Welcome to our monthly Values in Action (VIA Isaiah) newsletter: Your quick guide to improving our community and the world at Temple Isaiah. For the newsletter archive, click here.

VIA ISAIAH IS…a collection of groups within Temple Isaiah who offer opportunities to temple members to serve those in need and to make our community more just through education, advocacy and direct service. Our efforts are grounded in the Jewish values of tikkun olam, repairing the world. Everyone is welcome and needed in this effort. For details of what we do and who to contact, please click here.

“Our work in this world is to keep remembering how connected we really are to each other, to all life, to the environment and to God so that we couldn’t think of causing harm. Being awake to this reality and having the ratzon to act on it is what the Torah means when it says, ‘Be holy.’ Holiness is living in connection and alignment with what it means to be a soul in relationship with all life.” – David Jaffe, Changing the World from the Inside Out

Starting in February, our VIA monthly committee meetings will include postcard writing and will be held on the first Thursdays of the month. February’s meeting will be Thursday, February 3 at 7pm on Zoom. All are invited. Please get involved! There’s a lot of repair to do and it’s more fun and meaningful doing it in community.

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 870 3266 1338

Passcode: green96

Join by phone at (408) 638-0968.

Mark your calendar for these VIA meeting dates (first Thursdays at 7pm on zoom):

Creating a Community of Belonging: Embracing Diversity & Deepening Racial Understanding Temple Isaiah’s Racial Justice and Diversity Initiative is presenting a series of programs to promote racial justice, diversity, and inclusion within our Temple and in the larger community. This is a 4-part series with Lori Watson, Ed.D., Racial Equity Consultant & Facilitator, Founder & C.E.O. of Race-Work, a national leader in this field who will be our guide. The Temple Board, clergy, and staff will join congregants in these programs, helping to enrich the conversation and create a shared learning experience for the whole TI community.

Dates: Tuesdays, February 1, March 1, March 29, May 3, 2022 at 7pm in the Social Hall

Registration:

Register at temple-isaiah.org/values-in-action/dei/

Take an Alternative Antiracism Course: A Free Four-Part Learning Series from the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. If the Dr. Lori Watson program is booked or to further your interpersonal growth, take this program that will help you better understand and actualize antiracism as a Jewish spiritual practice. Click here for details.

Call your Senators and President Biden to pass urgent freedom to vote legislation. Use the hashtag #ForksDownDemocracyUp on social media. Personally ask your friends and family to participate. Email your local news outlets. This is a Religious Action Center advocacy plan (RAC-CA). For more information use this link. https://cqrcengage.com/reformjudaism/app/make-a-call?0&engagementId=512974&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2021_12_30

Contact: Judy Carney judy.carney0@gmail.com

Build Relationships with Incarcerated Youth as They Transition Back To Society. ICHANGE, a new Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County program, provides training in spiritual care and mentoring to caring, people of faith as they in draw upon their own compassion, spirituality, and life lessons and commit to support and assist justice-involved young adults with ongoing weekly contact and guidance for at least a year. ICHANGE collaborates with the Juvenile Justice System, community-based organizations and services, and the youth and families of Contra Costa County. For information on how to become an ICHANGE mentor, contact: ICHANGE Co-Chairs Rev. Julius Van Hook or Meg Keeley Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County: 925-822-3744 or, Terri Moss terrimoss55@gmail.com

Help Afghan Families. Working with The Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI), VIA has asked Women of Isaiah to help organize a temple-wide social action project to provide a refugee family the food they’ll need for a week’s worth of meals. We continue to await further details. Stay tuned for a Sign Up Genius for volunteers to register how they can help. Contact Lynn Harrington-Golde at ptlynn@comcast.net.

Join Angel Network’s New Shiva Project. As we enter 2022, the Angel Network leadership team wants all of our volunteers to know how much we and the congregants you help appreciate you. Look for an announcement coming soon announcing the rollout of our shiva consolation kits. Questions? Greta Frantz at gf.angelnet@gmail.com or Denise Glicklin at dg.angelnet@yahoo.com.

Tutor a struggling primary grade student virtually or in person in underserved East Bay schools by joining the Jewish Coalition for Literacy. Temple Isaiah has provided volunteers for over a dozen years at Coronado Elementary School in Richmond. Other opportunities are available in Oakland, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Concord. Contact Susan Mautner at s.mautner@comcast.net or (510) 334-3705. For more information go to https://www.jclread.org/new-tutor-training-info-2.

Tutor in-person at Hope Solutions sites’ Homework Club. Check out their website for details https://www.hopesolutions.org/volunteer/. Note: Covid restrictions may have altered their in-person protocols so please check with them first.

Learn What Jews of Color experience. Jew of Color face discomfort at synagogues. Learn about their experiences so Temple Isaiah can become a more welcoming place to all.

Support Black-Owned Businesses. Learn 6 reasons why it’s important to support black-owned businesses. https://www.greenamerica.org/blog/6-reasons-support-black-owned-businesses

Temple Isaiah’s Mental Health & Wellness Webpage has monthly Spotlight articles that seek to educate and bring awareness to a variety of topics covering mental illness, addiction, spiritual wellbeing, and more. To access these monthly articles, please visit https://temple-isaiah.org/community/mental-health-and-wellness/ and scroll down to “Monthly Spotlights.” Questions? Contact dimakieve@gmail.com

Celebrate Rabbi LeVine at his final service with us on Friday night, January 21, 6:30pm in the Sanctuary and on YouTube. To share our love and best wishes with him, the synagogue will host a “tisch” following the service. A tisch is a festive Friday night gathering, often involving alcohol and singing. We will come together to honor Rabbi LeVine with stories, poems and statements about our experiences with him.

Attend the Women of Reform Judaism Pacific District Action & Advocacy Team hosted virtual panel discussion about the status of abortion rights and access in the current hostile environment. January 20, 2022, 7pm PT via Zoom. Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIucuuurT8sEtP0wbbhfbwMP1pXVxwzneVl

Contact Judy Carney judy.carney0@gmail.com or Karen Goldberg kgoldgm@gmail.com

Our Mental Health and Wellness taskforce offers the following support groups that are open to all. Questions? Contact dimakieve@gmail.com or visit https://temple-isaiah.org/community/mental-health-and-wellness/

Mental Health Support for Adults: Second Sundays from 3-5pm online. Whether you are struggling with Covid, going through a difficult period or have ongoing mental health issues, join us for our free monthly drop-in support group. We provide an opportunity to share and support one another as part of a nonjudgmental, caring community.

Mental Health Support for Family Members: Fourth Mondays from 7-8:30pm online. Are you a parent, sibling, or child of an adult with mental health issues? This free drop-in support group provides information as well as the opportunity to share and support each other as you learn to help your loved one. Facilitated by licensed clinical social worker, Rosemarie Frydman, NAMI certified trainer Karen Cohen, and Diana MaKieve.

In December, Terri Moss was honored by the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County with the county-wide Making a Difference Award for the impact she had through her creation and implementation of the ICARE program, a program that brings different faith communities together to serve those in need in our county. Temple Isaiah participated in several very successful ICARE projects in 2021 and we hope that Temple Isaiah will again team up with our neighbors of different faiths to once again the lives of others in our county.

To contribute information to this monthly VIA newsletter, please contact co-editors

Judy Carney at judy.carney0@gmail.com or Terri Moss at terrimoss55@gmail.com

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