Contributors

Progressive Jewish Alliance

Los Angeles , US

The Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) was founded in 1999 by Jewish Angelenos seeking to assert an authentic progressive Jewish presence in the campaigns for social justice in Southern California, home to the nation’s second largest city and second largest Jewish community. PJA educates, advocates and organizes on issues of peace, equality, diversity and justice, as a progressive voice in the Jewish community and a Jewish voice in the progressive community. Over the past ten years, PJA has created a new model of Jewish community organizing, and has reinvigorated the progressive Jewish landscape in Los Angeles. In February 2005, PJA opened a San Francisco Bay Area chapter – our first expansion.

-- Four Questions

4 Quotes and 4 Questions

by Progressive Jewish Alliance

Consider these 4 quotes and these 4 questions. Discuss either or both. Quotes: 1) “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” - Barack Obama 2) “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt 3) “Were people not in possession of courage, foresight and trust, which are the general conditions of faith, there...

Commentary / Readings

Be the First Into the Red Sea

by Progressive Jewish Alliance

This Passover, Progressive Jewish Alliance invites you to think about how you can build a Kehillat Tzedek – a Community of Just Action. During these troubling times, we stand together at the edge of a rising tide that threatens to overwhelm us - like the Israelites at the shore of the Red Sea, Egyptians closing in behind us, our dreams of freedom so close, yet so far away. We face the dawn of a new era that tests our courage, faith,...

Commentary / Readings

Food Desert Plate- Marror

by Progressive Jewish Alliance

Marror- Pills Maror symbolizes the suffering that our ancestors experienced as slaves in Egypt. Today, residents of food deserts suffer from health problems related to a lack of access to fresh and healthy foods. What are the health impacts of food deserts? Residents of food deserts have higher rates of health issues related to nutrition and diet. Diabetes, obesity, and problems with cholesterol are just a few of the health effects that a food desert has on its residents. Fresh food...

Commentary / Readings

Food Desert Plate- Zeroah

by Progressive Jewish Alliance

Zeroah- Chicken Wing The bone on the seder plate represents the Passover lamb. Many residents in food deserts are forced to consume unhealthy fast food, but with more supermarkets, residents can regain the opportunity to purchase healthy food. Can low-income communities support supermarkets? Yes! Many low-income communities are densely populated, and incomes add up. In South LA, the annual income per acre is $350,000, roughly four times that of the LA/Long Beach metro average. South LA residents spend hundreds of millions...

Commentary / Readings

Food Desert Plate- Charoset

by Progressive Jewish Alliance

Charoset- $11.04 Charoset symbolizes the mortar that our ancestors used while slaves. Grocery workers in food deserts are paid $7,000 less a year than grocery workers in other parts of the city ($11.04 an hour vs. $14.85 an hour) – an unnecessary economic injustice that pays workers below a living wage. Why are small stores in food deserts inadequate shopping options? While small stores in food deserts often advertise the sale of fruits and vegetables, they tend to offer a limited...

Commentary / Readings

Food Desert Plate- Chazeret

by Progressive Jewish Alliance

Chazeret- Rotten Lettuce A fresh leaf of lettuce symbolizes Chazeret. Fruits and vegetables in small stores in food deserts are often rotten and unhealthy. Can Community Gardens and Farmers Markets solve this problem? No. While community gardens and farmers markets can play a weekly solution for hundreds of residents, they can’t reach the thousands of daily customers of a supermarket. Those working multiple jobs rely on the convenience of the long hours that supermarkets stay open.

Commentary / Readings

Food Desert Plate- Beitzah

by Progressive Jewish Alliance

Beitzah- Empty On the food desert seder plate, there is no egg. Fresh eggs are one of the luxuries lacking in these neighborhoods. Is it harder to open a supermarket in a food desert than in a higher income neighborhood? Absolutely not. The grocery industry often uses this argument to explain their abandonment of food deserts. In reality, operating costs are no different, land is often less expensive to develop, and the neighborhoods can fiscally support supermarkets.

Progressive Jewish Alliance's Haggadah

Progressive Jewish Alliance's Haggadah

by Progressive Jewish Alliance

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