Social Action/Reaching Out

During the last few years, our Social Action Committee has been engaged in enabling congregants to meet the social service needs in our community. Activities like “Mitzva Day,” food collections, and the Community Garden are just some of our social action activities. A primary focus of the Committee is to increase members’ awareness and understanding of issues in our society, determine social service needs, and try to meet those needs.
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War on Women follow-up.  You can download letters to send to your legislators by clicking the following link: Letters to Legislators  letter to Cuomo
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See our Greening Efforts    POWER-UP WITH RSNS
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Why are so many of our neighbors hungry? Why do upwards of 35,000,000 people lack health insurance? What about the serious environmental issues that threaten the quality of life on our planet?  Though many specialized organizations exist, we believe that it is important to address issues as Jews. Reconstructionist belief encourages, even requires such activity. One of the primary reasons that Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan organized the first Reconstructionist Congregation was to have the freedom of the pulpit to voice his objection against those who exploited employees and prevented them from organizing labor unions.

We encourage you to lend your voice and inspiration to the ongoing work of this committee. It is our hope that as many congregants as possible will engage as a community, through learning and acting, in the process of Tikkun Olam - healing the world through social justice. As we work together to define our obligations to the larger world, these acts of social justice will in turn help define who we are , a synagogue that is first and foremost a caring community.

 CSA     We support local agriculture through a CSA with The Golden Earthworm Farm.  Registration for spring 2013 will probably begin in March 2013.  Our CSA participates in an annual Tu B\’Shevat Seder 2013

Food Drive

We always welcome donations of kosher, non-perishable foods (no glass, please), which can be left in one of the clearly marked bins located in either lobby. We regularly give these donations to local food pantries such as the INN or other organizations that we have relationships with, such as Project Ezra.
Links
Here are some links that may help lead to further information, inspiration, and action!
http://www.rac.org - the Religious Action Center of the Reform movement - an excellent resource for information on how our government is progressing on social justice issues that are important to liberal Jewish community.
http://www.jrf.org/to/to-main.html - the social justice section of the Reconstructionist Federation website
http://www.socialaction.com - social action links and information from a Jewish perspective.
http://www.dosomething.org - a great social action resource for kids and teens!
http://www.islandharvest.org - we strongly encourage all members who celebrate simchas at our synagogue to ask their caterer to work with Island Harvest, a group that provides an easy way to distribute leftover food to needy food pantries and soup kitchens throughout Long Island.
http://www.mazon.org - Contributions to MAZON are granted to a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations confronting hunger in the US and around the world. MAZON (the Hebrew word for “food”) asks American Jews to support our efforts by contributing 3% of the cost of life-cycle celebrations such as weddings, b’nay mitzvah, birthdays and anniversaries - every joyous occasion.
http://www.nif.org - The New Israel Fund supports Israeli organizations working for religious pluralism and tolerance, civil and human rights, Jewish-Arab equality and co-existence, improving the status of women, bridging social and economic gaps, and environmental justice.

Tikkun Alliance of the North Shore “TANS”

Click the following 2 links for details on the Food Recovery Program: tansfoodrecovery1 tansfoodrecovery 2

 Click here Greening Efforts to learn how the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore is leading the way in synagogue sustainability.