Take Action
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Text Bank with RAC-OH, WRJ, and Jews across the country - Register today for all four Tuesday Action Nights (7:00-8:30 PM EST). Each action night will including a Jewish framing, a training, and time to text OH voters together.
- Canvass with RAC Ohio and our partners at Planned Parenthood Action OH - email ldanziger@rac.org to plan a canvass in your community
- Oct 29, 12:30-4 p.m. - Join the Jewish community in Cincinnati for this Planned Parenthood led canvass
- Nov 5, 12:30-4 p.m. - Join the Jewish community in Cincinnati for this Planned Parenthood led canvass
- Join us for a November 13th Campaign Debrief and Celebration 8-9 p.m. on Zoom. No matter what happens at the polls on November 7th we have much to lift up in gratitude and celebration and much to learn about the implications of this campaign and where we go from here. Let’s save that time to be together and reflect as a community. Register now.
- View the recording from our Training Night on Moving Others to Act. This training will support you as you recruit members of your community to text, call, and send postcards to Ohio voters.
Background
Our sacred right to access life-saving medical care and our religious freedom will be on the ballot this November and you can help make sure Ohioans turn out and vote for it. Join RAC Ohio and our coalition, Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights to take action today.
Reproductive Freedom in Ohio is tenuous. At any moment, the judicial freeze on our state's Six Week Abortion Ban could be overturned and Ohioans will once again lack access to life-saving healthcare. Jewish tradition commands us to choose life above all else. Abortion bans threaten the lives of pregnant people and reduce our sacred access to choice. The non-partisan ballot measure will also explicitly protect birth control and fertility treatments, safeguarding our right to choose life, health, and safety. Join us in the fight to regain bodily autonomy and religious freedom - each of us has a stake in this issue.
In the News
- A Conversation with RAC-OH and RAC-FL Leaders on the First Anniversary of Dobbs (RAC.org)
- Rabbi and reverends: We will fight for Ohio abortion rights in November (dispatch.com)
- Ohio Rabbis React to State Expert Offering 'Christian Understanding' of Abortion Law | Ohio News | Cleveland | Cleveland Scene (clevescene.com)
- Ohio Rabbis spur Passover Seder abortion conversations (dispatch.com)
- Opinion: What does Jewish law say about the right to abortion? (dispatch.com)
- Reform Jews in Ohio and Across US Lead Efforts to Successfully Reject Ohio Referendum | Reform Judaism
- Remarks from Shabbat Service and Coalition Leadership Meeting for Reproductive Rights in Ohio | Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (rac.org)
Our Partners
We will be continuing our partnerships with the Ohio Transformation Fund, the ACLU, Women of Reform Judaism, and state-wide faith-based organizations as we pursue legislation that supports our key priorities.
RAC-OH Victories
Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison (TCAP) program
Thanks in part to Reform Jews across the state of Ohio, after Shabbat fell on Friday night, June 30, Governor Kasich signed the Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison program (TCAP) into law. TCAP diverts low-level felons away from incarceration in favor of community supervision or treatment and will keep an extra 3,400 people a year in their communities receiving the support and rehabilitation they desperately need.
Senate Bill 66: Record Sealing and Probation Reform
Teshuvah means a return to our true selves, a return to our community and ultimately a return to our Creator. Citizens returning and making teshuvah after prison face a period of probation and a permanent criminal record viewable by prospective employers, lenders, renters etc. Senate Bill 66 (SB66) returns autonomy to judges to treat probation violators within the community. It provides the options of intervention and treatment in lieu of conviction and makes time in prison for violating probation shorter and less likely.
SB66 was the focus of RAC-OH’s first lobby day in 2017. Seventy Reform Jews traveled to Columbus, Ohio to lobby to our representatives to pass this important legislation. The power of the Reform Movement in Ohio shows, as the bill was passed in 2018.
Past Events
Ohio Lobby Days
On October 25, 2017, RAC-OH gathered in Columbus, Ohio to lobby our elected officials on criminal justice reform and other important Jewish issues.
On November 13, 2019, RAC-OH returned to Columbus with a focus on criminal justice reform and preventing gun violence.
Contact Us
Contact Rabbi Lindsey Danziger to learn more and get involved.
RAC-OH Email Sign Up
Learn more about the RAC's key issues and get involved by signing up for the RAC-OH email updates.
Learn More and Get Involved
RAC-OH is led by a Core Team of rabbis and lay leaders. The Core Team meets monthly to discuss state-wide legislative issues, determine opportunities for partnerships, participates in selected actions taken by faith-based organizations, and offers outreach and support to Reform congregations as they engage in social justice work. The Core Team is led by Rabbi Rick Kellner of Congregation Beth Tikvah and Amy Katz, a lay leader and past president of Isaac M. Wise Temple. We are supported by national RAC staff overseen by Joy Friedman, the RAC’s organizing director. Core Team members include Rabbi Allison Vann of Suburban Temple-Kol Ami, Rabbi Josh Caruso and Laura Katz of Anshe Chesed-Fairmount Temple, Rabbi Josh Brown of Temple Israel Akron, Rabbi Karen Bodney Halasz of Temple Israel Dayton, and Maria Rosenthal of Congregation Beth Tikvah.
