Social Action
and Community Service

Tikkun Olam

Members of Machar, the Washington Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, believe that an intrinsic part of being Jewish and being a Humanist is to work actively for positive social change. Through our Social Action Committee and our community service activities, we identify and develop specific actions that our members can take to achieve this goal - most recently actively encouraging legislation to provide access to health care for the uninsured as well as affordable housing. It is through activities such as these that we live our Humanistic philosophy and express our Jewish ethical perspective and identity. Through community service and social action we show our children that being a Secular Humanistic Jew means working actively and positively to try to bring about the healing and transformation of the world-- tikkun olam -- that we see as the core of our legacy from generations past.

Community Service

Machar's adults and children regularly participate in gleaning, organized by the Washington Area Gleaning Network. In this activity, we travel to nearby farms to pick crops left behind by the farmers, or we go to a Prince George's County warehouse to sort fruits or vegetables that have been picked at more distant farms. The crops are then delivered to various places where food is needed, such as food banks, homeless shelters, and social service agencies.

Machar is a founding congregation of the Capital Interfaith Hospitality Network, a coalition of Washington-area congregations that together operate a shelter for homeless families. Every year up to a dozen struggling families are helped to find homes, jobs, and training during their stay at the shelter. Machar and its Jewish Cultural School provide volunteers to assist at the shelter and participate in fund raisers such as the annual Fannie Mae Walkathon for the Homeless on the Washington Mall.

In 2004, Machar members participated for the first time in the annual Potomac River Cleanup sponsored by the Alice Ferguson Foundation. Machar took responsibility for one section of a trash-strewn tributary of Rock Creek at 16th Street. The difference in the site before and after the cleanup was truly incredible. We are making this an annual project.

In May, 1996, we were particularly proud to have turned out more members than any local synagogue for the D.C. Jewish Community Center's "Spring into Action"-- Machar members from 7 to 70 years of age pitched in to help clean up Meridian Hill Park (known locally as Malcolm X Park) in Washington, D.C. We have continued to participate regularly in a variety of similar community service activities organized by the DCJCC.

Social Action

We have, over the years, taken numerous actions to support the peace process in the Middle East, to ensure the continued separation of church and state in the United States, and to oppose racism and anti-Semitism and press for economic justice.

In March, 2004, Machar, with members of other affiliates of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, and friends from the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations, were among over one million participants who walked in the March for Women's Lives on the Mall in Washington.

On Mothers Day, May 14, 2000, Machar participated in the Million Mom March in support of gun control legislation -- for cooling-off periods and background checks before guns may be purchased; licensing of handgun owners and registration of all handguns; safety locks for all handguns; and improved enforcement of existing gun laws.

In October, 1999 we sent letters to the leaders of other Secular Humanistic Judaism groups urging them to have their members contact their representatives in the Congress to work for passage of the Senate version of pending gun control legislation. The Senate version contained many provision that would have helped reduce the easy availability of guns, while the House version did not.

On June 1, 1996 we participated under our Congregation's banner in the great "Stand for Children" organized by the Children's Defense Fund on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial.

In November, 1995 Machar led a demonstration at the Capitol to protest the regressive legislation that was then beginning to make its way through the Congress. An article from Washington Jewish Week covering Machar and this demonstration is reprinted here.

Tzedakah Program

At Machar, we believe that giving to others less fortunate than ourselves is one of the most important mitzvot (good deeds) we can perform, and a value that we want to share with our children. At our Shabbat services and each Sunday morning that our Jewish Cultural School is in session, tzedakah (money for charity) is collected at the beginning of the morning by passing around a tin or box.

At the end of the year, all of the money collected is divided up evenly among the various cultural school classes, and each class decides which charity or charities they would like their portion of the money to go to. We give the classes a list of 10 charities to choose from. Some are Jewishly oriented, such as Project Mazon, the Jewish response to world hunger; or Seeds of Peace, which brings together Jewish and Arab children so they can learn about one another's cultures. Others are more general, such as Bread for the City, a local organization that helps low-income people in our area.

Machar has also held special fundraisers for specific causes, such as relief for the Jewish community of Argentina and emergency relief for a local rabbi and her family whose home was destroyed.

If you would like more information about the kinds of organizations we support and why we chose them, contact us at info@machar.org.

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