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Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World) Committee

Dorshei Tzedek is committed to the value of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. Our congregation’s name means “seekers of justice,” and as that name implies, we see action to end injustice and oppression as core to our spiritual journey and as a cornerstone of the Jewish ethical and moral tradition.

Dorshei Tzedek is active as a community in a number of social action initiatives and projects:

Food Matters

Food Matters is an education and action campaign focused on the social and economic justice issues that lie behind the food that we eat. As Dorshei Tzedek’s Rabbi, Toba Spitzer, has said, “Judaism teaches that eating is a sacred act, and we want to look into what it means to honor both the earth and the human labor that goes into producing our food, and why it is that some of us have so much to eat, and others so little.”

Food Matters’ Community Supported Agriculture partnership

Dorshei Tzedek has partnered with Red Fire Farm to serve as the “drop off site” for the Farm’s 2010 CSA season. CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, is a growing and inspiring alternative model of interaction between farms and consumers. Consumers join CSAs as members, and buy a “share” of the farm’s harvest at the beginning of the season. These memberships allow the farmer to pay for seeds, fertilizer, water, equipment and labor, and the consumer thus shares both the risk and the bounty of the growing season with the farmer. In return, the members get a weekly share of the farm’s harvest throughout the growing season. CSAs are a way to connect consumers with the source of their food, and to promote local, sustainable and organic agriculture.

If you are interested in purchasing a CSA share from Red Fire Farm as part of Dorshei Tzedek’s partnership, please email csa@dorsheitzedek.org. Shares are going fast, so act now!

Food Matters’ participation in the New England Delegation for Farmworker Justice

In early 2010, Dorshei Tzedek joined the New England Delegation for Farmworker Justice, an interfaith coalition supporting the organizing campaign of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworkers’ rights organization in Florida fighting for decent working conditions in the Florida tomato fields.

Locally, CIW is targeting Ahold, the parent corporation of Stop & Shop and several other grocery chains, seeking to get them to sign an accord to push for more humane labor standards from their Florida tomato suppliers (including a zero tolerance policy for slavery), to pay a price premium for more fairly produced tomatoes, and to shift purchases to growers who meet those higher standards.

Dorshei Tzedek encourages its members and others to let Stop & Shop know that you support farmworkers’ rights and want them to meet with CIW’s representatives. You can send them a message online here. We have also developed a “Haggadah Supplement” on this issue for the upcoming Passover holiday, drawing the connection between our obligation to remember the experience of our ancestors as slaves in Egypt and our responsibility to work for the freedom of all people from all types of enslavement and oppression. The Haggadah supplement is here, We encourage you to print it out and use it at the Passover seders you attend.

Eco-Teams

Congregation Dorshei Tzedek has joined the growing list of grassroots community groups and individuals as partners in the Newton Eco-Team Project. We are currently hosting two “Eco-Teams.” Each team of 5 - 8 members uses the Low Carbon Diet Workshop to reduce home energy use, reduce waste, and save money.

In the first team meeting, we begin to build the team support system to share knowledge, inspiration and support. We learn how to calculate our CO2 footprint and create an action plan to reduce it. In the following three meetings, we share results. We see the impact of the changes in our habit patterns and household systems. The final step is planning to catalyze action in the larger community.

Newton’s Green Decade is creating hundreds of teams run by local volunteers working with “CoolMass”, a state wide eleven community initiative of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN) to reduce household carbon footprints by 25%. Would you like to get involved or join an Eco-Team? Contact ecoteams@dorsheitzedek.org.

Family Table

Dorshei Tzedek is an ongoing participant in Family Table, the kosher food pantry for greater Boston. We regularly collect donations of kosher food at Dorshei Tzedek, and also assists several times a year with loading food for distribution to families and households in need.

Greater Boston Interfaith Organization

Since 2003, Dorshei Tzedek has been a member of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO). GBIO is a broad-based coalition of area churches, synagogues, mosques, unions and community development corporations that have built a loving and action-oriented community on the basis of shared values and a strong commitment to economic justice. GBIO is one of the only organizations in the area that brings people together across racial, ethnic and religious lines in relationships of equality to work together toward a common vision of justice.

Dorshei Tzedek’s institutional commitment to GBIO includes: a significant annual financial commitment (1% of our annual operating budget) and an agreement to send significant membership representation to GBIO actions at which key elected officials and leaders of important financial institutions are asked to listen to our leadership and make concrete and specific commitments to our agenda.

Dozens of members of Dorshei Tzedek have taken part in one or more GBIO activities. Most recently, in fall 2009, members participated in a GBIO-sponsored Newton Mayoral Candidate Accountability night, and a GBIO Senatorial Candidate Forum. GBIO is currently participating in a national anti-usury campaign aimed at capping interest rates on credit cards and personal loans at 10%, and is also working on issues of affordable health care, access to higher education and job training. Dorshei Tzedek members will continue to be involved in GBIO’s action agenda in 2010 and beyond.

There is much to do! This vibrant Tikkun Olam Committee is always looking to expand its membership and leadership team. For more information, contact us at tikkunolam@dorsheitzedek.org.