Words from our Temple President, Ricki Bauman
August 2024
We have been affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)—previously the Union of American Hebrew Congregations) since 1988, when we incorporated as the Jewish Congregation of Sun City Center. We do have a Social Action component chaired by Barbara Nova, where we feed the needy at St. Andrew, collect school supplies and/or raise money for Hillsborough Schools, support/staff the Nearly New Shop and the Interfaith Charities, and support Our Lady of Guadalupe with bags of groceries or dollars at the High Holy Days. Those efforts are tzedakah, simply put, charity.
Additionally, our Torah teaches us to right wrongs, protect the weak, the widow, the orphan, and to just stand up for what is right as both Esther and Mordechai did to save our people. This is our missing link. Our parent, the URJ, has a much more expansive view that many of us just don’t know about. The following is the URJ website about the Commission on Social Action. Please read on:
The Commission on Social Action (CSA) is a deliberative, policy-development and leadership body, bringing the vision of Reform Judaism to issues of social justice; it is involved with education, programming, advocacy, leadership development and engagement on behalf of the positions which it and/or the URJ and the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) have adopted; and it encourages, supports and enhances the social justice work of URJ Congregations and CCAR Rabbis
The Commission on Social Action (CSA) of Reform Judaism is a joint commission of the CCAR and the URJ and its affiliates. The CSA and the Religious Action Center (RAC) inspire and implement the social justice policy positions of the URJ and CCAR. The CSA provides governance for itself and the RAC. The CSA is involved with social justice education, programming, advocacy, and leadership development within the congregations and affiliates of the Reform Movement. Its members engage congregations and constituencies to advocate at the federal, state, provincial, and local levels for the positions which the CSA and/or the URJ and the CCAR have adopted. The goal of this work is to empower the Reform movement to realize its social justice agenda.
L’shalom,
Ricki