Social Action
Dowtown New Haven Soup Kitchen
Social action, social justice and tikkun olam (healing the world) are important values of the modern Reform movement and a priority at Temple Emanuel. In 2011-12, the Social Action/Community Service (SACS) Committee of Temple Emanuel is working to strengthen inter-generational social action – blending families and individuals in working together on book drives, collecting and packing up food donations, providing meals, and other activities throughout the year.
These are some of the activities SACS is involved in this year:
- High Holy Days Food Drive to stock the Jewish Family Service and the Orange Food Bank
- Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK). We are committed to staff the Soup Kitchen one Sunday each month. Teens and adults are involved in this activity.
- Abraham’s Tent. Co-sponsored by Columbus House and the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries, faith communities provide overnight shelter and meals for homeless men through the winter months. SACS volunteers partner with another local congregation and provide dinners for one week in the winter.
- Cook and Care Walk-a-thon, a major fundraiser for Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, FISH, the Community Soup Kitchen and DESK (the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen). TE members of all ages participate in this event.
- TE volunteers join with Interfaith Cooperative Ministries to provide Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless and home-bound
- Intergenerational Projects – connected with Religious School/Holidays
- SACS members participate in the Social Justice Shabbat service on the Friday evening before the Martin Luther King holiday.
- SACS members volunteer and make contributions to the Youth Reading Group of the New Haven/Leon Sister City Project.
- Mazon, A Jewish Response to Hunger: MAZON distributes funds to millions of poor and hungry people throughout the world. Some B’nai Mitzvah families choose to make donations to MAZON rather than buy a bouquet for the bima. A food basket replaces the flowers on the bima to symbolize the family’s choice to make a MAZON contribution.
Over the course of the year, we will inform the congregation about upcoming projects in which you can get involved. To participate in any of these
activities or to add one of particular interest to you, e-mail Social Action Chair Jean Silk (je28silk @ gmail.com). TE members of all ages are welcome and are encouraged to get involved.
Social Justice Shabbat January 13 at 8pm
TE’s Social Action Committee will join Rabbi Farbman in leading a Social Justice Shabbat service on January 13th @ 8pm, featuring a talk by Professor Jennifer Klein of Yale’s History Department. We hope to see many TE members turn out for this service when we will consider themes of Social Justice from a Jewish perspective! more
TE’s SACS Supports Youth Literacy in our Sister City, León, Nicaragua
Following on the 2009 Temple Emanuel delegation to New Haven’s Sister City of León, Nicaragua, SACS members continue to actively support the youth reading group. This project involves 13 teenaged boys and 1 girl in the rural village of Goyena, a community that was created on the outskirts of León for people who lost their homes due to the destruction of Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Reading is not a common activity in this community, but this group of youth has become enthusiastic readers! In November 2011, SACS members and the Rabbi are contributing to a fund that will enable… more
TE participates in Cook and Care Walk-a-Thon
Nineteen TE members – children and adults – participated in the annual Cook and Care Walk-a-Thon on October 16, sponsored by the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries. It was a gorgeous fall day. Bagpipers led the walkers as we left Edgerton Park for our three-mile walk through the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven. At the end, walkers returned to Edgerton Park for yummy soup, apple crisp and ice cream, which we enjoyed while listening to a local steel drum band. The Walk-a-Thonraises funds to benefit four community service organizations that provide services for the needy in New Haven: The Community Soup Kitchen, Downtown Evening Soup… more
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