Planning the Future of the Reform Movement's Social Action Path

Have you ever wondered how Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) and our partners create policy regarding issues of social justice and act on it? WRJ, as you may know, adopts policies on various issues via democratic vote and then acts on those policies to enact change. But we do not do so in a vacuum. We act with many partners, most importantly, perhaps, within the Reform movement.

Much of the movement’s social justice work is done through the Religious Action Center and the Commission on Social Action (CSA). The CSA is a joint instrument of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). It is made up of representatives of those bodies as well as folks representing the various affiliates (e.g., WRJ, NFTY, the Association of Reform Jewish Educators, the American Conference of Cantors, etc) and members at large (of which I am one). The CSA serves as the board of the Religious Action Center (RAC) and as the social action arm of the URJ (writing resolutions and statements etc).

The CSA meets twice a year and our most recent meeting took place in Washington, DC on November 13 - 15, 2016. We began by processing the election results, largely focusing on where each of us was emotionally and how we saw ourselves moving forward both as individuals and as a movement. We then had a marvelous presentation by Robert P. Jones on his book, “The End of White America.” His take on the election and the demographics of the electorate was very interesting. In light of the election results, we reviewed our resolution on speaking out to support or oppose Judicial and Executive appointments.

During the course of the meeting, we were briefed on a wide variety of topics, including the issue of sexual assault on college campuses and the crisis in Syria. Working groups met to work on issues including the two listed above and the school to prison pipeline. We discussed recent successes: our participation in Nitzavim, a program to protect voting rights and to engage more voters, and Reform California’s work on a successful ballot initiative around criminal justice reform. We also brainstormed ways to execute a movement wide long term campaign on racial justice, and to bring work down to the state and local level, especially in those areas where the RAC does not have staff.

While at the meeting we also discussed the Consultation on Conscience, which is coming up April 30 - May 2, 2017. WRJ will have special programming for women the morning of Sunday, April 30. The Consultation features seriously big speakers and advocacy training - culminating in a visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, May 2 to advocate for racial justice.  This is the premier biannual social justice event and is not to be missed! You can learn more about Consultion on Conscience on the RAC's website.