Social Justice Commission

The mission of the Social Justice Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly

• To evolve a vision of social justice through the lens of Conservative Judaism to serve as a model for the Conservative Movement.
• To articulate to the Jewish and the general community that for Conservative Jews acts of social justice are mitzvot, commanded by Jewish law and tradition as doing God’s will.
• To demonstrate that mitzvot bein adam l’makom and mitzvot bein adam l’havero are integrally connected in Jewish tradition. 
• To undertake the development of an annual project that we as an RA endorse throughout our synagogues and institutions. The committee would prepare material and sample programs that rabbis could implement in their institutions.
• To create brief statements that frame issues of social justice within the parameters of Conservative Judaism that will inspire a vision of social justice that rabbis can bring to their communities.  To distribute information from other organizations and develop partnerships to give our rabbis a plethora of projects from which to choose that would meet the needs of their community.  Create a program bank that our colleagues could adapt.  Given that synagogues, schools, etc.,  may undertake more than one project a year, these partnerships will expose our colleagues to the wealth of innovative social justice projects and programs.
• To create a vision of social justice that will inspire our young people to participate in acts of hesed and social justice as Conservative Jews.
• To advocate on policy issues that are consistent with resolutions of the Rabbinical Assembly (e.g., use the green covenant resolution to implement environmental programs in our institutions and partner with COEJL or Hazon).
• To recommend to the Director of Public Policy and to the RA leadership policy priorities (e.g., the SJC decides that the situation in Darfur is dire and needs serious attention.  The RA already has policy on this but the SJC could recommend that the RA ramp up its advocacy on this issue).