Or Shalom is committed to tikkun olam, repairing injustice and inequity in the world. Read the Tikkun Olam Coordinating Committee’s terms of reference.
Thank you to all in our community who contributed tzedakah suggestions for Empty Our Pockets, Or Shalom’s High Holiday Tzedakah Drive!
A reminder that all online donations are tax-deductible.
This year’s worthy Tzedakah recipients: DONATE HERE
With thanks to the Or Shalom community for its varied and excellent nominations, the Tikkun Olam Co-ordinating Committee has the honour of presenting to the Board our recommendations for this year’s High Holidays Tzedakah recipients.
We recommend that donations collected from the proceeds of the Tzedakah Fund, as well as both the physical Empty Your Pockets tzedakah bowl (available on Erev Yom Kippur) and the virtual Empty Your Pockets campaign, be divided equally among the five worthy organizations cited below.
Battered Women Support Services (BWSS):
Battered Women’s Support Services provides education, advocacy, and support services to assist all victims and survivors in their aim to work towards the elimination of gender-based violence and to work from a feminist perspective that promotes gender equity. BWSS provides critical data, research, and policy analytics to grassroots and community-based organizing campaigns. https://www.bwss.org/
Raven Trust: The mission of Raven Trust is to provide access to justice for Indigenous Nations. Supporting the assertion of the inherent and constitutionally-protected rights of Indigenous Peoples is a powerful pathway towards reconciliation and environmental justice. Working together Raven raised millions of dollars to back some of the most groundbreaking legal challenges of our time. Raven’s First Nation partners have halted mines, stopped pipelines, and created better laws. RAVEN: The movement for Indigenous justice. Home – RAVEN (raventrust.com)
Covenant House: Covenant House Vancouver is committed to serve all youth with relentless support, absolute respect, and unconditional love; to help youth experiencing homelessness; and to protect and safeguard all youth in need. Covenant House incorporate the principles of Immediacy, Sanctuary, Value Communication, Structure, and Choice, in all aspects of their programs and services. It is a trauma-informed agency. As such, we hold an awareness that the youth who come to us may have been impacted by various forms of trauma and believe that trauma can be both a cause and a product of homelessness. https://www.covenanthousebc.org/
JQT Vancouver: (pronounced J-Cutie) is a volunteer-run Jewish Queer and Trans charitable non-profit dedicated to “queering” Jewish spaces and “Jew-ifying” Queer spaces through education, dialogue, art, cultural celebration and partnerships. JQT wants to create a growing and thriving community for all 2SLGBTQIA+ Jews to celebrate various identities and intersections. To address and prevent problems experienced by members of the Jewish Queer and Trans community by providing training and consulting services aimed at resolving issues specific to the Jewish Queer and Trans community, including homophobia, transphobia, and mental health issues. Although it is Canada’s first homegrown Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ charitable nonprofit in March 2024, they have received reduced funding this year. https://www.jqtvancouver.ca/
Open House Ramle-Bayit Patuach: OPEN HOUSE Center in Ramle was founded in 1991 to further peace and coexistence among Israeli Arabs and Jews in this mixed city of 75,000 residents, 22% of which are Arabs. The Jewish-Arab ratio in Ramle parallels the Jewish-Arab ratio in the State of Israel generally, making Ramle a microcosm of the country. OPEN HOUSE has two inter-related goals: to provide educational and social opportunities to Arab children and their families through our Center for the Development of the Arab Child; and to be a place of encounter and cooperation between Jews and Arabs in the Ramle-Lod area through our Center for Jewish-Arab Coexistence.
At this time of war, some of their activities have been suspended, however, the funds they do receive, is used to buy food to feed the families who have lost their ability to work. At least 140,000 people have lost their jobs due to present daygovernment policies.
https://www.friendsofopenhouse.co.il
We welcome any questions! Thank you for your consideration.
Submitted by the Tikkun Olam Co-ordinating Committee of Or Shalom.
A donation to the Or Shalom Tzedakah Fund is a wonderful way to fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah.
Tzedakah is collected in person at Erev Yom Kippur in the tradition to empty your pockets of any cash before entering the sanctuary for Kol Nidre, and, like last year, there is also a virtual “Empty Your Pockets” option to give electronically.
Pingback: Empty Your Pockets – Tzedakah before Yom Kippur | Or Shalom Synagogue – אור שלום