Over 75 other Reform synagogues around the country are engaged in this type of congregation-based community organizing under the guidance of the Union for Reform Judaism’s “Just Congregations.” Locally, community organizations such as Lakeview Action Coalition , United Power for Justice and Action , and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs have counseled us on how to affect change in our community. Lakeview synagogues Anshe Emet and Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel are simultaneously organizing. Together we can perform tikkun, we can repair some of the ills in our community.

Tikkun olam (repairing the world), an ancient concept defined by the Kabbalists as a human endeavor to partner with the Divine to fix our broken planet, has served as a rallying cry for Jews of every ilk. Yet, Rashi says that we must not wait until things are completely broken to help to repair them. Instead he urges: “Do not wait until (a person) has fallen, because it will be difficult to raise him up. Instead, strengthen him at the time when his hand is slipping”. This is true not only for individuals, but communities as well. The Talmud teaches: “Every person who can protest the problems of his household and does not, is responsible for the people of his household; for the problems of the city, he is responsible for the people of his city; for the problems of the world, he is responsible for the people of his world” (Bt Shabbat 54b). According to our tradition, we must work together to repair our world. As Rabbi Tzvi Freeman explains, “If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that God has left for you to complete.”

Providing healthcare is not just an obligation of doctor and patient but for society as well. It is for this reason that healthcare is listed first by Maimonides, the twelfth century rabbi, physician and philosopher, in his list of the ten most important communal services that a city must provide to its residents (Mishneh Torah, Sefer HaMadda iv:23). In the sixteenth century, Joseph Caro, the preeminent Jewish legal codifier, further clarified the responsibility of the community regarding health care by saying: When patients cannot afford their care, the community should subsidize it. (Shulkan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, 249).

Responding to Difficult Financial Times

As the financial crisis continues to affect the world's economy, we recognize that it has implications for our Temple Sholom members. And so, as families do during difficult times, we are reaching out to remind you that, as always, we are available to provide resources and assistance to support you during these difficult times.

Jewish United Fund / Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

J-Help: A Boost in Tough Times
312-357-4949
JUF/Federation has established a special initiative to help local agencies tide over the newly-unemployed, those severely-strained members of the middle class, and the most vulnerable members of the community. J-HELP: A Boost in Tough Times will provide much needed relief—particularly food, medicine, emergency financial assistance and other life-sustaining and supportive services—to help people in need during this economic downturn.
jhelp@juf.org

Domestic Violence Resources

Jewish Women International Resource Page

• Facts
  What exactly constitutes abuse? Learn the facts - it goes far beyond physical violence - in their comprehensive overview of domestic violence . For teens and parents, they have an in-depth explanation of dating abuse , plus an exploration of healthy relationships for young adults.
• Services
  No matter where in the world you are, if you or someone you know is being abused, help is nearby. Search their resource directory for direct victims' services in the United States and Canada, Australia, Argentina and Israel.
• Legal Information
  Victims who are out of immediate danger can still be harmed - physically, financially, psychologically - by an abuser manipulating the legal system. Learn about the legal issues and protections available to domestic abuse victims working to protect their security and maintain custody of their children.

SHALVA - Abuse in a Jewish Home

• 24 hour crisis-line
• Culturally sensitive individual & group counseling
• Legal information & court support
• Financial assistance
• Rabbinical & community advocacy & training
• Information & referrals
• Community prevention & educational programs

Chicago’s Major Jewish Social Service Agencies

Jewish Family and Community Service (JFCS)
312-357-4800 or 312-263-5523
Social services for individuals and families, including individual and group counseling, support services, family life education programs, refugee & immigration services, services for the hearing-impaired, family advocacy.

CJE Senior Life
773-508-1000
Provides an array of services to older adults in order to help them retain their independence and be able to live in their own home. Services include home-delivered meals, in-home services, transportation, health care, adult day services, counseling and working with the families of the elderly. They also provide a program for grandparents raising grandchildren, and Hineinu, a program that provides services to Holocaust survivors and their families.

Jewish Vocational Service (JVS)
312-357-4500
JVS provides career services in a professional, supportive Jewish environment during the difficult process of searching for a new position.

The Jewish Employment Network (JEN)
Offers job search assistance and career counseling, which includes individual sessions for career coaching; group networking sessions for senior-level executives; a group for mid-level professionals and community programming held in local synagogues.

