Social Action
Following the name of the community – Gates of Righteousness – Bournemouth Reform Synagogue has a history of social action. Under Rabbi David Sotendorp's guidance, the community was very prominent in the campaign to free Soviet Jewry in the 1980s. Under the guidance of Rabbi Neil Amswych, the community's social action initially focused on environmental concerns, both locally and globally. Visitors to the synagogue website are also directed to internet charity sites where surfers can give to charity for free.
In 2009, BRS set up "Sha'arei Tzedek" - the BRS Social Action Group. The first event was to synchronise with Mitzvah Day 2009, soon followed by a collection of warm clothes for those in the FSU. The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti also brought a community-wide request for donations to the World Jewish Relief.
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Famous quotes containing the words social and/or action:
“If you complain of people being shot down in the streets, of the absence of communication or social responsibility, of the rise of everyday violence which people have become accustomed to, and the dehumanization of feelings, then the ultimate development on an organized social level is the concentration camp.... The concentration camp is the final expression of human separateness and its ultimate consequence. It is organized abandonment.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)
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—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)