** Save the Date:
Global Hunger Shabbat
November 4, 2011, at 6:30pm
On Friday, 11/4, we will honor our New Members with a special blessing during worship services. Additionally, November 4-5 has been designated "Global Hunger Shabbat," intending to bring awareness to the issues of hunger worldwide.
Our evening will include information relating to prevention of hunger here in Texas and around the world ... our "First Friday Shabbat Dinner" is being created with local/sustainable goals in mind ... and there will be an advocacy session focusing on more in-depth learning about what we can do locally and globally to fight hunger starting at 8:00pm.
CBI's fabulous Sisterhood will be providing a special Shabbat dinner featuring local/sustainable ingredients in honor of Global Hunger Shabbat ... we hope that you will consider a donation to Sisterhood to help cover the costs of the meal and to support Sisterhood's efforts to provide Jewish Camp Scholarships for kids who would otherwise be unable to attend.
This event is FREE and open to the entire community.
Contact Rabbi Olshein for more information and to help planning this event!
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Social Action and Advocacy at Congregation Beth Israel: Making a Difference . . .
Different approaches to social action are represented in this old story about a village located on a riverbank ... one day, as a few people were walking by the riverside, they saw babies floating down the river. Several people jumped into the river and started pulling the babies out to try to save them, but more and more babies kept coming faster and faster. One of the men jumped out of the river and someone screamed to him, "where are you going?" He said, "I am going to see who is putting the babies in the river and try to stop them."
One of the tenets of Reform Judaism is the responsibility to answer the prophetic call for making the world a better place. Here at CBI, we are not only working to "pull the babies out of the river" through acts of hands-on, community service, but we are also working to prevent the proverbial babies from being "put in the river" through a focus on systemic, big-picture advocacy. We try to do this two ways:
(1) Social Action Projects: CBI members participate in a variety of hands-on projects to meet the immediate needs of those less fortunate. Examples of these projects include:
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Hosting "Interfaith Hospitality Network" at the CBI Campus four times a year ... we are the only synagogue in Austin that provides housing and meals to homeless families in our facility on a rotating basis with other faith communities;
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Sponsoring a "Mitzvah of the Month" program benefiting different charities in Austin;
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Hosting regular blood drives for the benefit of The Blood Center of Central Texas;
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Hosting a "Chanukah Mitzvah Bazaar" for the benefit of a variety of local, national, and international social action programs;
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Regular food drives to benefit the Capital Area Food Bank; and
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Providing volunteers as needed for local community needs, a few of which have included "Hands-On Housing" with Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, volunteering at Seton Hospital every Christmas day to allow Christian volunteers to be with their families, and organizing teams for breast cancer walks and bike rides.
Rabbi Olshein coordinates the "Mitzvah of the Month" program, the "Chanukah Mitzvah Bazaar," and can answer questions regarding our food drives. Rabbi Lippe coordinates CBI's Blood Drives. Please contact them directly if you would like to be involved in these programs.
(2) Social Justice Advocacy: CBI members are organizing themselves to learn about and advocate on a variety of issues facing Austin, our country, and the world. Through this process, the groups being created will provide education opportunities to the greater community and teach advocacy skills to all who are interested. Please contact Rabbi Folberg if you are interested in CBI's Social Justice Advocacy program.
As Jews, we know that we have an obligation to make the world a better place ... please let us know if you would like to be involved in this very important part of work here at CBI!
