Reparations in Action: How to Move from Resolving to Repairing
Sunday, February 2, 2025 | 1 - 3 p.m. EST on Zoom
In January 2023, the Reconstructionist Movement passed a reparations resolution, committing ourselves to work to repair the foundational harms our societies are built on. The Tikkun Olam Commission has been closely tracking many different interesting approaches our congregations have taken to putting these commitments into action. There is no one right answer or way to live into these commitments, but many exciting possibilities are emerging. This program presents four congregational projects we want to lift up, as replicable initiatives other synagogues and communities of faith might take on in their own local contexts and movements for reparations.
PANELISTs
Each of our panelist will speak from a difference approach to Reparations:
Individual Giving
Rabbi Rachel Weiss
Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, IL
Organizational Giving
Lucy Duncan
Green Street Friends, Philadelphia, PA
Symbolic Reparations
Rabbi Micah Weiss
Associate Director for Thriving Communities and Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Reconstructing Judaism, Wyncote PA
Political Advocacy
Rabbi Devorah Jacobson
Jewish Community of Amherst, Amherst, MA
Individual Giving – The Evanston Interfaith Clergy and Leaders group called for four actions from white majority congregations. JRC signed on, resulting in member and congregational engagement and contribution to the
Evanston Reparations Community Fund.
Organizational Giving – After internal reflection and inspired by connections to their neighbors, the Green Street Monthly Meeting of Friends allocated endowment funds for reparations – $50,000/year for 10 years. Their first project was a free legal clinic to secure Black housing wealth. Learn about that process and how it was the inspiration for a city-wide, faith-based congregational campaign for reparations coordinated by reparationWorks.
Political Advocacy – The Stolen Beam Series started as a congregational education tool to build support for reparations. It quickly moved beyond the walls of the synagogue and has been used to build deeper relationships and a shared analysis about the need for reparations in political coalitions all across the country.
Symbolic Reparations – The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College offered a week-long seminar titled 1299 Reckoning: Research and Reflection on RRC’s Move from the City to the Suburbs to catalyze our organization’s reckoning with the ways in which we have “participated in or benefitted from racial injustices in our communities.”
Background reading
Learn more about reparations through these pieces below. We’ll add to this list so check back for more!
Schedule
Outline of Program (in EST):
- 1-1:10 p.m. – Welcome & Introductions
- 1:10-2 p.m. – Panelist Presentations
- 2-2:30 p.m. – Q&A
- 2:30-2:50 p.m. – Organizing Towards Action: Practical Skills and Tips with Rabbi Micah Weiss
- 2:50-3 p.m. – Closing
