Jewish Values in Our Lives       

Each January our nation marks a day to honor the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the visionary leader of the African-American community in the mid-20^th century who fought tirelessly for civil rights.  As you may know, members of the Jewish community joined their African-American brothers and sisters in calling for equal civil rights.  Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched alongside Rev. Dr. King; several prominent rabbis and leaders in the Jewish community were arrested in St. Augustine, Florida for their work promoting civil rights; and the president of the NAACP during that time was noted Jewish philanthropist, and Bostonian, Kivie Kaplan. 

An active member of the Commision on Social Action of Reform Judaism, Kaplan and his wife Emily believed in the importance of equality and equal rights for all.  In 1959, they offered funds for the creation of a building to house a center for social action in Washington, D.C.  Today that building stands as the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC).  Since its founding, the RAC has been the hub of Jewish social justice and legislative activity in the nation’s capital for more than 40 years. The RAC educates and mobilizes the American Jewish community on legislative and social concerns, advocating on issues from economic justice to civil rights to religious liberty to Israel. 

Later this month, seven of our 9^th grade students will participate in the L’taken program at the RAC.  The L’taken Seminar program enables high school students from around the country to explore public policy and social activism through a Jewish lens.  Our 9^th grade students will meet with experts both inside and outside the Jewish community to learn about current policy issues.  Past subjects have included: gun control, the environment, and minimum wage.  Near the conclusion of the trip, our students will visit Capitol Hill and lobby our government representatives on the issues they have learned about.  In addition, students will tour the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (in continuation of the 9^th grade Holocaust curriculum), participate in Havdalah services at one of the memorials, and experience the vibrancy of Georgetown and other exciting areas of Washington, DC.

Kivie Kaplan, and the other leaders who participated in the civil rights movement, understand not only the message in Judaism that we must seek social justice, but the importance of applying Jewish values to our daily lives.  We see this same lesson in Torah where we are instructed to pay our workers promptly, as well as in the prophets who admonished the people for ignoring the needy members of the community.  I know that our 9^th grade students will return from this trip with the understanding that the values and lessons they learn within their religious school classes and homes apply not just in those settings, but to all facets of our lives.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Adam F. Miller