I always joke that February is the longest month of the year. And sometimes it seems that way with the cold and the snow and the cold (so jealous of our Snowbird Members in warmer climates!). When we get to March, we start to see bits of crocuses peeking their heads out, but in February, they are still safely underground and the groundhog almost always sees its shadow and winter continues.

Well, it may be chilly outside, but our programming is virtual. So grab a cup of your favorite warm beverage and register for a few of our upcoming events like the Taste of NCJW, Suburban Salon on feminism, Spotlight on Homelessness and so much more. February is also when our nominating committee gets together to find the next set of amazing NCJW leaders. There are a variety of leadership positions available with a variety of time commitments! There truly is something for everyone at NCJW and whether you consider yourself an experienced leader or a novice, we can find a place for you. Email me (melissa@ncjwcns.org) or ncjwnominating@ncjwcns.org for more information. All you need is the time, passion and willingness to learn. Let's do something great together!

Click here to nominate yourself or someone you know. For more information, email ncjwnominating@ncjwcns.org.

NEW to NCJW?  Want to reconnect? Join us on Zoom,

from the toasty comfort of your home, as we ring in the

new year with a ‘Taste of NCJW’! We’ll share the joy and fulfillment that NCJW has to offer, while reviewing some favorite recipes to stave off winter doldrums!  Click here to register.

Volunteers and donations are needed for this Soup Kitchen, which is part of an ongoing collaboration between NCJW and First United Methodist Church to provide free meals to the area’s homeless and working poor. Due to COVID protocols, meals cannot currently be prepared in the church kitchen so we are seeking donations to cover the cost of catered dinners. We need 2 volunteers to prepare sack lunches at home to be dropped on February 10. We also need 4 volunteers on site to distribute meals to guests. To sign up to help, please contact Ellen Hall at ellenyhall@aol.com. To donate to cover the cost of meals, please visit Donate - Chicago North Shore (ncjwcns.org) and indicate your donation is for the Soup Kitchen.

For more information and to register, click here.

NCJW is holding two important programs to address solutions to the problem of homelessness--Spotlight: Homeless to Home and Town Hall: Housing Access in Illinois. Both of these programs involve supporting legislation you can advocate for to make a difference.

Join us on February 28, for the first of these two programs, NCJW CNS's Spotlight: Homeless to Home, where you’ll meet two people who describe their journey from homelessness to having a home. Their roads were different but had one element in common: the help of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, www.chicagohomeless.org. They now volunteer for Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, including working with Bring Chicago Home (www.bringchicagohome.org), a coalition which lobbies to add funding for the homeless and affordable housing through changing the RETT (Real Estate Transfer Tax) rate. 

Be inspired and learn how you can take action. To register, click here.

To register for this Town Hall, click here.

For more information, click here. To register, click here.

Our February NCJW Gives Back collection is for the Northfield Food Pantry. The Pantry has been battling food insecurity for the past 50 years, assisting residents of Glenview, Northbrook and Northfield who are unable to provide enough food for themselves and their families. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the pantry increased the number of households served from 600 households to over 1100. These families access the food they need to live healthy and active lives. While the winter holidays are a popular time for donations, by February, the shelves have become emptier, and our help is needed. Please donate any of the most needed items throughout February directly to the pantry at 550 Waukegan Road, Suite 100, Glenview between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. (Please do not bring donations to the NCJW Office in Northbrook.) Please place donations in the collection bins located by the door.

Most Needed Items: Plain pasta, Canned beef stew, Rice mixes, Coffee, Tea, Baby food, Diapers (sizes 6, 5, 4), Baby wipes, Canned chicken, Ramen, Crackers, Nuts, Granola bars, Juice & juice boxes (100% juice preferred).

***We love to be able to recognize our generous donors and supporters, if you like, please take a photo when you drop off your donations and send it to donnafishman16@gmail.com.

Thanks to all our great volunteers for our 2 soup kitchen locations in Evanston. We also appreciate all of you that have donated to cover the cost of meals. To donate, please visit Donate - Chicago North Shore (ncjwcns.org) and indicate your donation is for the Soup Kitchen.

For more information on NCJW Community Services, please contact Donna Fishman, donnafishman16@gmail.com or 847-275-5758.

The Annual Martin Luther King Day of Service sponsored by the City of Highland Park was a success for NCJW. Donations for the Mother’s Day Project for the YWCA Women’s Shelter filled the back of a large SUV. Collection included many toiletries including travel size and regular size. Also donated were socks, flip-flops, make-up bags and other items, including a cash donation of $40. 