Illinois SBDC Duman Microenterprise Center
312-673-3429
The Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the Duman Microenterprise Center provides one-on-one counseling at no charge for start-ups and pre-existing small businesses in the Chicago metropolitan area. The Center offers entrepreneurial training (entrepreneurial seminars and business educational training programs), business assistance (business plan assessment, loan application assistance, and technical assistance), mentoring (pre-loan and post-loan consultations, networking opportunities, mentor matches, and referrals to relevant business and community resources), and access to capital (zero and low interest loans, loans in good standing, $50 non-refundable loan application, loan closing costs are 5% of loan amount, and micro-loan amounts up to $15,000).

ParnossahWorksChicago.org: A New Employment Website for Personalized Job Assistance
312-673-3437
Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) announces the launch of ParnossahWorksChicago.org, a new free job search website accessible by Chicago area job seekers and employers. A unique job posting board, ParnossahWorksChicago.org caters to local jobs at all professional levels, offering a wide range of resumes and open positions to ensure a productive and mutually beneficial search. Unlike any other job posting website, qualified candidates are screened by an experienced, highly trained JVS career counselor.
parnossahworks@jvschicago.org

Special Employment Program - EZRA Multi-Service Center
773-275-0866
Services for elderly, homeless & disabled individuals.

Business Career Institute
773-279-6280
Disabled individuals are taught computer and clerical skills.

Local Social Service & Advocacy Organizations

The ARK
773-973-1000
Jewish social services including health care, legal assistance, crisis intervention, social services for the indigent and Project Tzemach rehabilitation services for individuals with chronic mental illness.

Greater Chicago Maot Chitim
847-674-3224
Provides food for Passover and other holidays for those in need.

Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
312-663-0960
The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs has combated poverty, racism, and anti-Semitism in partnership with Chicago’s diverse communities since 1964. Guided by prophetic Jewish principles, JCUA pursues social and economic justice for Chicago’s most vulnerable neighborhoods by promoting a vision of empowering communities from within. JCUA carries out this mission by assisting groups in low-income and minority communities, building coalitions with diverse groups, promoting enlightened public policy on poverty and race issues, and mobilizing a Jewish constituency to create a more just city. Today, JCUA is at the forefront of pressing issues affecting Chicago’s most at-risk communities working on such issues as affordable housing, job creation, community reinvestment and neighborhood stability.

Legal Clinic
847-679-8289
Free legal services to indigent clients on a non-discriminatory basis, without regard to race, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or age.

Social Security Administration
800-772-1213
Answers about social security issues.

Salvation Army Emergency Family Assistance
312-738-4367
The agency provides assistance for families, senior citizens and children in crisis.

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH)
312-435-4548
The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless organizes and advocates to prevent and end homelessness based on the belief that housing is a human right in a just society. CCH has housing programs and services specifically designed to prevent homelessness and to stabilize the elderly, the disabled, and families with children in decent, affordable, permanent housing, and to empower these groups to be able to solve future housing problems.

Lakeview Pantry
773-525-7718
Lakeview Pantry is supported by the Temple Sholom Social Action group and many of the congregants that volunteer for the Monday Meal and Feed the Hungry programs. The Lakeview Pantry provides on and off site food distribution, a home delivery service for the homebound, as well as distributes free clothing and has a case management program in order to help clients connect with other services they may need.

Greater Chicago Food Depository
773-247-6337
The Greater Chicago Food Depository is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in our community. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 500,000 adults and children every year.

Professional Organizations

The Chicago Bar Association
312-554-2000
Founded in 1874, The Chicago Bar Association is one of the oldest and most active metropolitan bar associations in the United States. The Association's voluntary membership of 22,000 consists largely of lawyers and judges from Cook County and the State of Illinois. The CBA offers a Career Center in addition to a Placement Center .

Illinois CPA Society
312-993-0407
The Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS), with more than 22,700 members, is a statewide, professional membership organization dedicated to enhancing the value of the CPA profession. Founded in 1903, ICPAS is the fifth largest state CPA society in the nation. ICPAS represents Illinois CPAs in public accounting, corporate finance, government and not-for-profits as well as four affiliate member groups: students, educators, chartered accountants and related finance professionals.