By Cathy Marshall, Temple Beth Emeth, for A2J CC
Cathy Marshall
In February 2021, when my life was filled with pandemic Zoom meetings and outdoor gatherings, one of my college friends from New York posted a story on Facebook about Dayenu. This new group had recruited her to serve on their Advisory Board. Curious, I checked Dayenu’s website (https://dayenu.org/) and loved what I saw. Dayenu’s mission is “to secure a just, livable and sustainable world for all people for generations to come by building a multi-generational Jewish movement that confronts the climate crisis with spiritual audacity and bold political action.”
I had worked in the non-profit climate change sector for several years. Since I am all for spiritual audacity and bold political action, I sharpened my email pencil and reached out to Rabbi Josh Whinston and the Temple Beth Emeth Social Action Committee. Rabbi Josh gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, and the Chair and Vice President for Social Action added it to the committee’s agenda for the next day’s meeting.
We set a date for our first meeting a few months into the future, and the office staff were more than happy to promote the meeting in the temple-wide eblast each week leading up to the meeting. I asked people to email me if they were interested in participating, so I could reach out to them even if they couldn’t attend the meeting. Both things – lots of publicity before the first meeting, and having people reach out to me before the first meeting – increased the number of people who ultimately got involved in our Dayenu Circle.
We built things up rapidly during the first year and got quite a bit done for a fledgling committee! Our opening event attracted 120 registrants and 75 attendees. We created a webpage as part of the TBE website, we promoted legislation, hosted workshops, developed a Green Building Policy, and coordinated several activities as part of Climate Action Week.
In subsequent years, our group hosted many more workshops, led Climate Action Shabbat services, coordinated clean-up efforts of our grounds, participated in legislative actions, coordinated two Sukkot picnic events, and led a Reverse Tashlich event.
The TBE Dayenu Circle has grown and morphed. New members have joined, while others have stepped away. The TBE Dayenu Circle remains a valuable way to get involved in TBE, and it continues to be a community avenue for combating climate change.
About the Ann Arbor Jewish Climate Circle (A2J CC)
Most Jews in the Ann Arbor area believe that climate change is an important issue—perhaps the most significant challenge of our generation. Most of us also understand that Jewish tradition calls us to improve the world for future generations.
The A2J Climate Circle is designed to bring our community together in climate action and create momentum and support.
Started by the JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Committee) of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, with Annie Wolock (Federation) as the leader, the A2J Climate Circle Planning Committee currently includes Ellen Abramson (Jewish Family Services), Rena Basch (Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation), Mike Shriberg (Temple Beth Emeth), and Michael Simon (Beth Israel Congregation). The Planning Committee contacted local Jewish organizations to partner with A2J CC on this initiative.
All area Jewish organizations and groups, large and small, are encouraged to join us.