What can we do to help? That’s the question we constantly ask ourselves as Jews and Beth El members. Some things such as the need for food and medical care are always with us, while other needs arise depending on the current political and economic climate.
Congregation Beth El has a long-standing commitment to social action — setting in motion the ideals and values of our traditions through deeds of justice and compassion. Our community offers wonderful opportunities to respond to the imperfections of our world by engaging in meaningful service. Want to get involved? Below are some of the recent ways Congregation Beth El practices tikkun olam (repairing the world) and tzedakah (charitable giving).
To learn more, email a group contact person listed on our Member page, under “Members, Staff, Committees” or write to tikkunolambethel@gmail.com.
Galvanized by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans, a group of more than 30 Beth El members assembled by Zoom in June 2020 to form the Beth El Antiracism Working Group. Members of the group are committed to address racial injustice through learning, self-reflection, and action. We strive to advance racial equity and justice individually, congregationally, and in the wider world in which we live and work. Actions in progress include: antiracism study/action groups; educational programming including Antiracism Community Conversations and a book group; outreach to other organizations doing this work; participation in stand-outs; and letter-writing campaigns on bills before Congress and the Massachusetts legislature.
Beth El’s solidarity statement: Members of Beth El stand with Black, Indigenous, Latinx and all People of Color – our families, friends, congregants, neighbors and fellow residents of Massachusetts and the nation, against police brutality and racial and economic injustice. Learn more about the Reform Movement’s Racial Justice Campaign.
Beth El hosts quarterly public blood drives in association with the American Red Cross. Beth El members volunteer as registration and canteen support staff. Visit www.redcrossblood.org to find the next blood drive closest to you.
Dozens of Beth El members and friends turn out for semi-annual Build Days in support of Habitat for Humanity home construction projects. We help turn vacant land into homes for deserving families in our communities. Watch a video about our recent project.
CAST is working to build a stronger interfaith and secular alliance to respond vocally to extremist hate. See the CAST web page for details.
Beth El members contribute food, funds, books, and other basic living necessities for local shelters at the High Holidays and throughout the year. Through our electronic bulletin board, members share ways to make financial and other contributions towards ongoing community support and disaster relief. During a typical High Holidays, Beth El households contribute hundreds of grocery bags of food supplies and living necessities to four charities helping our local communities: the Sudbury Community Food Pantry, A Place to Turn Natick, Family Table, and Voices against Violence. During Covid, we instead organized financial contributions to these organizations: Sudbury Community Food Pantry, A Place to Turn Natick, Family Table, and Voices Against Violence.
Java Nagila is Beth El’s coffee-buying cooperative. Drink delicious coffee from the Massachusetts certified B-corporation roasters, Dean’s Beans, who use coffee as a vehicle for positive change and support Under the Same Moon. Longstanding Beth El members, Martin and Jane Brauer, are board members of this local volunteer-run charity, which funds the primary grades of a school in Guatemala that provides education for children who cannot afford the costs of public education. The school also attends to the needs of the families, acting as a community development resource in a country with the second lowest literacy rate in the Western Hemisphere. So you can feel good about your morning cuppa.
The Beth El Green Team is working to reduce our carbon and environmental footprint and to stand for environmental justice. We spearhead initiatives to: (1) reduce the fossil fuel use at our building, (2) ensure households in our congregation take action to reduce their carbon footprint (check out what you can do and help us reach out goal), and (3) support advocacy efforts to advance the goals of our Climate and Sustainability Resolution.
To join the Green Challenge and help us reach out goal of having 50% of our households take action to address our climate emergency, visit the Jewish Climate Action Network website.
Hevra Mishpacha continues to be here to support our community members. The need is always real, no matter what the season. In recent weeks we have provided multiple meals and phone support for congregants facing challenging circumstances. If you or someone you know are in need of congregational support, please don’t hesitate to contact Jocylyn Bailin.
Beth El members volunteer with Family Promise to provide assistance and support to homeless and low-income families in temporary need of housing, food assistance, and support to help them regain their housing, their independence, and their dignity.
People from many different backgrounds — Jews by birth and Jews by choice, people still deciding whether to become Jewish, white Jews and Jews of color, interfaith households, people with limited prior Jewish learning and people with extensive Jewish experience — are part of the Beth El their community. We are two-parent and single-parent families, couples and individuals of all ages, and families formed by adoption (including transracial/transnational adoption) and by birth. Our membership includes LGBTQIA+ individuals and couples, multiracial families, people of varied education and socioeconomic levels, and people living with physical, developmental and mental health challenges.
