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Post-Election: T'ruah Statement

About T'ruah: "T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings together rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism, together with all members of the Jewish community, to act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people."truah_logo_web_no_rhrnaPlease sign this pledge if you are a rabbi or cantor." קְרָא בְגָרוֹן אַל-תַּחְשֹׂךְ, כַּשּׁוֹפָר הָרֵם קוֹלֶךָCry aloud; do not be silent. Lift up your voice like a shofar.--Isaiah 58:1As rabbis and cantors, we fervently pledge to raise our voices, and those of our communities, to hold the new administration accountable for protecting the human rights and civil liberties of all people as precious creations in the divine image.Jewish history has taught us that fascism arrives slowly, through the steady erosion of liberties. And we have learned that those who attack other minorities will eventually come to attack us. To our great dismay, we learned this truth again when, during this election campaign, anti-Semitism rose to the fore, along with racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, and homophobia.For some Jewish leaders, there will be a temptation to accommodate the new administration in the hopes of protecting our own community’s “interests.” As Joseph learned long ago, and as the Jewish community has learned time and time again, proximity to power does not guarantee protection in the long run. Nor can we ignore the fact that our Jewish community includes people of color, immigrants, women, LGBTQ people, people dependent on the social safety net, and others at risk for reasons beyond Jewish identity. Jews will not be safe until every one of is safe in a just and democratic society.As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “This is no time for neutrality. We Jews cannot remain aloof or indifferent. We, too, are either ministers of the sacred or slaves of evil.”The UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as the world’s response to the Holocaust. Today, we recommit to fight for these human rights, and our constitutional protections, because we remember that too many of our own family members died when fascism arose in Europe, when the U.S. and other nations refused to accept refugees, and when much of the world looked away.We have inherited a Torah that concerns itself with the fate of humanity, and a sacred tradition that demands building a just society. We pledge to fight for the human rights of all of us. We stand in solidarity with all vulnerable populations, despite and because of fear for our own safety. We call on the entire Jewish community to stand with us in this struggle."

Last Day of SEIU 32BJ Harvard Janitors' Contract

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Students and janitors rally on Thursday, November 10. Photo Credit: Grace Z. Li, Harvard Crimson

Today is the last day of the contract that covers approximately 700 janitors at Harvard, who are represented by SEIU 32BJ. Last week, Harvard janitors voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike if the union and the university are unable to reach an agreement on the contract by the end of today. The janitors' demands include affordable healthcare, raises, and more full-time work.The approximately 300 security guards at Harvard are also represented by SEIU 32BJ and are engaged in contract negotiations. Harvard employs its security guards through the subcontractor Securitas. Security guards and Securitas have agreed to extend the contract until December 1 to allow for more time to bargain.

VICTORY: Save Our Public Schools

On November 8, Massachusetts voters decisively chose to keep the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts by voting no on question two by a margin of 62.1% to 37.9%. Congratulations to everyone who worked tirelessly to keep money in our public schools! We won this victory by bringing together teachers, parents, students, unions, and community allies to fight privatization efforts from big-money and out of state donors.cwyns_fuaaaziwz

Save Our Public Schools: Vote No On 2

In August, the NE JLC endorsed "No on 2" because of the devastating impact this ballot initiative would have on our public education system. Question 2 would allow for the massive expansion of charter schools in Massachusetts. Charter schools already take $450 million per year statewide out of the regular public school budget. The loss of funding to traditional public schools hurts high-needs students the most by draining money used for necessary and important support services. Question 2 negatively affects teachers' unions and their right to collectively bargain for better conditions for teachers and students.
 
Boston Public School junior Gabby speaking at a No on 2 rally on Tuesday. Read her story herePhoto credit: Jeremy Shenk
Why No on 2?
"SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL" EDUCATION
  • Charter schools siphon money from high-needs students. Charter schools receive higher funding in districts with more high-needs students, despite providing education to a far lower percentage of these students than traditional public schools. Tradition public schools are left struggling to fund and provide ESL students and students with special needs with the support services they need and deserve.
  • According to the NAACP, charter schools increase segregation within public schools. They also point to research that documents increased punitive and exclusionary disciplinary practices in charter schools. The NAACP opposes the expansion of charter schools for just these reasons.

