Tikkun Olam - Task Forces & Projects | Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation of Evanston, IL

Reflecting the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World), the JRC community is committed to the healing of the world around us through congregational education, activism, advocacy, and consciousness-raising.

JRC’s committees provide congregants with opportunities for fulfillment and involvement in synagogue life. Fostering connection and community, committee members work with staff to provide programming and services for all members to enjoy.

Our congregation has organized task forces in areas of interest to our members, and we are actively interested in launching new task forces as new concerns arise and members are moved to action. Task Force participants meet to share information and identify opportunities for JRC members to be involved in social, educational, religious, and political issues. Task Force members organize and get involved in activities within the synagogue, in Evanston and the greater Chicago area, around the country, and around the world.

For more information about social action at JRC, email us.

How will you help repair the world this year?
Click on any of the Task Force or Initiatives below to learn more about volunteer opportunities for Tikkun Olam at JRC:

Global AIDS
JRC's Global AIDS Task Force works on fundraising, public education and advocacy to ease the global AIDS epidemic, particularly in Africa where up to 50 percent of some communities are infected with HIV. The Task Force has organized programs and initiatives to raise funds for the American Jewish World Service, Heifer Project International and the Awassa (Ethiopia) Children's AIDS Education Circus. Eleven JRC members, including Rabbi Brant Rosen, traveled in April, 2005 to rural Uganda to learn first hand about epidemic's impact on communities and individuals. JRC returned to Africa in the summer of 2008 to volunteer with WE-ACTx, a women's HIV clinic in Rwanda, and work alongside our friends in the Mirembe Kawomera coffee cooperative in Uganda. Contact JRC Global AIDS Task Force.

JRC is furnishing the family’s two-bedroom apartment and paying the first three months’ rent and utilities, allowing the family time to seek employment and obtain cash assistance. JRC members will also work with IRIM staff as the family begins their new life in the U.S., helping with such activities as school enrollment, travel to medical appointments, meetings with social service agencies, learning the public transportation system, and grocery shopping. The JRC community has been very generous in providing furniture and houseware donations; the most urgent need now is monetary donations to help cover the rent, utilities and other resettlement expenses that IRIM will incur. We estimate that the total amount needed will be between $5,000 and $8,000. Checks can be made payable to "IRIM" and dropped off or mailed to the JRC office to the atttention of Diane Melnick. Donations are tax-deductible. For more information and to learn about volunteer opportunities, please contact Janine Biskind.