12 | NOVEMBER 5 • 2020 

T

his was definitely not 
the volunteer oppor-
tunity that was adver-
tised. As my alarm rang at 
4:30 a.m. the day before Rosh 
Hashanah to pack food, my 
first thought was this is the 
craziest hour 
of the day. My 
second thought 
was I am excited 
to see and pack 
food with my 
“Shabbat Crew.”
I have been an 
active volunteer in the Detroit 
Jewish community for several 
years. I have had the privilege 
of having a wide variety of 
volunteer opportunities and 
board affiliations. Never did I 

expect packing food to be one 
of my most valuable, mean-
ingful and educational volun-
teer experiences.
On March 12, 2020, the 
world suddenly stopped. My 
two children, ages 13 and 
16, were now home for what 
turned out to the rest of the 
school year of virtual school. 
My husband’
s office abruptly 
closed, and he was going to 
be working from home for 
the foreseeable future. All 
activities suddenly ceased, and 
everyone was under a stay-
at-home order. As an active 
person who craves stimulation 
and activity, this was not the 
most ideal situation. 
I am on the executive 

committee of the board of 
Jewish Family Service of 
Metropolitan Detroit (JFS). 
In one of our first Zoom 
meetings in March, it was 
announced that Kosher Meals 
on Wheels (KMOW) need-
ed volunteers to both pack 
and deliver food. KMOW is 
a program run by both the 
National Council of Jewish 
Women (NCJW) and JFS. The 
program provides food, with 
daily delivery Monday-Friday, 
for homebound adults. When 
COVID-19 began, the num-
ber of older adults who were 
homebound grew. Prior to 
March 2020, KMOW serviced 
about 50-60 families per week. 
By June 2020, that number 

more than doubled to nearly 
155 families. 
On April 3, I went to the 
Jewish Community Center, at 
6:30 a.m. to pack meals. There 
were four people there, all of 
us masked and in different 
corners of the large social hall. 
I didn’
t tell my parents or my 
friends. I didn’
t want them to 
worry about me being inside 
somewhere other than my 
house. We met early at the 
JCC because the volunteers 
who deliver the food come to 
pick up the food at 8 a.m. 
I began to pack twice 
a week: Wednesdays and 
Fridays. Wednesdays were 
easy; we packed lunch and 
dinner. Fridays were a little 

VIEWS

N

ational Council 
of Jewish Women 
(NCJW) has been 
working diligently for the 
past four years 
through our 
Courts Matter 
program to 
educate our cit-
izens about the 
important role 
federal judges 
and the U.S. Supreme Court 
(SCOTUS) play in every 
American’
s life. The decisions 
made by these bodies impact 
many issues of great concern 
to women, children and fam-
ilies. 
Last week’
s unseemly rapid 
confirmation of Amy Coney 
Barrett to fill the seat of the late 
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 

a stark reminder of why Courts 
Matter. 
The legal battles continue to 
revolve around eliminating the 
Affordable Care Act without 
any other plan to replace it. 
SCOTUS already has allowed: 
the stripping away of the 
impact of each individual’
s 
vote by sending cases of gerry-
mandering back to the states 
where the drawing of voter 
district maps will continue 
to be created by the political 
party in power; finishing the 
U.S. Census count on a short-
ened schedule rather than the 
mandated date; and treating 
corporations as people in terms 
of campaign finance. 
The new Justice’
s appoint-
ment further skews the make-
up of the court in terms of 

cases aimed at overturning Roe 
v. Wade, the constitutional right 
to abortion, and Obergefell v. 
Hodges for marriage equality. 
Now Justice Barrett is a part 
of SCOTUS, but she cannot 
replace the type of careful 
judicial thinking that Justice 
Ginsburg displayed so well. No 
person could do so, who has 
openly shared that she thinks 
the ACA should be eliminated, 
making health care less acces-
sible to all Americans while we 
are in the midst of a global pan-
demic; and who has served as a 
trustee for a private school with 
anti-LGBTQ policies. 
The speedy actions of the 
U.S. Senate in vetting and 
confirming Barrett has made 
the senators who voted for 
her complicit in continuing 
to tear down an institution 
once admired for an image of 
reasoned and fair decisions, 

whether we agreed with all of 
them or not. In the meantime, 
the Senate has done nothing 
about the many bills sent 
from the House, including 
the much-needed COVID-19 
directives.
I’
m writing this before the 
results of the Nov. 3 election 
are known. The outcome of 
the election holds the key to 
eventually restoring balance 
to the federal judiciary and 
SCOTUS, or a continuation of 
the damage being inflicted on 
our weakening democracy. 
Regardless of the finish, 
though, NCJW will contin-
ue to fight for all the issues 
that really do matter and to 
highlight the areas where the 
courts are not acting fairly, 
justly or appropriately. 

Irma Glaser is NCJW Michigan’
s 
Co-State Policy Advocate.

Irma Glaser

guest column
The Early Shift

Mara Moss

essay
Why Courts Matter

continued on page 14

