Bringing RC into the Jewish Climate Movement
Cherie Brown [International Liberation Reference Person for Jews] and sixteen other Jewish RCers have embarked on a project to bring the tools and theory of RC into the Jewish Climate Movement through Dayenu Circles.
Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action is a relatively new organization that encourages Jews to form Dayenu Circles in their local communities—to learn more about the climate emergency, to become active in the climate movement as Jews, and to build community and connection throughout the process.
Members of our group are building, joining, and supporting Dayenu Circles in our local communities. We bring listening exchanges and “news and goods” to the groups. We also bring perspectives from RC Jewish liberation work—for example, the impact of ancestral loss on our relationship with land, and the effects of genocide on our ability to stay engaged in the climate movement. We have invited people from our circles to attend Sustaining All Life workshops.
In our meetings with Cherie, we update each other on our circles, share ideas, and discharge. We have been discharging about the following:
- Racism
- Building relationships—slowing down and putting people first, before the work
- Supporting others to lead
- Seeing ourselves as fully part of and central to the group
- Facing our own feelings about climate devastation and what it restimulates in us as Jews; doing this before we offer the tool of listening exchanges to others
- Daring to be big and bold
- Being transparent; naming as RC the tools and theory that we bring into our circles
- Keeping track of ourselves as we do our work
My circle co-leader and I meet every week to connect with each other. This has helped me sustain my work as a Jewish climate activist. I love and count on [rely on] the friendship we are building.
New York City, New York, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of Jews
(Present Time 207, April 2022)