LOST FUNDING

  • See how much your town loses to charter schools from its public school budget here. Money lost to charters could instead go to arts, music, and special education programs that all students can access.

NO LOCAL ACCOUNTABILITY

  • Charter schools lack local accountability, and are not overseen by local school boards. They are publicly funded but privately managed. More than 60% of charter schools in Massachusetts lack a single parent representative on their boards.
Read more about question 2 from NE JLC Board member Ashley Adams here, from Mayor Marty Walsh here, and from BU School of Education Professor Robert Weintraub here.

Interfaith Statement Against Islamophobia

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We are proud to have helped organize over 100 faith leaders from across religions and denominations to sign on to the interfaith statement below condemning Islamophobia and the extremist anti-Muslim speakers scheduled to present in Stoughton today (November 2). Among the Jewish leaders for the interfaith statement are Rabbi Or Rose of Hebrew College; active NE JLC participants Rabbi Ronne Friedman of Temple Israel and Michael Felsen of Workman's Circle; and NE JLC active participants and last year's NE JLC Labor Seder honorees Rabbi David Lerner of Temple Emunah and President of Mass Board of Rabbis, and Rabbi Victor Reinstein of Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue (in image).

Rejecting Hate: Statement of Interfaith Solidarity Against Islamophobia in Massachusetts

As Boston-area religious and cultural leaders, we are committed to building a community that embraces people of different beliefs and practices, including our Muslim neighbors and friends. This work is particularly important in the present political climate, in which some public figures are voicing messages of intolerance and xenophobia, pitting segments of the American populace against one another.

It is for this reason that we are deeply concerned to learn of an event scheduled for November 2nd in Stoughton featuring three speakers whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as anti-Muslim extremists or hate group leaders. Jerry Boykin, Frank Gaffney, and Tom Trento cast Islam as an inherently immoral faith, and spread conspiracy theories that Muslims are secretly infiltrating US and European governments as a “fifth column.”

For example, Mr. Gaffney has claimed that “most of the Muslim-American groups of any prominence in America are now known to be, as a matter of fact, hostile to the United States and its Constitution,” and Mr. Boykin has argued that “We need to realize that Islam itself is not just a religion - it is a totalitarian way of life. ... It should not be protected under the First Amendment, particularly given that those following the dictates of the Quran are under an obligation to destroy our Constitution and replace it with Sharia law.”  This inflammatory rhetoric has no factual basis and directly fuels anti-Muslim discrimination and hate crimes.

Our houses of worship should be spaces for prayer, reflection, study, and community building.  While free political debate is a vital element in our democracy, voices that demonize ethnic, racial, or faith groups have no place in our sanctuaries.

As clergy and organizational leaders seeking to cultivate a shared ethos of interreligious and cross-cultural cooperation, we the undersigned reach out to and call on Congregation Ahavath Torah to revoke their invitation to these individuals, all known purveyors of vitriol and acrimony. They, and the gross misinformation in which they traffic, are not deserving of a platform in our community.

In Peace,

Rev. Lois Adams - First Baptist Church of Sharon

Professor Rachel Adelman - Hebrew College

Fr. Jack Ahern – St. Mary Parish in Randolph

Rev. John Allen - First Congregational Church of Milton

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen - Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope

Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Dean, The Rabbinical School of Hebrew College

Rev. Dr. Jim Antal - Minister and President, Massachusetts Conference, UCC

Marya Axner - New England Jewish Labor Committee

Dr. Angela Bauer-Levesque, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean; Harvey H. Guthrie Jr. Professor of Bible, Culture, and Interpretation Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Rabbi Howard A. Berman, Central Reform Temple, Boston

Rev. Eliza Blanchard - First Parish of Brookline

Rev. Beverly Boke – First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton

Rev. Dr. Christian Brocato - Rector, Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, Cambridge

Rev. Jeffrey Brown – Twelfth Baptist Church

Sister Marie-Thérèse Browne, SCN, Roman Catholic Sister

Rev. Rebecca Bryan - First Parish in Brookline

Rev. Dr. Karin Case - First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC

Rev. Arrington Chambliss - Executive Director, Episcopal City Mission

Rev. Rebecca Cho - First United Methodist Church, Stoughton, MA

Fr.  Brian Clary - Saint Mary of the Assumption, Brookline

Rev. Rainey G. Dankel - Associate Rector, Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Rev. Dr. Christopher Duraisingh - Professor Emeritus, Episcopal Divinity School

Rev. John Edgerton – Old South Church, Boston

Cantor Roy Einhorn - Temple Israel, Boston

Michael Felson - Executive Director Emeritus, Boston Workmen’s Circle

Rev. Kent French, Senior Pastor, The United Parish in Brookline

Rabbi Ronne Friedman - Senior Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Israel of Boston

Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman - Temple Sinai of Brookline

Joseph Gerson - American Friends Service Committee, New England Region

Rev Marlene Gil - Associate Executive Minister for Church Relations, American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts

Rabbi Neal Gold - Temple Shir Tikva

Rabbi Eric Gurvis – Senior Rabbi, Temple Shalom

Rev. Dr. Ray A. Hammond - Senior Pastor, Bethel AME Church

Rev. Wendy Vander Hart, Associate Conference Minister, MA Conference, United Church of Christ

Rev. Kim K. Crawford Harvie - Senior Minister, Arlington Street Church (Unitarian Universalist)

Rabbi/Cantor Anne Heath - Congregation Agudath Achim

Rabbi Suzie Jacobson - Temple Israel, Boston

Rabbi David Jaffe, The Kirva Institute, Sharon, MA

Rabbi Howard L. Jaffe - Temple Isaiah, Lexington

Rev. Laura Ruth Jarrett - Senior Pastor, Hope Central Church, Jamaica Plain

Rev. Edwin Johnson – St. Mary's Episcopal Church of Dorchester

Rabbi Randy Kafka - Temple Kol Tikvah, Sharon

Alice Kidder, Clerk, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries

Rev. Dr. David A. Killian - President, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries

Jen Kiok – Executive Director, Boston Workmen’s Circle

Idit Klein, Executive Director, Keshet

Rabbi Claudia Kreiman - Temple Beth Zion, Brookline

Rabbi Judith Kummer - Jewish Chaplaincy Council of Massachusetts

Rabbi Allan Lehmann - Hebrew College

Rabbi Ben Lanckton - Community Tikkun Leil Shavuot

Rabbi David Lerner, Temple Emunah, Lexington; President, Massachusetts Board of Rabbis

Rev. Rosemary Lloyd – The Conversation Project

Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd - Rector, Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Rev. Rob Mark - Church of the Covenant, Boston

Rabbi Emily Mathis - Temple Beth Avodah

Rev. Michael McGarry, C.S.P. - Director, The Paulist Center

Rev. Kathleen McTigue – UU College of Social Justice

Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman, Senior Scholar, Temple Israel, Boston,

Rabbi Margot Meitner - The Meeting Point, Jamaica Plain

Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello, Rector, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Brookline

Rabbi Jeremy S. Morrison - Temple Israel of Boston

Fr. Jerry Morrow SCP -- Rector, Saint John's Episcopal Church, Sharon

Dr. Vito Nicastro, A.D., E.&I. - Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

Professor Padraic O’Hare – Founder, Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at Merrimack College

Rev. Gerald J. Osterman – Immaculate Conception Parish

Riva Pearson - President, Boston Workmen’s Circle

Rabbi Barbara Penzner - Temple Hillel B'nai Torah

Rev. Mary Perry – First Congregational Church of Stoughton, UCC

Rev. Oscar J. Pratt, II - St. Katharine Drexel Parish

Fr. Rocco Puopolo, s.x. - Xaverian Missionaries

Rev. Cristina Rathbone - Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston

Rabbi Victor Reinstein – Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue

Rev. Don Remick, Associate Conference Minister, Massachusetts Conference UCC

Rev. Doug Robinson–Johnson – United Parish of Auburndale

Rev. Dr. Rodney Petersen – Executive Director, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries

Rabbi Or Rose – Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership, Hebrew College