Thank you to Melinda Orzoff and Melissa Prober who helped with the collection and storing of the items. It was cold but successful…. Barbara Dolinger 

On Friday night and Saturday morning, January 28-29, NCJW Chicago North Shore joined area congregations and Jewish organizations around the country to celebrate Repro Shabbat by highlighting reproductive justice as a Jewish value. Repro Shabbat is an initiative of 73Forward, National NCJW’s movement for abortion justice. We want to give a huge thank you to Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, Congregation Beth Shalom in Naperville, Congregation BJBE in Deerfield, Mishkan Chicago, Aitz Hayim Center for Jewish Living in Glencoe and all of the other organizations that sponsored Repro Shabbat. These events focused on the tremendous importance of reproductive justice, rights and health access including access to abortion, and provided all of us with the opportunity to learn more about Judaism’s approach to these issues. We are grateful for their commitment to this important cause, especially now when access to abortion is being threatened across the country.

As a taste of the wonderful learning that happened on Repro Shabbat, we’ve included an excerpt of the d’var torah given by Jill Lexier at Congregation Beth Shalom of Naperville. Jill is co-chair of Illinois NCJW’s State Policy Advocacy Committee.

At NCJW, we believe that abortion is a safe, essential component of health care and a basic human right. In fact, most Americans believe that abortion should be legal all or most of the time and nearly one in four women in this country will have an abortion by age 45.

However, talking about abortion has become divisive and political, in part because a vocal faction of, primarily, evangelical Christian conservatives that has dominated the moral and faith-based conversations.

NCJW believes in lifting up the voices of people of faith, Jews and others, who do support reproductive health, rights, and justice not in spite of their religion, but because of it. Repro Shabbat is an opportunity to educate ourselves about what our religious texts have to say on this topic.

Repro Shabbat falls on the Shabbat when we read Mishpatim, the Torah portion with the verses that form the basis of the Jewish approach to reproductive freedom—the story of an accidental miscarriage that teaches us much about how Judaism does, and doesn’t, regard the personhood of a fetus. This parsha underpins the Jewish approach to abortion which is very much focused on the pregnant person. Various Jewish sources explicitly state that abortion is not only permitted but is required should the pregnancy endanger the life or health of the pregnant individual. Furthermore, “health” is interpreted by many rabbis to encompass psychological health as well as physical health. For guidance on the Jewish view of reproductive health, we can look to our Jewish values of Pikuach nefesh—saving lives— and Kavod habriyot- upholding human dignity.

When we think about human dignity, we should remember the statistic that one in four people who can get pregnant will terminate a pregnancy by the age of 45.

That means that surely we all know someone who has had an abortion.

Abortion is still highly stigmatized in our culture, and this also impacts people’s experiences in Jewish spaces that, intentionally or unwittingly, perpetuate that stigma. Those who need abortion access should feel supported and cared for as they attend to their own reproductive health care and should feel comfortable speaking about their experiences if they so choose without stigma. I hope that our Jewish community can be a place where everyone feels loved, welcomed, and supported regardless of their reproductive decisions and experiences.

Shabbat Shalom

Abortion is a racial justice issue. It is an economic justice issue. It is a public health issue. We must continue to advocate for access to abortion so that everyone, not just those in positions of privilege, can make their own health care decisions with dignity. NCJW has been advocating for reproductive rights, health and justice for over 125 years. And for any donation of $36 or more, we will will send you a Hanger Project charm to symbolize the desperate acts women will take when they don’t have access to safe abortion care. No woman should EVER have to resort to a coat hanger in place of safe, quality healthcare. Click here to donate.

Annual Member? Most NCJW annual memberships expired on June 30? Click here to join, renew or gift a membership online. If you prefer to mail a check, please send your membership donation to the NCJW Chicago North Shore (NCJWCNS) to: NCJW Chicago North Shore, 5 Revere Drive, Suite 200, Northbrook, IL 60062. Your annual membership donation is only $50 but it helps us make such a difference! And for those 36 and under, we offer a special double chai membership rate of just $36!

Life Member? You're not just a life member because you made that life member donation back in the day - you are a life member because you are the heart and soul of our section! Is there someone in your life that you think would enjoy being a part of our group of motivated, fun, and thoughtful women? A collective of folks connecting with each other and learning together as a community of progressive change-makers. If you do, why not gift them a membership!

Chicago North Shore has several new ways to support our section. As always, you can make a one time donation or purchase a tribute (links are below), you can even purchase an NCJW star necklace or hanger charm or become a monthly donor!