Judeans for Justice

Tzedek,Tzedek Tirdof – “Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue” – Deuteronomy 16:20

The great Biblical prophets all teach the Israelites about the power of pursing justice. According to their teachings, we are commanded to work together as a holy community towards eradicating the social ills in our world

Judeans for Justice is Temple Judea’s team working on these internal and external issues of community, power and justice. We are proud members of OneLA, a broad-based organization committed to community organizing and working together for social and economic change. Congregation Based Community Organizing (CBCO) allows Judeans to address the important justice issues of our time through internal conversations that build stronger relationships within our community and the larger community in which we live and work. These relationships create powerful coalitions of people both inside and outside of our congregation that cut across lines of race, class, and faith. In recent years, One LA has prepared leaders to take action that has improved public schools, saved hundreds of homes from foreclosure and is promoting health care reform in the county and state.

Posted March 10, 2012, by Skip Koenig

The Healthcare Sub Group of Judeans for Justice has been very busy over the last 4-5 months. Following up on the Action that was held at Judea in November, we have continued to meet with politicians and experts in the area of healthcare to help us increase our knowledge base and develop our plan of action. Since November we have held a follow up meeting with Assemblyman Mike Feuer as we work with him to get AB 52, his piece of legislation that will regulate rising health insurance premiums, passed. We have also met with several State Senators who have not yet committed to support the bill in an effort to get their vote.

In addition to our work on AB 52, we have also been working on increasing our understanding of the effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) here in California, with particular attention to the Health Benefit Exchange that has been established in California and will become fully functional in January of 2014. As part of that process, we participated in a meeting with Diana Dooley, the Secretary of Heath in California and a member of the Exchange. We also met with Jerry Kominsky of the UCLA School of Public Health and and then held a workshop at Judea with the Western Regional Director of HHS who spoke with us about those elements of the ACA that are already in place, the benefits they afford all of us, as well as what the Exchange will look like and what role we can play as it continues to formulate it's policies. There is a meeting scheduled for March 27 in Sacramento with IAF (the parent group of One LA) leaders from the Western Region to meet with Nancy Turnbull, a member of the health exchange in Massachusetts as well as with Ms. Dooley.

Because of the work we have done in the area of healthcare, and the knowledge we have developed, we were asked to make a presentation to a One LA retreat held in February on healthcare. In attendance at the retreat were representatives of many of the 60 institutions that are members of One LA. Most recently we were part of a delegation of One LA leaders who met with leaders and organizers from Northern California and presented our healthcare schpeal. It was very well received and we were asked to put together a program that other IAF member organizations throughout the State can use to educate their members on AB 52 the ACA and the Healthcare Exchange.

Lots of work done, but lot's more to do.

Posted January 24, 2012

It’s hard to believe that two months have gone by since the One-LA Valley Action at Temple Judea. With over 600 participants, it was certainly a day to remember! The great work we began that day as a united voice of the San Fernando Valley has been steadily moving along as follow-ups to that assembly. Some of the amazing things that have happened since we last gathered as a community:

In pursuit of the issue of healthcare, Judeans for Justice has been working as part of the One-LA team on the passage of Assembly Bill 52, which would give the California Insurance Commissioner the authority to regulate increases in health insurance premiums. To this end, One-LA members have had meetings with Assembly member Mike Feuer and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones to determine where best to leverage our power. Through these meetings, we now have conversations scheduled in the next few weeks with Secretary Diana Dooley, advisor to Jerry Brown and three Senators key to passage of the bill: Curran Price, Alex Padilla and Ed Hernandez.

Judeans for Justice working with One-LA’s education team have also had some recent major successes. First, LAUSD has made some desired changes in their Public School Choice program, giving local school authority to determine what is best for their students. Also, the healthy school lunch program has been modified, to keep in place foods kids are familiar with, but with healthier preparation. A valley-wide strategy session on education related issues is scheduled for late January. Be in touch with Brent Smiley () for more information.

One-LA members continue to make progress on addressing the ongoing mortgage crisis in Los Angeles. A recent City Hall action on foreclosures successfully amended the banking ordinance bill, a bill that makes banks compete for city investments by investing in local neighborhoods and businesses.

As you can see, the members of Judeans for Justice have been quite busy. With the new secular year underway, the next few months are packed with ongoing issue work and a new initiative for Judea members designed to strengthen our internal connections and community. Be sure to put these upcoming meetings and actions on your calendar:

In Judea’s continued support of the issue of healthcare as a major issue of concern to our congregation, please join us for the special events listed below:

An informative discussion on implementation of the Affordable Heath Care Act in California with Herb Schultz, Regional Director U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on February 22^nd at 7:00 (RSVP)

One-LA’s San Fernando Valley March 4^th meeting with Eric Garcetti, a candidate for LA’s mayoral race, where we will present our agenda to the candidate.

The great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote that, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” As responsible human beings, pursuing justice is work that must happen everyday. We welcome all Judea members to join us in our work with One-LA. Check back often for more updates and if you would like more information, please contact Ellen Israel at .