SOCIAL ACTION | TIKKUN OLAM (REPAIRING THE WORLD) POSSIBILITIES...

Even though Ahavat Torah is not a large congregation, we have a strong and growing involvement in several carefully-selected projects for compassion and justice.

SOCIAL ACTION COMMITTEE | Each month the Social Action Committee meets at lunch after Shabbat services to discuss various new and ongoing projects. If you want to be a part of that conversation and to learn more about how to be a part of these inspiring activities, please contact Estelle Fisher @ mindbfree@yahoo.com to find out when the next meeting will be held. All are welcome.

Some of the possibilities for sharing your kindness and concern include:

JEWISH WORLD WATCH | Our congregation has been quite active for several years in helping to support and show up at Jewish World Watch efforts to save lives, prevent rape and torture, and empower local residents in the Darfur region of the Sudan and in the Congo.

We have also been active in influencing Senators and Congressional representatives to make sure that the makers of cell phones and computers are not buying from war lords in the Congo who rape and torture in order to gain access to the rich supplies there of tin, tungsten and tantalum.

In November 2009, Ahavat Torah Congregation was the first congregation to host a speaker from Jewish World Watch to explore the most effective action steps for saving lives and empowering local groups in these war-torn areas where millions have died in recent years.

For more information about our efforts, please contact:  Vivian Gold @ vgold@ucla.edu or see the web blog article about Jewish World Watch and Ahavat Torah Congregation in www.creatingsacredcommunity.blogspot.com and click on the October 2009 article.

SOVA | Our congregation has been a major supplier of cooking oil to the SOVA free food pantries in Los Angeles for families in need. When you come to services, please bring one or more bottles of cooking oil that will be taken to SOVA. We also support SOVA with checks and credit card donations because they are able to purchase 5 times more than the dollar amount we donate. For more information about how we are involved with SOVA, please visit this website and click on the May 2009 article:  www.creatingsacredcommunity.blogspot.com

PARDES HANA | In Israel we support a school that provides excellent education and care for children who come from families where there is poverty, abuse, or learning disabilities. In recent years the donations from Ahavat Torah Congregation have purchased computers for the students. In addition, each time Rabbi Miriam and other congregants fly to Israel we put together clothes and donations for the students and families of Pardes Hana. If you would like to donate to Pardes Hana so that students in Israel from distressed families can get an excellent education, please contact Rabbi Miriam or Estelle Fisher who will make sure your support goes directly to the school.

OTHER INVOLVEMENTS:

Locally, many members of Ahavat Torah and our families often get involved each year in the annual gathering of VERY SPECIAL ARTS in May at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles. This event was started a number of years ago by one of our temple members, Jean Katz, and has grown to include thousands of students from Southern California and their teachers and aides. Imagine yourself volunteering at a booth or an activity where students with a variety of physical and developmental challenges are having tremendous fun and meeting thousands of other students of all races and backgrounds. If you want to learn more about how to be one of the volunteers at the next event, please contact Jean Katz @ jeankatz@earthlink.net.

Our congregation has been very active in DIALOGUES AND MULTI-FAITH EVENTS with our cousins from the Muslim and Christian traditions. Not only do we share a sanctuary that is a Jewish congregation on Saturday, a Lutheran congregation on Sunday, and a Sufi Muslim Musallah on Saturday evenings. Our Rabbi Miriam Hamrell was invited to the Parliament of World Religions at its recent event in Melbourne, Australia to talk about how our three groups get along so well despite all our differences. Each year at Sukkot when we gather in the Sukkah at 343 Church Lane, we are joined by our Muslim and Christian cousins in a Sukkah of Peace ceremony.

Each year in December we have gotten involved with a mid-city SHELTER for moms and children. Some years we have taken the moms and children on a field trip to various places such as the Multi-Ethnic Holiday Concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. In other years we have adopted a family and collected donations to help them have the clothes, food, and holiday gifts they need. For more information about these and other projects, contact Estelle Fisher @ mindbfree@yahoo.com.

Our congregation is increasingly "GOING GREEN" in the way we save energy and make mindful choices about using washable utensils and other re-usable, re-cyclable items at our weekly Shabbat pot luck lunches. For more information about how our congregation and our families can GO GREEN, please contact Sherry Modell @ zabi123@aol.com