Be a part of our new Social Justice Team! All are invited to join meetings at CBI, they are posted on our public calendar and in our weekly e-newsletter Chai Lights, visit www.cbict.org/calendar for updates. For questions or to learn more, please email co-chairs Bob Blitzer and Judy Levy.
Wednesday, September 2 at 4:00 – 8:00pm
CBI’s Social Justice Team will be writing postcards for a number of campaigns in the run-up to the critical 2026 midterm elections. All are welcome to join us! Let us know if you can participate and at what time (even just 1 hour will help!) by emailing Judy Levy.
This effort will be done in cooperation with the Center for Common Ground. The messages sent are non-partisan and addressed to voters from Black and under-represented communities in key southern districts, with the goal of increasing early voting and voter turnout.
Our amazing CBI volunteers volunteering at Gifts of Love and Jewish Family Services.
Sisterhood Knitters
Sundays at 9:30am
September 27 & October 18
We meet once a month to knit and kibbitz. You don’t need to know how to knit, we’ll happily teach you, nor do you have to have supplies because we provide them. Our mission has been two-fold, to teach others to knit and to do Tikun Olam. Questions? Contact congregant Sue DeMartino at suedemartino@comcast.net.
The CBI Social Justice Committee recently hosted Jason Jakubowski, CT Foodshare’s CEO and President, at CBI to discuss the issue of food insecurity. He emphasized that food insecurity is a chronic problem, and the federal government’s recent policies have exponentially complicated supporting the needy in our country. Jason felt there were two important issues that would help the most for those food needy individuals:
The pantries in most need of volunteer support are:
GHIAA (Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance) was founded in 2019 and CBI was one of the founding congregations. Now, together with over 50 faith institutions, we organize for justice in the Greater Hartford region. This year’s issues include housing affordability, the state fiscal policy, and combatting religious and racial hate. For more information about GHIAA, contact Judy Levy: judyglevy@gmail.com, 860-924-8748 and Sue Fulleton: suef4940@gmail.com, 860-810-0027, GHIAA CBI Core Team Co-Chairs.
Volunteer with CT Foodshare’s Mobile Truck
Fridays at 1:00pm: August 21, September 18, October 16
Join us in our front driveway and help distribute food from Foodshare’s mobile truck. Contact Kim Howe at kimjhowe1211@gmail.com with questions.
Cook for Loaves & Fishes
Once a month we cook a meal in our kitchen for Loaves & Fishes. If you’d like to volunteer, please contact our office at 860-233-8215 or bethisrael@cbict.org.
From CBI’s Mental Health and Addiction Initiative:
Since October 7, we have all witnessed, via the media, mass murder and atrocities in Southern Israel that are reminiscent of some of the darkest periods in Jewish history. As we seek out ways to make an impact, we also need to protect our own mental health and our capacity to function. Please see below for additional articles to help:
War’s enduring legacy: How does trauma haunt future generations? https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma/trauma-survivors-generations
How to cope with traumatic stress
https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma/stress
Resilience in a time of war: Tips for parents and teachers of elementary school children
https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience/kids-war
Tzedakah
includes the more traditional service projects- Typically linked to highly effective partners, these include the back pack drive thru Covenant to Care for Children, the Yom Kippur Food drive, working in the Loaves and Fishes kitchen, joining in the community walk for Hunger, reading mentorship programs, just to name a few of many many rich programs that we have had in some instances for decades.
Advocacy
is something different. This refers to trying to get public support for a particular cause. Over the years many of you have joined forces on the steps of the capital to be heard on one cause or another. You have gone to rallies, some have testified in public hearings. We have had legislators come and speak and listen to our concerns and we have joined in a number of Religious Action Center campaigns.
Community Organizing
is yet a different animal. This refers to individuals who are directly affected by the issue at hand, banning together to make meaningful change. This is what our GHIAA (Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance) initiative is all about. Through the leadership of our rabbis and a core team of 12 CBI members, trained by the Center for Leadership and Justice, GHIAA is now a powerful coalition of 40 faith groups including 9 synagogues working together on a handful of specific and actionable issues around housing, criminal justice reform, healthcare and education. Click HERE for GHIAA’s 2023 Issues Slate.
Here is what the reform movement and our Religious action center have to say on the most pressing
issues of our time:
https://rac.org/advocacy-activism-why-advocacy-central-reform-judaism
https://urj.org/what-we-believe
When you think about how to engage in social justice at CBI think about what are the issues you care
the most about and how do you choose to engage. Take a look below for a more complete description of all we do at CBI.
Our Mitzvah Day of 2023 was a wonderful day of service and community with five other synagogues. Volunteers of all ages gathered to make blankets, sandwiches, toiletry bags, and cards to benefit South Park Inn, Hands on Hartford, House of Bread, and Hoffman Summerwood Community. Thank you to everyone who volunteered and made donations!
Weekly and ongoing volunteer opportunities and drives to benefit those in need are included in our calendar at cbict.org/calendar and weekly Chai Lights e-newsletter. To subscribe to Chai Lights, please email bethisrael@cbict.org.
Regular volunteer opportunities are available through our partnerships with Foodshare and Loaves and Fishes‘ Soup Kitchen in Hartford. One Friday afternoon at 1pm each month volunteers help distribute food from Foodshare’s mobile truck at CBI. Also once a month, volunteers cook a meal at CBI and it is then delivered to Loaves and Fishes. Check cbict.org/calendar for the most up-to-date volunteer opportunities.
