Repairing the World at Biennial: Thursday Tikkun Olam Highlights

Biennial started with a bang on Wednesday, including a jam-packed evening plenary featuring such incredible speakers as Michael Douglas and Nick Kristof.

Thursday will be full of wonderful opportunities to delve into Tikkun Olam.

We started early with the 8:45 am plenary, during which delegates passed a resolution on the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming people, to a standing ovation and cheers. It was a beautiful moment for our Movement.

At this same plenary was a panel on racial justice issues, moderated by the New York Times’ Jodi Kantor, and will feature RAC Director, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, NAACP President and CEO Cornell W. Brooks, and SEIU Executive Vice President Rocío Saenz. A central aspect of the Tikkun Olam track is racial justice, and there are numerous opportunities over the course of Biennial to engage with this key issue.

Following the plenary are a number of great workshops:

11:15am – 12:30pm – The Anti-Vaccinations Movement and Its Perils for Our Community

11:15am – 12:30pm – For What We’re Worth: Pay Equity for Women in the 21^st Century

3:45 – 5:00pm – Disability Rights: A New Frontier in Human Rights

3:45 – 5:00pm – Beyond Buzzwords: Engaging in Gun Violence Prevention with Your Congregation and NFTY

And, don’t miss the Tikkun Olam keynote at 2:15pm in Palms-Sabo: In This Together: A Conversation about Why and How People of Faith Are Pursuing Racial Justice in the 21^st Century.

There will be more opportunities to discuss other resolutions at the Thursday evening plenary: paid family leave, mandatory immunizations and predatory lending.

If you can’t attend Biennial, you can watch a livestream of the plenaries at biennial.urj.org. We’ll continue to give updates on Tikkun Olam at Biennial, so stay tuned!