Send Page to a Friend 'Righteous Indignation' project to promote progressive issues   By Lorne Bell The Jewish Advocate April 24, 2008   After the 2004 presidential election, the religious voting block emerged as one of conservatives’ most valuable assets. But faith-based issues are also now being voiced by the progressive left. On May 4, leaders from throughout the Jewish community will converge on Hebrew College for the Righteous Indignation Conference, a three-day event that will focus on organizing around Jewish social justice and environmental issues during the 2008 election.  “Four years ago, religious conservatives, specifically the Christian right, did a masterful job of framing the public conversation on the role of religion in the U.S.,” said Rabbi Or Rose, co-founder of the Righteous Indignation project and Bet Midrash instructor at Hebrew College’s Rabbinical School. “Tragically, religious progressives were unable to articulate strong counter-positions on specific issues and enlarge the conversation about what it means to be a religious person in the U.S. at the beginning of the 21st century.” The Righteous Indignation Conference is co-sponsored by over a dozen Jewish social justice organizations, including the Jewish Community Relations Council, Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Young Adult Task Force and the American World Jewish Service. The event will build upon the values expressed in “Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice,” which features essays by some of today’s most progressive Jewish thinkers. Rose co-edited the book with Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, editor of Zeek magazine, and Margie Klein, Moishe House Boston: Kavod Jewish Social Justice House’s founder and director. “We wanted to take the momentum from the book and use it to encourage others to connect their Jewish faith to social justice work,” said Kaiser. “The conference is an attempt to mobilize the younger cohort of Jewish activists interested in social justice work and to prepare them to educate others [in advance of] the 2008 election.” Conference attendees will participate in a variety of organizational workshops, including “Coalition Building,” “Media & Messaging” and “Online Organizing.” Panel discussions will focus on election strategies and Israel advocacy, and Torah study sessions will explore the scripturally-based mandates for Jewish social justice work. There will also be opportunities for formal Jewish prayer, meditation and even Yoga. “This [conference] is an opportunity to speak to the younger generation of activists, to reinforce that this work is quintessentially Jewish, and [to emphasize] that the way to make change is not only to study and pray, but to act,” said Ruth Messinger, president of the AJWS and the event’s closing speaker. Messinger and several noted Jewish leaders will address a variety of issues at the conference, including healthcare, immigration, the war in Iraq, the environment and education. For Rabbi Jonah Pesner, founder and director of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Just Congregations program, the conference is an opportunity to expand the range of election issues in which the Jewish community is vested. “Jewish voters have to think about a broad spectrum of issues, including a commitment to Israel’s security, but not necessarily limited to it,” said Pesner. “We have to think about issues of social justice alongside narrow Jewish interests, and we need to build a clear consensus around healthcare access, decent schools and immigration reform.” At the conference, Pesner will speak about the latest in healthcare legislation and offer insights into the most effective ways to organize and press for healthcare reforms during the 2008 election. He will also draw upon his experience as director of Just Congregations, which helps Reform synagogues build congregation-based social justice initiatives across religious, ethnic and racial lines. The conference will also emphasize a need to reach beyond the borders of the Jewish community, according to Klein. “This [conference] is not just to get Jewish people to vote, but to organize the Jewish community to work in collaboration with other faith communities to voice their values,” she said. Righteous Indignation’s call to action, however, will not end when the conference comes to a close. Participants will be asked to commit 40 hours to a follow-up community organizing campaign before the 2008 election. But despite the conference’s focus on the presidential election, and the progressive Jewish movement’s undeniably leftist slant, Rose said that the event’s message is a non-partisan, universal call to tikkun olam. “No one person or party has all of the answers, and politics is always a game of compromise,” he said. “But we’re calling on ourselves and our communities to be as thoughtful as possible about applying our spiritual and ethical values to this historic election.” Pesner agreed. “The election is just a moment in time, and I’m interested in the long-term process,” he said. “The Jewish community is as energized as ever to be part of the democratic process of redemption in this country.”