Rabbi Sonia Saltzman - Temple Ohabei Shalom

Scott Schaeffer-Duffy - Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker Community

Rabbi Rachel Schoenfeld - Shir Hadash

Rabbi Michael Shire - Hebrew College

Rev. Dr. Paul Shupe, Hancock United Church of Christ (Congregational), Lexington

Rev. Daniel Smith, Senior Minister, First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC

Rabbi Matthew Soffer - Associate Rabbi, Temple Israel, Boston

Rabbi Toba Spitzer - Vice President of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis

Rev. Burns Stanfield - President, Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, South Boston

Rabbi Keith Stern, Temple Beth Avodah

The Very Rev. John P. Streit, Jr. - Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston

Cantor Jodi Sufrin - Temple Beth Elohim, Wellesley

Rev. Stacy Swain - Union Church in Waban

Rev. Nancy Taylor – Senior Minister and CEO, Old South Church, Boston

Rabbi David Thomas - Congregation Beth El

Rabbi Andrew Vogel – Temple Sinai Brookline

Rabbi Moshe Waldoks - Temple Beth Zion

Rev. Liz Walker – Roxbury Presbyterian Church

Joanna Ware - Director of Special Projects, Keshet

Rev. Gretchen Weis – Murray Unitarian Universalist Church

Rev. Margaret L. Weis – Bell Street Chapel

Rabbi Ora Weiss - Congregation Beth Hatikvah

Rev. Dr. Donald A. Wells - Theologian in Residence, Old South Church, Boston

Rev. Joseph M. White - St Joseph Catholic, Boston

Sr. Ann Whittaker - Sister of Charity of Nazareth

Rev. Elizabeth Williams - Pastor, Wollaston Congregational Church, United Church of Christ

Rev. Jay Williams - Union United Methodist Church, Boston

Rabbi Elaine Zecher - Senior Rabbi, Temple Israel, Boston

Tufts Janitors Reach Tentative Agreement, Avoid Strike

By Kathleen Contivia The Boston GlobeAfter a 12-hour marathon bargaining session and with just two hours before a midnight deadline for a threatened janitors’ strike, the workers who clean Tufts University and the school’s maintenance contractor reached a four-year tentative agreement Monday night.About 200 Tufts janitors will see their hourly wages increase to $21.55 from $19.35 over the next four years, if the janitors ratify the contract. The workers’ union also received a commitment from contractor C&W Services to create more full-time positions over the life of the contract.

The Newton-based maintenance contractor also agreed to increases to the workers’ pension and training funds, and to provide health insurance at no additional cost to members who work full time, according to a spokesman for 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers.The janitors are scheduled to vote on the agreement Wednesday.

“This is a good agreement that opens a path to the middle class for hardworking men and women who are an indispensable part of the Tufts community,” said Roxana Rivera, vice president of 32BJ SEIU.C&W Services, a division of brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield, said in a statement they are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the union.“We’ve bargained in good faith and offered a fair and comprehensive package to our employees,” the company said in a statement. “We are pleased that the Union leadership has accepted this offer and will present it to their membership for ratification.”

A spokesman for Tufts, which was not involved in the negotiations, said in a statement that the school is thankful a tentative agreement “that is fair for all parties” was reached.“As always, we value C&W janitors’ contributions to our community, and we look forward to their continued presence on our campus,” said spokesman Patrick Collins.Last week, the janitors unanimously voted to authorize a strike if an agreement with C&W Services wasn’t reached by the end of Monday, when their contract was set to expire. The tentative agreement averted a strike that could have potentially started Tuesday. Tufts announced it had a contingency plan in place if its janitors walked off the job.The agreement does not include language the union sought that would have addressed workers’ concerns over excessive workloads they said were caused by a restructuring of services at the university last year that resulted in the layoffs of nine custodians and moving other workers to weekend shifts.Eugenio Villasante, spokesman for 32BJ SEIU, said while they will continue to make sure the janitors have a fair workload, the union considers C&W’s “strong commitment to create full time jobs” a victory for the workers.About 60 percent of the janitors who maintain the campus straddling Somerville and Medford work full-time, according to 32BJ SEIU.The two sides had been in negotiations since August.