liiNII.,
I
Tur
Repair the World Shabbat dinner
focuses
social
on
justice
issues.
Erin Piasecki
and Sarah Rontal
Special to the Jewish
News
the World, a national
nonprofit that mobilizes
Repair
Jews
75
people
volunteer, hosted
to
for its Detroit
workshop to
"turn the.tables" for social justice and
break bread for Shabbat dinner Jan. 23
before Martin Luther
This dinner at
School in Detroit
wide
part of a nation
was
campaign urging community
members to
a
King Jr. Day.
Bagley Elementary
Shabbat dinners
use
safe, dynamic
space to
as
and
identify
discuss ways to tackle issues of racial
injustice.
Attendees
These issues have surfaced nation
wide
in Staten
men
of Michael
following the killings
Brown in
and
Ferguson, Mo.; Eric Garner
Island, N.Y.; and many other
women
of color all
over
the
country.
"Turn the Tables
was a
unique oppor
All Turn The Tables-affiliated din
pants
to
see
"first words"
first
which allowed
their
own
action
moving forward
-
-
as a
response to the last words of recent
victims of police killings. Diners read
aloud from cards with the
last words
on
information
mainstream
on
quoted
the front and
old Sean Bell's last words. "Mom, I'm
going to college;' Amadou Diallo had
dence between the Union of American
the World fellow from Massachusetts.
activity,
"I can't breathe;' read Eric Garner's
card. "I love you, too" were 23-year
their
unforgettable legacy;'
says Benny Mattis, a first-year Repair
began with a "last words,
Shabbat dinner to
partici
in
discussion of an
words"
gather
together.
said on the phone immediately before
being shot at by police in New York 41
times with 19 bullets hitting him.
The evening also included a text
study (Beit Midrash) over dinner. The
Beit Midrash was comprised of texts
from the Civil Rights Era: a correspon
tunity to bring together neighbors
ners
share
positive
(often not reported by
media) about each victim
the back.
Hebrew
Congregations (UAHC) and
Congregation of
the Hebrew Union
Greenville, Miss.
The letters described
over
disagreement
Jewish support of desegregation,
culminating in the decision by UAHC
to host Martin Luther
speaker for its
King Jr.
as a
Biennial
Assembly.
Sunday and Monday, in part
nership with organizations Keep
Growing Detroit and Project Healthy
Community, volunteers packed thou
On
sands of seeds to be distributed to
more
than 1,400 urban farms and
community gardens.
They also folded bags in support of
Stamp Out Hunger, a program of the
U.S. Postal Service that collected
than 1 million
pounds
more
of food for local
food pantries last year and is anticipat
ing even more in 2015.
Among the 75 attendees were 25
Jewish teens visiting Detroit as part
of a J- Teen Leadershipprogram from
Westchester, N.Y. 0
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30 January
29
•
2015
jN
Participants discuss the last
of recent victims of
words
police shootings.
Erin Piasecki and
Sarah
Rontal
the World fellows in Detroit.
are
Repair