>Social Action

Founded on an unswerving belief in the right to free speech, from our earliest days Beth Emet has championed human rights and worked vigorously toward tikkun olam, repair of the world. Through awareness and action, we are committed to promoting social justice. Current activities include:

Project Hamotzi: Beth Emet's Response to Hunger.  Project Hamotzi is a broad-based initiative launched by Beth Emet's Social Action committee. Focused on tackling both local and global issues related to hunger, Project Hamotzi encompasses several activities:

• Preparing and serving dinner each Wednesday evening at the Beth Emet Soup Kitchen
• Helping to staff other community soup kitchens
• Collecting food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository through the annual High Holiday food drive
• Serving Council for Jewish Elderly Shabbat lunches
• Participating in the interfaith CROP Walk against hunger
• Sponsoring educational workshops and advocacy programs

Tzedakah Fund. Established in 1987 to encourage congregants to give tzedakah as a regular part of their daily lives, contributions to this fund support local causes, organizations, individuals, and projects that promote justice, equality, and social well-being.

Mitzvah Day. This bi-annual event provides congregants of all ages an opportunity to help people in need throughout the Chicago area.

Blood Drive. The annual Beth Emet Blood Drive, sponsored in conjunction with Lifesource Blood Services each spring, offers the entire congregation a rare and wonderful opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of pikuach nefesh or saving someone's life!  In our modern world, sharing your own blood with someone who desperately needs it is a very direct and very personal way to fulfill the mitzvah of pikuach nefesh. You will feel terrific afterwards! Your blood donation could literally make the critical difference in keeping alive someone with hemophilia, an accident victim, a cancer patient, or a neighbor undergoing surgery.  If you are over 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, and are in generally good health, you are probably eligible to donate. Most chronic conditions that are controlled by medication (such as high blood pressure) are no longer reasons for deferral. To ask specific questions about whether you will be accepted as a donor, please call Lifesource Blood Center at (847) 298-9660 for pre-screening by telephone.  Even if you can't donate, you can support the blood drive by making donor recruitment calls to other Beth Emet members or by working for 90 minutes on Sunday morning.  To find out about the next drive, check out the website.

Interfaith Programs. These wide-ranging programs include involvement in the Evanston Housing Coalition, Jewish/Catholic dialogue, and pulpit exchanges.

Environmental Activities. Beth Emet members are involved in prairie restoration, energy conservation, and recycling projects.