Temple Sha’arey Shalom

Social Action

The Social Action Committee brings programs and concerns of religious, ethical and moral nature to the Temple. We try to aid in improving the quality of human life by providing opportunities for our membership to perform the mitzvah of “Tikkun Olam” or Repairing the World.

Our congregation has strong roots in speaking up, standing up and for taking action on injustices in our world. We have welcomed passionate and socially active speakers, ranging from Senator Cory Booker, and Maria Sliwa – who talked about the difficulties facing people in Darfur–to Rabbi Israel “Sy” Dresner, one of the original “Freedom Riders” of the 1960s, and his dear friend, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who spoke from our bimah.

Some of the projects we have sponsored in the past have included Hospitality Week, where we housed homeless families at the Temple, a bi-monthly Soup Kitchen in Elizabeth, where we cooked and served food to several hundred people, and a Business Suit Donation Program, where we collected clothing for people to wear to interviews. We were an affiliate with the organization BRIDGES, a group that seeks to bring the housed and homeless together in friendship and community. Through our connection with BRIDGES, we provided lunch for 250 people during the cold winter months.

At Temple Sha’arey Shalom, everyone can do a little bit toward “Repairing the World.”

While we are always working to provide new social action opportunities, below are a list of some highlights. For more information about getting involved, please feel free to call the Temple office.

For more than 60 years, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism has been the hub of Jewish social justice and legislative activity in Washington, D.C. We have helped activate the Jewish community in the key debates and mobilizations of each generation since our founding, from the civil rights movement to immigration reform.

Visit the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Website

Fill up a grocery bag with non perishable food and bring it to the Temple between Rosh Ha’shanah and Yom Kippur, and we will have it donated to shelters and local Food Banks.

Family Promise is an interfaith non-profit organization committed to helping low-income families nationwide achieve lasting independence.We help families in our area, accomplish this, by providing shelter, meals, and support services for homeless families . Temple Sha’arey Shalom is part of the interfaith hospitality network that undertakes this task . We are a support congregation to those congregations who are able to house the homeless. We provide dinners and socialization with the guests. This is one way, we here at Sha’arey Shalom help repair the world.