In “Ben-Gurion: Epilogue,” Prime Minister Ben-Gurion emerges from the screen alive and vibrant as he walks and talks with us, sharing his thoughts, his feelings, his disappointments and joys. Join him on a brisk walk through desert sands. 

“Ben-Gurion: Epilogue” will be shown via Zoom on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, beginning at 6:30 pm, followed by a discussion about this amazing man, the founder of the State of Israel. Register here. 

The TBE Civic Engagement Action Team is gearing up now for the summer and fall, making sure voters are registered for the August primaries and the November general election.

At the state level, we are active participants in the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign (WIVEC), a project of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice and the Wisconsin Council of Churches. WIVEC has an important Call to Action Webinar on Thursday, June 16, from 12:00 to 1:00 pm. Hear from WIVEC partner organizations such as Souls to the Polls, Supermarket Legends, VoteRiders, and others. These nonpartisan partner organizations will present their overall goals and specific plans and needs for volunteers. WIVEC is 400+ strong in faith leaders and congregational lay leaders. Join us as we come together to support voting rights right here in Wisconsin! Please click here to register. 

Nationally, we participate in the Every Voice, Every Vote campaign of the Union of Reform Judaism. This campaign is a nonpartisan effort, grounded in our Jewish values and commitment to racial justice, to strengthen our democracy by encouraging and protecting voter participation. As Reform Jews, we believe democracy is strongest when the electorate reflects the population—and it suffers when citizens are shut out from the democratic process. When we choose the people who act on our behalf, essentially every issue of importance to our movement is on the ballot! Now is the time to use our voices and our votes to protect the issues that are core to our Reform Jewish values.

In May, nearly 700 people joined together to learn about what’s at stake in this election and made commitments to act through this nonpartisan voter mobilization effort between now and November. If you were not able to join us live, we invite you to watch the inspirational launch recording. 

The next step in this campaign is their Foundational Training: Moving into Action. This will be held on June 15 at 7:00 pm CDT, or alternatively on June 16 at 2:00 pm CDT. This training will be recorded and available for later viewing. Contact Marcia Vandercook if you would like to see it at a later date. 

Locally, we support our local clerks of court by serving as poll workers. Poll workers check in voters, help people register to vote, check photo IDs, and process absentee ballots. Students aged 16 or 17 and enrolled in secondary school with a GPA of at least 3.0 may be appointed as poll workers if they have parent and principal approval. Areas across Wisconsin are looking for poll workers for the August and November elections, so click here to see how you can help!

We also work with the League of Women Voters of Dane County to provide voter outreach. The League offers regular training for beginners and refresher training for experienced volunteers. They have a number of video training modules available online. After training, volunteers provide voter registration and information at libraries, food pantries, senior centers, farmers markets, and colleges. See scheduled volunteer events.

More action opportunities will be available this summer and fall for training, postcarding, and voter mobilization. Contact Marcia Vandercook if you would like to join this important team!

On September 15 the Racial Justice Action Team will be hosting a discussion on housing discrimination in Dane County. The starting point for our discussion will be the extraordinary play by Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, which first premiered in 1959.

A Raisin in the Sun is playing from August 5 to October 7 at American Players Theater (APT) in Spring Green. See here for tickets and more information. It is also available as a film on Netflix, and the play can be found in multiple forms at any public library. APT describes the play as “a stunning classic that examines the ways racism suppresses the lives and aspirations of Black families.” We encourage you to see or read the play before September 15.

Using the play for historical context, Austin Johnson, employment specialist with the Urban League of Greater Madison, will lead a discussion about the barriers to home ownership for African Americans, including discrimination, federal policies, and discriminatory lending practices.

Climate change is an important driver of human migration, as catastrophic flooding, drought-induced crop failures, and other events displace people from their homes. 

Dr. Angie Dickens is an environmental scientist who has worked at the interface of environmental science and policy at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and a six-state regional planning organization. She also leads a social justice group at Christ Presbyterian Church. 

On Wednesday, June 29 at 7:00 pm, Dr. Dickens will discuss how climate change is impacting different parts of the world and how it affects migration. She will also help us explore ways that we can respond to these crises as people of faith. 

Please register to join us in person or to receive the Zoom link for this event. Review TBE’s in-person guidelines before attending this event in person. This event is co-sponsored by the TBE Immigrant and Refugee Rights Action Team and by the Dane Sanctuary Coalition. 

Interested in learning more about migration issues? Try a new online course, “Understanding U.S. Immigration from the Border to the Heartland,” offered by the Poynter Institute. Though this course is geared toward journalists, it is also open to other interested parties. Half the course is available now, and the second half will be released in August. Learn more about it here.