Temple Israel Recognized for Outstanding, Innovative and Replicable Social Action Project

We got notification today that Temple Israel will receive an Honorable Mention Irving J. Fain Award for Outstanding Synagogue Social Action Programming presented by the Union for Reform Judaism. The Fain Awards are presented during the Consultation on Conscience, the biennial public policy conference of the Reform Jewish Movement and are among the highest honors available to congregations within the Movement. Temple Israel also received a Fain Award Honorable Mention in 1999

Kudos to the key players who continue to lead our To Do List effort: Rabbi Eric Linder, Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Social Justice Committee members Patrick Jensen, Mimi Silverman, Gary Kaplan and Shari Hess. Each plays an invaluable role in inspiration and enzyme support in moving the project forward. Our Board of Trustees, professional and support staff contribute in the allocation of budget, communication tools, and human resources. Ultimately, the congregants and community partners prove to be the most valuable asset of God’s To Do List.

Dr. Ron Wolfson, a native Omahan, helped launched this year’s social justice initiative. His D’var Torah, entitled “God’s To Do List: How to be an Angel and Do God’s Work on Earth,” enthused and warmed the hearts of our congregation as we swayed arm in arm singing Shalom Alechem, reminding ourselves that we can partner with angels to do God’s work; God’s To Do List.

As part of the Fain Award application we were asked :

Briefly describe the overall program. How did the idea for the program develop? How does it fulfill Fain Award criteria?

God’s To-Do List is the catalyst between our theological ideals and the opportunities for action in our daily lives. Community organizing principles taught us to “hear” the voice of our congregation in order to be effective by connecting the BEING of Jewish to the DOING of social action.

God’s To-Do List is a means of engaging and teaching our congregation about social problems and Jewish values while building powerful, meaningful alliances. God’s To-Do List creatively promotes social and economic justice, fosters constructive human relations and holistically infuses social action into the life of our congregation.

The idea transformed through our six months of planning and preparation. At its inception, our vision was to challenge people to match the spiritual and theological messages of the High Holidays with social action. This idea eventually turned into God’s To-Do List.

Here is a full length copy our application and our To Do List Toolkit.

The Fain Awards were established in 1983 in the honor and memory of Irving J. Fain, who was a passionate proponent of social justice and of the Reform Movement’s active commitment to the work of tikkun olam. Mr. Fain served for a decade as chairperson of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. This award is given every two years to congregations whose work in the area of social justice is exemplary, have successfully involved large numbers of congregants in their programs and have developed genuinely innovative and/or particularly effective projects.

The awards will be presented by some of the Reform Movement’s most honored leaders, including Rabbi Eric Yoffie, Rabbi David Saperstein, executive director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and Rabbi Marla Feldman, director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. As recipients of the Fain Award at the Consultation on Conscience, these congregations will be held up as an example of how an individual congregation can be successful in the sacred work of tikkun olam, healing the world. The award winning programs will be distributed widely in a booklet highlighting this year’s Fain Award recipients. These exemplary programs are also available on the Religious Action Center’s online program bank, at www.rac.org.