Social Justice at JCDS

Social Justice at JCDS JCDS-ב יתרבח קדצ

Last year, as Afghani refugees fleeing their country became the latest of painful images representing the 84 million global refugee crisis, Boston’s Jewish community mobilized with donations and the organizational effort needed to welcome the refugees into our community. Similarly, members of the JCDS Social Justice Cohort started thinking deeply about how to connect students to this current crisis, particularly because welcoming and supporting refugees is uniquely tied to Judaism and our texts. Leviticus 19:34 says: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Thus, the idea for a year-long endeavor in social justice programming around the theme of Refugee Support and Education was born.

In partnership with the Va’ad (our parent association) and Student Council, the Social Justice Cohort (SJC) spearheaded a series of year-long programming and learning. In the fall, the SJC hosted a Parent-Child Book Discussion night around two refugee-themed books. Discussions focused on the themes of hope, struggle, the value of education, and the JCDS Habit of Mind and Heart of Resiliency. Social justice programming continued throughout the year with our own service projects such as one on Martin Luther King Jr Day, when we made welcome blankets and collected supplies for and assembled toiletry kits for new Afghani arrivals. We had an “Action Station” every Friday where students made welcome signs for new arriving refugee families, and as the news shifted focus to the refugee crisis in Ukraine, our student and family community mobilized to donate hundreds of items of medical supplies to the front line of the conflict in Ukraine.

The culminating event to all of this was the first ever JCDS Student Craft Fair whose goal was to enable students to understand they have the power to make an impact – that they, themselves, can raise money for tzedakah that makes a difference in the world. What we didn’t plan for were all the other extraordinary experiences that emerged from the event! Students finding their creative voices, students interacting and working with other students whom they otherwise would not have the opportunity, parents working with their children and other students on crafts, and finding a very real way to combat hopelessness with action. We received more than 70 individual donations and in total, raised more than $3,300 for Cash for Refugees, a local organization founded out of the Boston Jewish community to directly support refugees in Ukraine. The fair was imbued with meaning by Ukrainian music and heartfelt personal words from JCDS parent Mark Beloborodov. It was an afternoon filled with creativity, community, and tzedakah.