Join Avodah, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Mishkan Chicago, Repair the World and Silverstein Base Hillel for our third annual Chicago Justice series. This year we will focus on themes of safety and security through a Jewish lens: examining our relationships as Jews to law enforcement historically and today, exploring local work on police accountability, and thinking about how various identities we hold may impact how we think about our own safety.
Register below for the series, which costs $25 a person and includes dinners at all sessions. If cost is a barrier to participation we are happy to work with you – we want this space to be accessible to everyone. Email Rabbi Megan (rabbimegan@gmail.com) and we will make it work!
Register through Mishkan Chicago’s page
Session Dates
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Thursday February 21, 6:30-8:30
What do safety and security look like to each of us? What could it look like? In the opening session of the cohort we will begin by situating ourselves in what makes us feel safe, how our intersecting identities impact that and in how we want to build Jewish community as a cohort addressing safety and security. We will engage with and reflect on sources from historians, thinkers and leaders that bring up different frameworks for understanding community safety and accountability.
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Thursday March 28, 6:30-8:30
What does Judaism teach us about safety? In this session we will bring in Jewish texts of different kinds to examine what our own traditions, values and practices tell us about the creation of safety, the role of police and other accountability systems. We will reflect upon what these mean for us now and how we want to continue unpacking meanings of safety through a Jewish lens.
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Tuesday April 23, 6:30-8:30
How do systems of policing and security impact those within them?In our third session we will develop an analysis of policing and safety that understands the systemic impact police have on society as well as the experiences of those who operate within the police system. We will engage with resources and text that illuminate how a system like the Chicago Police Department functions and how those working within it understand their role in building community safety.
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Thursday May 9, 6:30-8:30
Where do we go from here? Before our closing Shabbat on May 31st, this final session will provide space to think about how we bring what we have learned in this series to our daily lives. What this looks like will depend on the flow of the conversation thus far in the series. We will learn about ongoing campaign work around police accountability including ways to get involved and take action. There will also be space to brainstorm together about community safety planning in Jewish spaces, and other opportunities to continue unpacking issues around safety and security.
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Friday May 31, 6-9 pm, Shabbat Dinner
Register through Mishkan Chicago’s page
