Jewish Public Policy
Jewish Advocacy

• COEJL has a Washington, D.C. office and a legislative action alert network that sends out emails to inform members of current issues on which they can make their voice heard. For more information on COEJL’s advocacy work, click here.
  
• The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose more than 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 1800 Reform rabbis. The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) first called for the conservation of natural resources in 1965. In 1991, the URJ passed a comprehensive resolution on the environment calling upon the governments of the United States and Canada to ensure the continuation of animal and plant species; protect and create new wilderness areas; ensure the protection of our water and air environments and resources, including protection from significant threats such as global warming; institute comprehensive recycling programs; and prevent environmental injustice to poor and minority communities. This resolution also called upon the URJ and other bodies in Reform Judaism to provide specific environmental guidance to congregations and congregants to modify their behavior in order to preserve the planet; and resolved to promote environmentally sound behavior throughout the URJ. For more information…
  

• Redwood Rabbis is an informal group that came together to protect Headwaters Forest in Northern California, the last unprotected old growth redwood forest. The group has joined with others in keeping vigil and protesting Pacific Lumber’s excessive logging practices, which threaten the regeneration capacity of the forest, jeopardizing its long-term ecological health and economic stability. To celebrate Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for Trees, the Redwood Rabbis held a traditional seder meal at an old growth park near Headwaters Forest on January 26th. This was part of an all-day event for 250 people, and included scientific and religious presentations, an afternoon worship service, and the planting of redwood seedlings on Pacific Lumber property.
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• Temple Emanuel, a Reform congregation in Kensington, Maryland, has made a commitment to the Chesapeake Bay as an ongoing advocacy project. The Chesapeake is the largest estuary in the United States and is beset by pollution from air, farms, waste treatment plants and urbanization itself. The Green Shalom committee, aided by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, has added the Temple’s voice to advocacy for waste treatment upgrades, higher pollution standards, and related legislation. [Obtain & insert photo of fourth grade class on CBF boat trip.] To learn more...