RABBI KLEIN RONKIN, MELISSA DIMOND, REBECCA VISNICK CONCUR: CHILDREN VERY EFFECTIVE FOR INSURING TZEDEK IN OUR WORLD; TAA children prepared to speak up for eels, the homeless and against racist policies
The families of SCFLP were joined this Sunday by three tzaddikot (righteous women) from three local organizations. Melissa Dimond, Executive Director of Wellspring, Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin of ECCO and Rebecca Visnick, Deputy Shellfish Warden of Gloucester all visiting our online learning program to tell about their work doing tikkun olam (healing the world) as part of their daily practice. All three women are connected to our kehilla: Rebecca Visnick is a daughter of the Rockport Visnicks, a family with a long history at TAA. Melissa Dimond is a member of TAA and Rabbi Margie was Rabbi Lewis' chevruta partner at Hebrew College.
After a brief and joyful learner's minyan, each honored guest told us about their work and why they do it. Rabbi Margie and Melissa also explained why doing what they do is an extension of Jewish values. We broke into groups based on student interest in a topic, and students interviewed our guests about homelessness, caring for the environment and how to be antiracist. Our guests also gave us ideas about what tzedek we can do and how we can do it.
Rabbi Margie gave us lots to think about. "Racism is in the water we have all drunk. We don't want it- but it is all around us." She told us about calling attention to racist practices like separating parents from children at the border, and police paying way more attention to Black people driving than they do anyone else.
"it's like [grown ups] have all the pieces to do something, but they are like 'eh, I'll hold off on that. And you are like: are you gonna do it or just talk about it?!'"- Elliot
Rabbi Margie gave us lots of ideas on how to do tzedek to fight racism. We were surprised by one thing she said: " a lot of people don't think this, but children have tremendous power. Grown ups don't like to be bad models for kids. They want kids to see them doing the right thing. They listen to and pay attention to kids when the kids speak up." She suggested making signs, giving speeches, and making videos to say to the grown ups in our lives-- "hey you told me racism was bad. What are YOU doing about it?"
Elliot thought about this and added "it's like [grown ups] have all the pieces to do something, but they are like 'eh, I'll hold off on that. And you are like: are you gonna do it or just talk about it?!'"
Rebecca Visnick gave us a lot to think about when it came to our oceans. She answered ALL of our questions. Soli asked: Is fishing bad? Rebecca said, "That's a good and complicated question. Some fishing is bad, but not all. It connects to where our food comes from. Be aware of where your seafood comes from. Seafood Watch is a great app, and you can use it to search where your seafood comes from and if it is a good choice or not." Violet asked "How does your job help animals here in New England?" Part of Rebecca’s job is to make sure we don't all harvest too many clams, the other part is making sure that the river is clear so fish can migrate and reproduce.
"[My job] is VERY Jewish. It has everything to do with being Jewish. The only reason why I am here, alive and healthy is because folks in my family came from Poland and Russia. There are so many families today who are coming to the US because where they are from is not safe, just like it was for my family. I want to do work eveyday that recognizes that and gives thanks for that." -Melissa Dimond, Wellspring
Melissa Dimond asked her group to think about what rent must be in Gloucester: some answers ""$100" "$10,000." She also asked us to think about what a homeless person looks like. We were surprised to hear that most homeless people are children. "This makes me really mad" Melissa said. "That is part of why I work so hard everyday. Children should NOT be homeless!"
After giving them cavod, we wished everyone a shavua tov. We will meet next Sunday and go over the lists of ideas we generated and pick our tzedek project!
Editors note:
These three women work really hard and gave us this special time on Sunday.To honor their time with us, please consider making a donation of any size to their organizations. You can match my gift of $36 to each place! Double Chai!
