News & Announcements

By Carl Selkin, co-chair

The regular time for the Social Justice Committee meetings will change from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 so that our members will have the opportunity to attend Rabbi’s study session as well as our committee meetings.  We are also planning aa variety of fairly informal opportunities to deepen our understanding of issues related to our mission.  SJC will announce these in the weekly eblast and in The Flame.

I offer the following synopsis of the Social Justice Committee’s Bagel Breakfast of February 4, 2024, since it was not recorded or shared on Zoom.

I was going to title this article, “ A Successful Bagel or Why I am not a Caterer.” We had lox left over , despite a great turnout for our HIAS weekend refugee gathering.  Being socially aware, we donated the lox to the Sunday bagel sale held each Sunday to benefit our synagogue youth. The lox in the freezer in the PJTC needs to be defrosted a pound at a time, but the menu can now add a new item: bagel and lox. Fortunately, our generous attendees covered our expenses.  Alas, we made no profit.

But wait, we all profited from the morning. We profited from Cantor Ruth leading us in the hamotzi (Thanks, Atty, for keeping us kosher and reminding us that bagels require a blessing).  The spirited Hine ma tov,  brought us together and turned our attention forward to Rabbi’s welcome and his personal tribute to Rabbi Aimee z’l with an apt Talmudic story. In accepting the Marv Gross Social Justice award, Marco Gerace spoke to his deepening discovery of Rabbi Aimee’s deep connections with the social justice communities.

We profited from the presentation of Kimberley Plotnik, Program Director for Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project of the Catholic Charities of Los Angeles. Her talk described the different classifications of immigrants and the various hurdles they face in seeking legal status.  Asylum seekers are rarely successful, often face multi-year delays in gaining court hearings and appeals, and like all immigrants seeking documentation, work permits, or resident status they must navigate the system on their own or with the help of pro-bono legal support, or find themselves at the mercy of fraudulent, illegitimate operators.

As usual, attendees asked important questions that could generate future presentations and panels to address.  One member of the audience told the story of her family’s emigration from the Soviet Union, made possible by the assistance of HIAS, a personal story that added an important dimension to Kimberely Plotnik’s these, that we need to see all immigrants as human beings whose life circumstances have forced them on the difficult journey that does not end with crossing the U.S. border.   

One point our speaker made in reference to the misperception of immigrants as people simply looking for better economic prospects.  The first question they are asked: Why do you want to immigrate?  The answer, “For a better life,” is not necessarily a hope for a better economic future but shorthand for relief from persecution, danger to life and limb, or other threats.