To learn more about what we’re doing to foster inclusion at Beth El, see our Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility page or email Inclusion Committee co-chairs Maxine Haron or Carrie Fuchs.
Beth El voted in 2017 to become a Sanctuary Community for those who are threatened in the immigrant community. Among other current tikkun olam initiatives, our congregation is helping a young Salvadoran family with two children that has applied for asylum. Although they are not in hiding, they have very limited means. They are hardworking and proud and they are using their earnings to sustain the family, and we have been supplementing their efforts. Learn more about our work on the Sanctuary Committee web page.
Beth El has created a fund to provide food and living assistance to them, and to advocate for other vulnerable immigrants in our community. Please consider making a contribution to this effort by writing a check to Congregation Beth El, with “Sanctuary Project” written in the memo line, or donate here.
Congregation Beth El co-founded and has continued to co-sponsor Students Together Opposing Prejudice to educate middle school and high school youth on how to identify and confront discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping. S.T.O.P. was founded in 1991 by our Director of Education, the Director of Religious Education at Our Lady of Fatima, and the Assistant Minister at Sudbury United Methodist Church in response to an anti-semitic incident at a local elementary school. See the STOP website for more information or email stopsudbury@gmail.com.
The Sudbury Community Food Pantry is busy feeding about 300 clients monthly (understanding they can shop as much as weekly); and the free home delivery service orchestrated and managed by Deb Oppenheimer for clients unable to otherwise access the Pantry, is similarly quite busy. If anyone is interested in volunteering to help pack groceries for those clients getting home deliveries, on Wednesdays (once or multiple times per month), please give Deb Oppenheimer a call (at 978-443-4972) and all questions will be welcome and answered.
Are you interested in expanding the reach of your tzedakah but aren’t quite sure how? Our hevra meets every two months to learn about Jewish charitable organizations in the United States and Israel that are helping people and changing the world, and to enjoy a communal meal, because… Beth El. We currently fund about 25 charitable organizations and are looking ahead to next year, expecting an increasing need of our funds. During our meetings, we learn about and determine which organizations are worthy of our funding and reflect our priorities. We often hear directly from their representatives about the work they do, what they will do with our funds, and what they plan to do in the future. If you want to give but may not have time to research and understand enough about the wide range of charitable organizations in need of money, consider joining our hevra, which is open to any Beth El member. We welcome new members.
Beth El scholarship recipient Emelyn Zigue with members of the Tzedek Scholarship Fund Committee. Left to right: Joel Moskowitz, Marilyn Rand, Emelyn Zigue, Janet Buchwald, and Steve Gutherz (click photo to enlarge).
The Beth El Tzedek Scholarship fund provides financial support to deserving first generation immigrant students from the MetroWest area who have completed at least one semester at Framingham State University. To date, we have helped 10 students complete their undergraduate education. Please consider making a contribution to this effort by writing a check to Congregation Beth El, with “Beth El Tzedek Scholarship Fund” written in the memo line, or donate here.
The 2024-25 Tzedek Scholarship Fund recipient is Emelyn Zigue of Marlborough, who was born in Brazil and lives in Marlborough, where she went to high school. She holds an associate’s degree in criminal justice and is working towards a BA with a double major in criminology and psychology at Framingham State University. Emelyn works at Franco’s Trattoria in Sudbury and is also an accomplished practitioner of jiu-jitsu.
We advocate for social justice at the ballot box. Beth El endorses important pending social justice legislation and holds information meetings. Members sign letters, canvass, organize community meetings to build support, and meet with legislators. Beth El members helped Sudbury pass a Welcoming Sudbury resolution at Town Meeting in 2018, and turned out to encourage voter support to pass Question #3 on the state ballot in November that year which reaffirmed support for a 2016 state law protecting the civil rights of transgender people in public places. Beth El’s Board of Directors endorsed “yes” votes for both measures. Beth El members are monitoring immigration rights bills now being considered by the Massachusetts legislature.
Following the 2016 presidential election, Beth El members realized the need to come together for mutual support, to share information on changing federal and state policies, and to mobilize for social action. Yachad group members share updates on multiple issues and opportunities each week via a dedicated Yachad listserv (click here to join the email group).
105 Hudson Road, Sudbury, MA 01776
(978) 443-9622|Email Us
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