By Kol Tzedek Member, Karen Lefkowitz, Reflection on Involvement with new community organizing effort, POWER

Told 2/11/11 at Kol Tzedek

About a month and a half ago I was driving my daughter home from dance class along 52^nd St. when she noticed a line of people standing outside a building. It was evening and already very dark out. She asked me if I thought they were waiting for a soup kitchen. I said that seemed quite likely.

The following week we were driving back again, and this week the weather had turned really bitter cold, the wind was whipping and she saw the line of people again. She asked again if I thought they were waiting for a soup kitchen. The idea that these folks were out in the terrible weather, waiting, hungry enough to need to stand in line on this very cold evening made me so upset that I was nearly speechless. I guess I sputtered about how wrong this was, that people in our city, so close to our neighborhood didn’t have enough food so that they could stay home and eat. Then I realized I could say more to her.

For the past several months I have been taking time, always time away from my daughter, asking friends to watch her while I attend POWER meetings. I’m a single working mom, and I don’t like to spend the time away from her, and she really resents the time I give to this group. Also, it is a little odd for me, since I do not think of myself as a person of great faith, and I really don’t talk the “faith” language. But Rabbi Lauren had faith that this was the beginning of an important political group and that our synagogue could benefit in various ways (which other folks will describe) from our being involved, so I made a commitment.

That cold dark night in the car with my daughter, I was overwhelmingly grateful that I had gotten involved with POWER.  I could validate my daughter’s observation that there were hungry people standing in line, and that she was right to be concerned about it. And I was able to tell her, “You know those meetings I go to? Well this is what we are working on. We all think it is wrong that people in our city are hungry, and we are doing something about it!”

It is very important for me as a mom to show my daughter that I can take care of problems, and that her natural concern for others is appropriate and does demand action. But it takes a broad swath of society to make significant changes in entrenched social problems. An awful lot of people from other faith organizations have joined with POWER, and more come to each meeting. I wish you could see how many different regions of the city are represented, and with that, different social classes, ages and traditions.  I also invite you to see how quickly working groups are formed and concerns get solidified and transformed into plans.

I hope for your own reasons that you will investigate this movement and help Kol Tzedek to use its voice for justice.