Hineini: BIC Engages in Social Justice

If you have questions about any social justice projects or volunteer opportunities described here, please email socialjustice@bethisraelcenter.org.

RACIAL JUSTICE

In June 2020, the Board of Directors adopted this statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. As allies, we work to support Black-led organizations including EXPO of Wisconsin and the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development.

EXPO of Wisconsin

As part of our multi-year Confronting Racism initiative, we have identified a Black-led nonprofit organization with a mission that our members are passionate about: equity in the justice system. We are forging new connections with EXPO (EX-incarcerated People Organizing) of Wisconsin, which works to end mass incarceration, eliminate structural discrimination against formerly incarcerated people, and restore formerly incarcerated people to full participation in the life of our communities. More info

Nehemiah Partnership

In September 2020, the Board of Directors unanimously approved BIC’s entry into partnership with the Nehemiah Community Development Corporation, for a multi-year project committed to racial justice. In late 2020, a cohort of approximately 60 members of the kahal began extended study of racial issues, under the guidance of Harry Hawkins, Nehemiah’s Executive Vice President, and Karen Reece, Vice President for Research and Education. After this long study phase, the cohort has considered what local racial justice need calls to the BIC community and best matches with the array of skills and interests our membership can bring to it. We have identified our area of focus - equity in the justice system - and we are working to engage many BIC members, and to devote many years, in pursuit of that racial justice goal.

DANE SANCTUARY COALITION

The Dane Sanctuary Coalition came together in 2017 through a partnership of Wisconsin Faith Voices For Justice, Centro Hispano and Voces de la Frontera, in alliance with the national New Sanctuary Movement. The DSC aims to assist vulnerable immigrants and asylum-seekers, to circulate information about immigrant justice, and when necessary to provide physical sanctuary. In May 2018 Beth Israel Center joined the coalition as a supporting (i.e. not a housing) congregation.

REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT AND ASYLUM ASSISTANCE

Jewish Social Services of Madison and Open Doors for Refugees assist families and singles entering our country through the US Refugee Admissions Program. BIC volunteers have collected donations of furniture and household items, cleaned and set up apartments, stocked kitchens and cooked welcome dinners for arriving refugees.

HIAS (originally the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, founded in 1881) declares an annual National Refugee Shabbat, which Beth Israel joins in celebrating. For these special Shabbatot, regularly scheduled in March, we have invited refugee families now resident in Madison to speak to the congregation both during services and in discussion afterwards.

In February 2020, a delegation of BIC members and friends, led by Rabbi Betsy, traveled to the US-Mexico border to volunteer with Al Otro Lado, a non-profit in Tijuana which serves asylum seekers hoping for entry into the United States. Delegations are planning a return to the area to volunteer with Casa Alitas in October 2023.

LGBTQ+ PRIDE

LGBTQ+ people feel at home at BIC and know that our Rabbi is prepared to work with them to enhance their Jewish lives in relation to their LGBTQ+ journeys. Since 2018 we have sponsored a Pride Shabbat each summer in conjunction with other Pride events in the larger community.

FIGHTING FOOD INSECURITY

FOOD FOR THOUGHT INITIATIVE

BIC member Lea Aschkenase founded F4TI in honor of her mother, Thea, a survivor of Auschwitz who worked hard to spare today’s children the hunger she had known as a teenager during the Holocaust. For more information about F4TI, click HERE. As we prepare for Yom Kippur every year, SJC solicits contributions to F4TI, either on-line (via Second Harvest Foodbank, F4TI’s fiscal sponsor) or through cash and checks brought in advance of Kol Nidre.

Donate online HERE
Mail Checks to: Food for Thought c/o Second Harvest Foodbank 2802 Dairy Drive Madison, WI 53718

MEALS ON WHEELS

Over many years, BIC volunteers have delivered meals, once or twice a month, to elderly and disabled residents of Dane County for this program of SSM Health at Home (formerly Home Health United). Each weekday lunchtime route takes about 1½ hours. Try a ride-along with a current volunteer if you’d like to see the program first-hand. For more information or to volunteer, email socialjustice@bethisraelcenter.org.

