“Great is Study for it Leads to Deeds”:
How IRAC’s grassroots organizing empowers congregational activists
By David Segal, IRAC intern and Rebecca Cariati, IRAC Overseas Relations

February Monthly 2006

“My underlying drive,” says Aviva Groen, IRAC Social Action Coordinator for the Israel Masorti (Conservative) congregations, “is to teach our congregations the difference between a ‘mitzvah’ project, like collecting canned goods, and a ‘social justice’ project, where you address not just the symptoms, but rather the root problems.”

Since 2003, Na’ama Dafni has overseen the development and expansion of social justice work in the Israel Progressive (Reform) congregations as IRAC’s Social Action Coordinator. Dafni works with rabbis and communal leaders to build social justice projects, develop organizing skills, and recruit volunteers on a congregational level.

Two years later, IRAC hired Aviva Groen, formerly the Congregational Coordinator for the Masorti Movement in Israel, as IRAC’s Social Action Coordinator for Conservative congregations. This joint initiative to support Reform and Conservative congregations in social justice work is known as Kehillat Tzedek (Caring Congregations.)

When Groen first began at IRAC, her first task was to do a “mapping” of existing social justice projects within Conservative communities. “I was flabbergasted,” she said, “when I started doing this mapping and found that almost every single Conservative congregation has some kind of social action program.”

Groen explains, “I then assessed their needs and how I could meet them.” To her surprise, Groen found that many congregations believe that what they lack most is money. However, she explains, “The very fact that they had so many projects already in place shows that it isn’t always a matter of funding.” Of course, financial resources can help with the success or scope of a project. Accordingly, fundraising training is part of the support offered by Kehilat Tzedek .

Groen quickly learned that social action leadership training was in order. Thus, she adapted a social justice training course that her partner, Dafni, conducted for Reform congregations .

The course, inspired by the Talmudic saying “Learning is great for it leads to deeds” (Tractate Kiddushin), attracted 40 participants from 26 Masorti congregations, and plans to meet for a five-session course. Four sessions focus on tools for organizing a social justice project: how to work with volunteers and a committee, raise funds, assess a specific communal need and mobilize to address it.

One session, a two-day retreat, dealt with the spiritual and ideological aspects of social justice work. Groen explained, “We went through the principles and goals of the Masorti Movement and saw that an essential part of that ideology is helping others and working for social change. We discussed why we as individuals should be doing this and why we as Masorti Jews should be involved in it.”

Groen hopes that in the future she will have more time for one-on-one work with individual congregations. “I want to help them implement more holistic social justice initiatives that I have seen in congregations abroad.”

The Reform and Conservative Movements in Israel have much to learn from each other, and with Groen and Dafni’s help their collaboration on social action will move Israel that much closer toward their shared vision of justice and pluralism.