A Few Words from Rabbi Craig Marantz

Shalom Chevrei (My Friends),

I spent last week at the Religious Action Center’s Balfour Brickner Clergy Seminar and Fellowship Program. Together with some 20 other Reform rabbis at the Pearlstone Center in Reisterstown, MD, we spent time developing and expanding our capacity for social justice work. We studied sacred text, learned principles of community organizing, and added to our leadership tool boxes. I also set some immediate goals. Firstly, I will write a narrative bringing to life my own personal journey to justice work. Second, I will engage 5 or more individuals in one-on- one conversation and learn more about their passion for justice. Thirdly, I will work with our Tikkun Olam team and the Board of Trustees to consider and ratify the Reform Movement’s Brit Olam, a covenant of justice and sacred statewide action toward systemic change.

As I close, I leave you with some of five pearls of wisdom I took away from the moment...

● The world was created imperfectly, tikkun olam is how we partner with God to repair it. ● Power is about unleashing our collective capacity to be who we really want to be. ● Organizing for action and effective reaction reaches across lines of difference. ● There is an urgency of now, our response for which we must not delay. ● Resistance to injustice is always possible.