In 2022, to build upon the work the Foundation began, A More Perfect Union: The Jewish Partnership for Democracy launched, headed by our former president, Aaron Dorfman. Follow the link to learn more.
LEARN
Read
Connecting the Dots: American Jews and Civic Engagement
Benenson Strategy Group
Strengthening American Democracy Is In Our Interest
Aaron Dorfman
Can Jewish Wisdom Help Save Democracy?
Aaron Dorfman and Ayalon Eliach
Should You Get Election Day Off? This Jewish Organization Says Yes
Aaron Dorfman and Ayalon Eliach
Rivka Press Schwartz
At Home in that Other Promised Land
Yehuda Kurtzer
The Biggest Threat to the Jews? The Partisan Divide
Yehuda Kurtzer
Why Jews Should Defend Liberal Democracy
Andrés Spokoiny
Close Your Office on November 3rd
Meredith Jacobs
How Jewish Immigrants Learned to be American Citizens
Jenna Weissman Joselit
The Liberal Case for Nationalism
Batya Ungar-Sargon
Watch
The Jewish Education Project: Adapting: Jewish Education and the Ballot Box
The 2017 Jewish Futures Conference
For Which it Stands: How can Jewish civics education elevate American democracy?
The Moral, The Political, and The Partisan with Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer
Personally Delivered: Making Everyone Count in an Election with Sam Novey
Conceived in Liberty with Dr. Tamara Tweel
MEET OUR GRANTEES
As one of the ten organizations on the leadership team of the Fight Back Table, a national coalition of progressive grassroots organizations, Bend the Arc is anchoring the faith engagement efforts of the table’s Count Every Vote initiative, which has been working to ensure that people were prepared with the information and training they needed to cast their votes and ensure that every vote counted in this unprecedented election year. The Count Every Vote community is cultivating the space to discuss the changes unfolding in this election season, coordinate work, and ensure all groups know how to best plug in.
In the runup to the 2020 election, the RAC’s Every Voice, Every Vote: The Reform Movement’s 2020 Civic Engagement Campaign built on the long Jewish American commitment to democratic norms and institutions. The campaign trained cohorts of leaders, especially Reform clergy, about how to engage voters and how to talk to congregants about the election process and the post-Election Day period when the winners may not be immediately apparent. They forged partnerships with local and national groups to combat voter suppression and offered aid in voter registration and education.
T’ruah is publishing a weekly Torah commentary series, Torah 20/20, in which it invites prominent thinkers to reflect on the current Torah portion and on the wisdom it has to strengthen democracy and heal a broken society.
T’ruah’s election center provides text studies, divrei Torah, action steps, webinar recordings, and links to partner organizations intended to help rabbis, cantors, and the wider Jewish community learn and take action to protect voting rights and the integrity of the democratic process.
Through TJEP’s new educator portal, educators can access a range of curated resources to support meaningful engagement around civic participation. To date, the resources draw from a diverse range of both secular and Jewish organizations speaking to the educational approach for preschool through high school.
Civic Spirit educates, inspires, and empowers schools across faith traditions to enhance civic belonging and responsibility in their student, faculty, and parent communities.
Mahloket Matters is a six-part educational series designed to empower Jewish communities to use Jewish values, text, and conflict resolution skills to constructively engage in difficult ideological and political conversations.
Drawing on its experience facilitating conversations around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Resetting the Table has responded to America’s growing political divide by holding a series of communal conversations in rural Iowa and Wisconsin between people across the political spectrum.
PLAY THE GAME
A More Perfect Union Card Game
Have fun exploring the connections between Judaism and American democracy.
DIY Version
Print the cards, cut them out, and follow the instructions.
Out of the Box
Order a complete set of the game for $10. (*We are currently out of stock and expect more in soon. Please let us know if you’d like a box, and for institutions interested in using the game for programming, we have subsidies available. We’d also love for participants to complete a brief survey about their experiences. Email us to find out more.)
THE PRIZE
STAY CONNECTED
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