Page 2 - Beth Emet News Today

On May 19, 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached to Evanston residents at First United Methodist Church about each person’s role in creating a strong community.  “We cannot all be doctors or lawyers, but all work has dignity if it contributes to the welfare of humanity,” King said. “If you sweep streets, then...

From Evanston to the Far South Side, Chicago-area residents gathered to celebrate Kwanzaa.

Yom Kippur is a time of reflection and atonement, so a celebratory "Happy Yom Kippur" doesnt ring true.

The first non-governmental institution announced fundraising to help Black residents who trace their lineage to the city from at least 1919.

Sixteen Evanston faith leaders gathered in Fountain Square Monday afternoon to sign a formal commitment to support the local reparations fund.  “We as religious leaders have moral suasion and responsibility to lead in this area by figuring out a process of reconciliation and atonement, and to help them to lead our community towards healing,” Beth...

Last Sunday, Rabbi Amy Memis-Foler stood outside a grocery store in Skokie handing out flyers advertising a food drive. Among the items she wanted were gefilte fish and macaroons — both Passover staples — as well as kosher-for-Passover oil and jelly. “It was really exciting to watch the shopping carts fill with food,” she said....

When Pat Ryan Nelson began organizing donations for Afghan refugees, she started to call herself the “baby clothes folder.” Now, Nelson — a retired teacher for Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston resident — leads other volunteers, helping to ensure families of refugees in the city have proper shoes and loading the trunk of her...

The Illinois state investment board voted to divest from Unilever because its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s has decided to stop selling in occupied Palestinian territories. “We find the IIPB’s punitive actions against companies exercising their free speech rights to engage in boycott to be patently unjust,” write a group of Illinois rabbis and cantors.

Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky on the need to create an Islamophobia envoy, and how Jewish Americans are increasingly embracing social justice in the Israeli-Palestinian arena

A few weeks after applications opened for the first facet of Evanston’s reparations program, city organizers and congressional representatives discussed the importance of both local and national reparations efforts Thursday. Beth Emet The Free Synagogue’s Social Justice Coalition hosted the panel on Evanston’s Restorative Housing Reparations program and national reparations efforts. Rabbi Andrea London moderated...