#jfrej

Co-Hosted by a number of orgs including JVP, IfNotNow, JFREJ, RJ4J, multiple congregations and more. Register if you are interested.

Shabbat shalom! JFREJ wants you to take action:

The city’s total spending on policing has steadily climbed — increasing by more than $1 billion after Mayor Bill de Blasio took office.

Where is the NYPD’s $6 billion dollar budget going?

In 2018, New York City paid out $230 million of our tax dollars to settle lawsuits against the NYPD, mostly for police misconduct.

$332 million to keep cops in schools, armed and ready to fuel the school-to-prison pipeline even though our schools are closed and facing over $800 million in cuts.

The mayor wants to hire 2300 new police officers to enforce social distancing; 90% of those arrested for violating social distancing have been Black or Latinx, we have seen multiple videos of police using brutal violence in making arrests, and the Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens DAs are refusing to prosecute social distancing arrests.

The NYPD just spent half a million dollars on brand new drones to surveil New Yorkers — that would have bought almost 264,000 N95 masks for nurses, doctors, and EMTs who are re-using their disposable masks over and over again.

Hi there,

I completely understand your struggle.  Privilege can be a very tricky subject to think about and discuss- that is why so many horrible people with privilege don’t understand how their behavior affects others.

I honestly do not know what to say beyond, the fact that you are thinking about how your own privilege as a white person affects non-Jews and Jews of color is a sign that you are thinking in the correct direction. But, I do have some helpful resources that you might be able to explore and ask more knowledgeable people to chat about your struggle!

Resources on Racial Justice, Criminal Justice Reform, Education Inequality, Hate Crimes, & Economic Justice from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Jews in ALL Hues  (website, Facebook )

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice [JFREJ]  (website, Facebook)

Additional Resources (images, videos, articles) from and about Jews of Color

I hope that this helps!   If not, feel free to message me so that I can further understand your concerns.

Have a great night and a Shabbat Shalom!

“This Yom Kippur we face a moral reckoning. What has taken place over the last year is unimaginable. This Yom Kippur, let us turn our most holy of holy days into a mass mourning and collective atonement.  This Yom Kippur, let us embody Judaism at its most loving and liberatory.

Join us for a mass public Yizkor ritual of remembrance, refusal and recommitment. Wear white clothing. Bring a small stone. All are welcome.” Register:

Join JFREJ for Seder in the Streets: End Shelter Evictions & House New Yorkers!

Thursday Apr 25, 2024

5:30pm - 7:30pm

march starts at Gustave Hartman Square - Houston & Ave C, ends at Tompkins Square Park

In the tradition of the Jewish and immigrant-led anti-eviction and tenants rights movement in the Lower East Side that began on the first night of Passover in 1904, we invite you to join us for Seder in the Streets to demand an end to the Adams Administration's cruel shelter evictions and funding for affordable & community controlled social housing!

We will be marching and ending with a community & mutual aid meal sponsored by Tirdof in Tompkins Square Park.

This has been a brutal year for new arrivals to New York City. The Adams administration has been on a crusade to scapegoat new arrivals and dismantle the Right to Shelter – and it’s working. On March 15th, city officials reached an agreement that preserves the Right to Shelter – for everyone except new and undocumented New Yorkers, who are subject to Adams’ cruel shelter evictions policy. 

As Passover approaches, we ask ourselves: How can we gather and recline while our fellow New Yorkers who came here fleeing persecution or in search of a better life are being evicted from city shelters? How can we celebrate a liberation holiday while tens of thousands of our neighbors in New York City are criminalized and locked up? While the politicians in power do nothing to stop it – and even worse, perpetuate it? 

As Jewish New Yorkers, many of us have stories of family members who migrated to New York City and who, through the strength of community, were given the opportunity to become a part of the fabric of our city. We need to reject the Mayor’s xenophobic attempts to pit us against one another for resources and basic human rights, and show our newest arrivals that same welcome and care, and ensure they, too, have the opportunity to thrive.  

On Thursday, April 25, we will travel to the site where Jewish women battled with evictors and helped launch the NYC housing movement, and march on to Tompkins’ Square Park where we’ll share a community Passover Seder meal with new New Yorkers trying to be placed in shelter at nearby St. Brigid’s. 

good prayer + post from JFREJ which feels like the only thing that has consoled me this week