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Towards Jewish Social Justice – a Weekend with Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin
March 9, 2019
Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin, Director of Clergy & Leadership Development at Essex County Community Organization (ECCO) in Massachusetts, will give the sermon at Shabbat Morning Services at Congregation Rodef Shalom in Denver on March 9. Following an enhanced Kiddush lunch she will lead a discussion on ‘What does Tikkun Olam Really Mean? An Argument for Systemic Change.’
Rabbi Klein Ronkin is a graduate of Yale University and Hebrew College Rabbinical School, co-editor of Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice, and a member of the Synagogue 3000 Emergent Communities Leadership Network.
At this critical time in the history of our Denver Jewish Community and our country, we are hungry to learn the most effective ways to build a strong Jewish Social Justice movement: authentically Jewish, genuinely social and laser-focused on justice. In a recent article in Zeek magazine, she wrote:
Community organizing is an approach to social change that helps groups build relationships and then work together to make a difference on issues directly affecting the group. While the goal of community organizing is to create positive social change, the goal of community building is to create an engaged and meaningful community for community members…
In both the community organizing and community building worlds, the key is to build authentic relationships and to support other people to do the same. In Buber’s language, we need to create I-Thou relationships where we connect with other people and let ourselves be moved by them. It is through those I-Thou relationships that we find God, and where we find the power to transform ourselves and the world for the better.
Rabbi Klein Ronkin’s visit is being co-sponsored by Together Colorado, a non-partisan, multi-racial, multi-faith community organization that unlocks the power of people to put human dignity at the center of public life through community organizing. Comprised of 220 congregations, schools and clergy & faith leaders from Pueblo to Fort Collins, Together Colorado is a member of the Faith in Action National Network: 50 organizations representing more than 1 million people in 20 states and 5 countries.
The program is free and open to the public, however advance reservations are encouraged. Call Congregation Rodef Shalom at 303-399-0035 for further information. Rodef Shalom is located at 450 South Kearney Street Denver, Colorado 80224.