PORCHLIGHT

For many years, Porchlight’s services to area homeless people included an emergency men’s overnight shelter at Grace Episcopal Church on the Capitol square, and for many years BIC provided volunteers monthly at the shelter, to serve an evening dinner and following-morning breakfast to residents. In recent years, BIC volunteers have provided a festive Christmastime dinner to clients of Safe Haven, a Porchlight facility serving homeless, mentally ill people. At present, BIC delivers several commercial-sized lasagnas (see Cooking for Covid) to Porchlight once per month. But upheaval due to the COVID-19 pandemic has moved the shelter and eliminated BIC’s dinner-and-breakfast volunteer opportunity. The relocated shelter offers a few tasks for healthy, low-risk volunteers; we await news as to what long-term and general opportunities Porchlight will offer in future, at a planned new location.

THE ROAD HOME / HEALING HOUSE

The Road Home no longer runs the shelter program for which BIC members volunteered over many years. Now we assist them by providing meals at Healing House. An 8-bed residential recuperative facility for homeless families with someone preparing for, or recovering from, childbirth or a medical procedure or hospitalization, Healing House offers comfortable and safe quarters, plus three meals every day and childcare assistance. During a stay of up to 28 days, families work with TRH case managers to seek housing and jobs.

For one week at a time BIC volunteers prepare and deliver (with no contact, during COVID-19) dinner each day of that week, usually serving 4 to 8 people. Volunteers can work singly, or as a family, or they can partner with other volunteers to cook and deliver one evening’s meals. HH staff do the serving and cleaning up. Check the calendar HERE and email socialjustice@bethisraelcenter.org to volunteer.

COOKING FOR (AND AFTER) COVID

The Catholic Multicultural Center serves a free meal, every day of the year, to all comers who appear during service time. Under COVID-related restrictions, the CMC distributes these, to-go, from its parking lot. BIC volunteers assist CMC and Porchlight by providing home-cooked vegetarian lasagna on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, in quantities that serve hundreds of people. SJC provides the recipe and a very large foil pan, and picks up each cooked lasagna on the designated Wednesday for delivery (all with no contact). Email Cynthia Hirsch to volunteer.

ALLIANCES AGAINST FOOD INSECURITY

We maintain contact with local organizations, including Cook It Forward, Little John’s Kitchen, and Madison Food Pantry Gardens, and we sponsor occasional projects supporting them.

CHRISTMAS DAY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Safe Haven, a Porchlight day shelter and residence for mentally ill adults, offers dinner in the Christmas season, through the generosity of BIC volunteers who shop, cook, serve, socialize, clean up, and bring some holiday gifts as well.

First United Methodist Church downtown Madison serves a free community dinner on Christmas Day. BIC volunteers help serve.

For information or to volunteer, email socialjustice@bethisraelcenter.org.

HISTORICAL AWARENESS

The committee has begun investigating the history of the ground our congregational home rests on, with the aim of identifying and acknowledging peoples, individuals and events which preceded our presence here. Thanks to Bob Skloot for narrating this important introduction to the land on which we stand as part of Teach The Truth Wisconsin.

COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS

In 2019 BIC took part in the Sacred Sites project of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice. Through Sacred Sites, participants from many backgrounds visit houses of worship representing various faiths, learn about their traditions and practices, and have the opportunity to develop friendships along the way. BIC welcomed the a Sacred Sites cohort to Shabbat services and Kiddush on December 7, 2019 and hopes to host future visits.

We welcome community clergy and groups to join our services and exchange wisdom from our different faith traditions.

INVESTMENT POLICY

In 2018, committee co-chairs joined with BIC’s investment committee chair to explore socially responsible investing. In consultation with our portfolio manager at Johnson Bank, we came to the decision to slowly begin transitioning a portion of our investments into companies that have positive environmental, social and governance characteristics. With this or any other change, of course, our fiduciary responsibility to safeguard BIC funds and generate returns on investment sufficient to support our budget remains the priority.