Hey everyone! I’ve been signed onto Jewish Fringe for a while, and finally got off my ass to write my first ever (EVER) blog entry. I’ve got my first JFringe event coming up and thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about it.I’m excited to be working with Adam on building a young adult Jewish community in Chicago. When I moved here I was disappointed to see that there really wasn’t such a community.
I found Chicago to be stiflingly institutionalized, leaving little room for the kind of ownership and grass-roots leadership that builds genuine culture and community. I urge everyone to pick up a shovel and help build that community in there own way. I think we all can put Chicago on the Jewish map.
Which brings me to my program, and what I hope to bring to the Jewish Fringe. I’ve been working on developing and inclusive and non-partisan community/political action group of young jews (JPACT – Jewish Public Action for Change Today). The model and name are taken from the broader community I belong to, PACT, an organization of young adults advocating justice and sensible policy in Chicago and Illinois.
I believe that we as Jews have strong values to advocate for…not only our own needs, but on behalf of the needs of others. Our ancestors for several millenia have meticulously preserved our values in exile. Now, with the state of Israel and the fundamental freedom we have in America, its time for us to live up to those values and live up to our mission to be a light among the nations.
On Thursday September 28th (7pm) at 2843 Nth Halsted (Mikes Place/The Mix) I will be having a substantial JPACT kickoff event entitled “JEWISH POLITICAL POWER HOUR”. It will focus on strategies for the upcoming election and identifying the issues we care to act upon. There may be some political leaders in attendence. Anyway, I urge all interested folks to be there both on behalf of themselves and their institutions. Spread the word. I will post a flyer in the near future. In the meantime, I’ll try and keep up with this whole blog thing…Shalom yall
