We are starting this new year off on the right footing. It is upon us. Aleinu. Borne out of surveys and community conversations and ratified by the entire community, our JCOGS strategic plan prioritized robust tikkun olam as one of our five touchstones. Repairing the world is central to our Jewish values and is a community effort to help create a more just society.
This new year, JCOGS is creating a one-year social action task force on one issue of your choice to impact the greater local community. Yes, you heard right. You get to decide what JCOGS will focus on this coming year.
Will you fill out this 60-second survey to pick what issue JCOGS will work on this coming year?
During 5782, our community will look to engage multiple committees and constituencies of our community toward:
creating educational and religious programming, doing hands-on direct service, and advocating for systemic change among our members and the greater community around one singular issue where we can have a meaningful local impact.
This 5782 year will see a different kind of dedication to tikkun olam than in the past. We want to make a meaningful, in depth difference on one local issue. Local not-for-profits and social service agencies point to two overriding, local issues:
This does not mean that JCOGS will not be involved in other initiatives concurrently, or that we will not take on other issues in future years. But as Pirkei Avot/Ethics of our Ancestors teaches us: “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”
Let us unite ourselves around a cause that can bring great change to our local community.
L’shana tova, to a happy, healthy and impactful year, and Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi David Fainsilber
Steve Levine, president
Lynne Gedanken, tikkun olam committee chair
