Join us for our Lag B’Omer Picnic at Athan Downs Park in San Ramon on May 15th at 10:30am. We’ll play some field games (so bring your frisbee) and do our traditional  watermelon toss. Please bring a dish to share, any games you want to play, and a mask for when social distancing isn’t possible. Free to members, $10.00 suggested donation for non-members. If you have questions, please contact us at culturaljews@gmail.com or call 925-399-8029.

Music touches us in ways that words alone cannot. At our latest Jewish Cultural School we explored how the Jewish Labor Movement used music to help workers feel unified and empowered to fight for change, and then wrote our own songs, like the catchy “Wear a Mask You Fools” to the tune of Happy Birthday. We made our own pickles, a popular Jewish street food, and learned the Israeli Labor song Kadima Hapoel, Forward the Worker!

Sheriff and District Attorney Elections can quite literally be a life or death matter for people who end up in jail.
Join Bend the Arc: Jewish Action and other organizations across Alameda county for a forum about why these upcoming elections matter.

What’s Up With Our Jail?

A Zoom Town Hall on the Sheriff and DA Races
Wednesday, March 30th, 6:30 PM

RSVP here

The Senate Judiciary Committee begins its consideration of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the US Supreme Court. Judge Jackson is highly qualified, having served on the US Sentencing Commission, the US District Court for the District of Columbia, and the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Her record demonstrates that she is fair, independent, and qualified. NCJW believes in a federal judiciary that is of and for the people. We hold a vision of a Supreme Court that dismantles legacies of white supremacy by being composed of justices who represent the diversity of America and are committed to equal justice for all. As people of faith, we have a moral obligation to ensure Justices on our highest court are committed to equality under the law. Judge Jackson is that Justice. Let’s help get her confirmed! Contact your senators today to urge their support for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The Issue: The US Supreme Court is the highest court, serving as the last word on our rights. With Justice Breyer’s retirement announcement, President Biden has the opportunity to nominate a justice who is not only fair, independent, and qualified, but who would bring much needed diversity to the Court.   The Good News: President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. If confirmed, Judge Jackson would be the first Black woman in history to sit on the Court.    Our Task: Urge your senators to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court.    TAKE ACTION NOW

This week marks the 48th anniversary of the founding convention for the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), formed to help women become union leaders and give their issues greater weight during contract talks.

The presiding officer at the event, which attracted more than 3,000 women from 82 unions, was Myra Komoroff Wolfgang (May 1914 – April 1976), one of the nation’s first women union organizers and the subject of this week’s episode of Coming of Age: Detroit, the award winning digital series from Silver Screen Studios and Reboot.

A labor leader and women’s rights activist in Detroit from the 1930s through the 1970s, Wolfgang advocated for the working poor and for women in the workforce.

Watch here

The need for blood is constant and only volunteer donors can fulfill that need for patients in our community. Nationwide, someone needs a unit of blood every 2 to 3 seconds and most of us will need blood in our lifetime.
Thank you for supporting the American Red Cross blood program!

Interfaith Community and the American Red Cross are hosting an upcoming blood drive. 
Please join our lifesaving mission and schedule an appointment today!

Drive Details:
Site:  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hayward
Address:  26101 Gading Rd, Hayward, CA, 94544
Room Name:  Multi Purpose Room
Date:  Fri Apr 22, 2022
Time:  11:30 AM – 3:30: PM
Blood Program Leader Name:  Interfaith Community
Click here to make an appointment

HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and neighboring countries and is responding with emergency humanitarian assistance to those who are displaced.

A HIAS response team was in Poland and is now in Ukraine assessing ways it can assist Ukrainians — both Jews and others — as they cross into Poland and other neighboring countries. 

HIAS Ukraine Crisis Answers to Frequently Asked Questions – March 16

There is much concern for the safety of the 162 staff of HIAS’ long-time partner on the ground in Ukraine, Right to Protection (R2P), who have aided refugees and displaced persons since 2013. HIAS has rushed emergency funding to R2P to assist their response. R2P is an independent NGO based in Kyiv with offices across Ukraine, including in government-controlled areas of Donbas, East Ukraine. R2P specialists work in 10 cities providing legal assistance, monitoring and advocating for internally displaced people (IDPs); refugees; asylum seekers; and stateless persons. 

The UN Refugee Agency reports that more than 3 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the war began. UNHCR estimates that in Ukraine there were already at least 1.6 million conflict-affected persons, including 734,000 internally displaced people; nearly 36,000 stateless persons; and nearly 5,000 refugees and asylum seekers.

Learn more here

Join our Jewish Cultural School on April 10th for a special Passover Open House. Make some matzoh, learn some songs and practice the Four Questions in four languages. We meet outside with masks on to keep everyone safe. Kid centered, but open to everyone.

Email culturaljews@gmail.com or call 925-399-8029 for an Evite.