Social Advocacy And Activism
Social advocacy and activism involves partnering with and volunteering for organizations who are doing the word and need our help, as well as educating Temple members on the issues and how they can be addressed.
Racial Justice
Temple Emanu-El’s Civil Rights Journey will educate, empower and inspire you! Meet with organizers and participants who worked and strategized with Martin Luther King, Jr in the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. Walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a part of Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Institute. Worship at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and tour the King Center. Learn how Jews were involved in the Civil Rights struggle and why Jews, as people who have known oppression, must care and act when others are oppressed. Turn your interest in social action into social activism!
Special Shabbat Services
From time to time, we present Shabbat services that relate to our Tikkun Olam objectives, that celebrate our work and that of our partner organizations.
The Annual Martin Luther King Shabbat Services bring together neighboring churches and mosques in partnership, to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King.
Voter Engagement
GOTV stands for Get Out The Vote! GOTV is not a single activity but coordinated activities that encourage people to vote.
Religious Action Center (RAC)
The national RAC provides support for Get Out the Vote organizing. Recently, temple members came together for a post carding party under the tent. We wrote to hundreds of registered, but infrequent, Florida voters encouraging them to vote in their primary election.
We partner with RAC NJ in support of state-wide legislative campaigns on issues of meaning for Temple Emanu-El. Recent examples include advocating for legislation prohibiting discrimination of convicted felons (returning citizens) who are applying for housing. We also helped gain bi-partisan support for a bill that will grant same day voter registration that many other states already have in place. This work includes organizing temple members for calling campaigns and in-person lobbying of our local Trenton representatives on the issues, as well as participating in rallies at the state capitol.
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
Temple Emanu-El is an ADL “signature” synagogue. As such, we have a congregation-wide commitment to raising awareness of and speaking out against antisemitism and hate. Our signature status allows us direct access to ADL’s programs, resources and learning opportunities
Community Support
“Welcoming the stranger in our land” is an indisputable responsibility of our Jewish faith.
The Westfield Fun Club is committed to extending a hand to those who need our help.
Westfield Fun Club
Launched in 2016 by temple members Alissa Berger and Jenny Tananbaum, the Westfield Fun Club (WFC) works with local refugee families in Union County and elsewhere in New Jersey. Its mission is to promote social, economic, and educational well-being by helping new families create a lasting foundation for success. We meet on select Saturday mornings at Temple Emanu-El (generally twice monthly) and offer a variety of programs including ESL (what is ESL – we should spell out), resume building, job search assistance, citizenship prep and more for the adults; and for the children, homework tutoring, music and art classes, book club, karate and more. The WFC also provides assistance on an as-needed basis for emergency food deliveries and other essential items.
We welcome volunteers at both our in person activities as well as those who can assist with food collection and delivery. No experience necessary – just a willingness to help others as they begin their journey in America.
B’nai Mitzvah Projects
A Mitzvah Project engages the child and his/her family in some of the most important values of Judaism: repairing the world (Tikkun Olam) and compassion for others (v’ahavta l’rayecha kamocha). Members of the Tikkun Olam Committee are available to assist students and their parents with exploring possibilities for their B’nai Mitzvah Projects and can help provide ideas and guidance. LEARN MORE
Union County Interfaith Day of Prayer
Now in its eighth year, the Day of Prayer brings people ofdifferent backgrounds together to meet and build bonds for the betterment of the community. Join us for an interfaith celebration of unity and fellowship with representatives from many faith groups including Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh traditions.
Environmental Initiatives
In the New York Metropolitan area, it is all too easy to consider humanity as separate from the environment, and to fail to see the inextricable link between human and ecological health. There is enormous need for volunteers to help “repair our world” by protecting and restoring the environment. The importance of sustainability is often emphasized in sermons, and we regularly worship in the great outdoors, either through Shabbat in Teva services in the outdoor space at Temple Emanuel, or through a Shabbat hike and reflection at the Watchung Reservation.
Park Clean Ups
The outdoors has served as such great therapy for all of us over the past year, where we could breathe fresh air and stretch our legs after spending way too much time indoors. That said, with more people spending time in our parks and less organized park clean-ups, there has also been a build-up of litter in our forests and streams. We need your help to clean up the local parks!
Temple Emanu-El has adopted Lenape Park and holds regular clean-up and invasive species removal events that are open to the congregation and greater community. We also have organized “Shomrei Adamah,” a year-long environmental commitment through which members of our congregation are committed to learning and acting on a different environmental issue each month (including eating more plant-based foods, composting, limiting carbon emissions, and learning how to communicate with others about climate change).
Recycled Shoe Project
The Recycled Shoe Project is a social movement to collect and upcycle gently worn shoes while raising money for various schools, charities, and organizations.
While we reduce our carbon footprint by keeping shoes out of landfills (where they take 30 to 40 years to decompose), the project also supports fundraisers, improves quality of life, and creates a lasting economic impact in developing countries all over the world.
Homelessness Support
Family Promise
Family Promise is the nation’s leading organization working to prevent and end homelessness, to assist the families in the program. While guests are trying to get back on their feet families are able to stay together while getting much-needed support. The organization’s vision is a nation in which every family has a home, a livelihood, and the chance to build a better future. What began as a local initiative in Summit, NJ, has become a national movement that involves 200,000 volunteers in 200+ communities in 43 states.
Temple Emanu-El volunteers provide hospitality, companionship, and most importantly, community. We are proud that Temple Emanu-El is a part of this very important work. Prior to Covid, TEE worked with Family Promise to provide comfortable accommodations for guests (turning classrooms into bedrooms), meals, companionship, transportation and a variety of necessities and niceties donated by our members.
Due to Covid, the way Temple Emanu-El and other supporting congregations/churches assist Family Promise and their guests has shifted slightly. Although we no longer physically host our guests, we support them throughout the year in various ways including bi-annual fundraisers, providing meals throughout the year, and various uplifting outreach such as providing Mother/Father’s Day goodie bags and holiday gifts.
Our program with Family promise is important because it helps us look at homelessness in a different way. We have an opportunity to be a part of people’s lives as they take the steps to get back on their feet and obtain permanent housing.
Caring Community
Repairing the world often begins at home. The Caring Community Committee at Temple Emanu-El assists Temple members in times of need. We are here for our families with home delivered meals, challahs on Fridays, shloshim (30-day period following burial) calls, rides, companionship, or just a listening ear.
If you are in need, or know of someone who is in need,
please contact Rabbi Victor Appell at 908-232-6770, ext. 118.
Make Soup for those who are Ill
Tuesday, August 15 from 4:30 PM
What could be more comforting than homemade soup? On Tuesday, August 15, we will gather in the Temple kitchen to make soup (chicken and vegetarian), which will be kept frozen and can be delivered with a get will wish whenever a congregant is not feeling well. If you would like to help by co-chairing the event, or to volunteer to make soup, please respond here.
Caring Community Meeting
Tuesday, August 22 at 7:30 PM
Repairing the world often begins at home. The Caring Community Committee at Temple Emanu-El assists Temple members in times of need. We are here for our families with home delivered meals, challahs on Fridays, shloshim (30-day period following burial) calls, rides, companionship, or just a listening ear. If you would like to get involved and/or attend the meeting, register here.