Brant Rosen, Rabbi, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, IL
I was introduced to JRC and Rabbi Rosen during my year with AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corp. I first traveled to Evanston early on a Saturday morning in September. A morning drenched with fog and hanging on to the last of the summer’s warmth. I went because I was interested in an event listed on the 
JRC calendar as ‘Jewish Meditation’ and was anxious to experience meditation ‘jewishly’ as meditation is important in my own spiritual explorations and, in part, what I wanted my AVODAH experience encompass. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I did not run into the group. I sat silently in the chapel for half an hour or so.
The building which houses that chapel is the first house of worship to be LEED Platinum certified by the United States Green Building Council. I was impressed to learn this and shocked to realize I had such easy access to it. It was just a short trip-a train and bus ride away.
Over the course of the AVODAH year I went to a few services at JRC and came away with great admiration for how much the congregation was doing. There was, of course, the building, but the congregation was also involved in work and study trips to Uganda and congregants participated in many task forces, the Environmental and Fair Trade & Sustainable Development to just name two.
This was the first time I had been introduced to a congregation with such an intense commitment to social justice and I wanted to know more. Which leads me to this post. Rabbi Rosen had led a couple of programs for the AVODAH cohort and I had listened to a few of his sermons but I wanted to know more about him and his story. So I asked him if he’d be willing to be featured on the site and he graciously accepted.
I began the conversation with Rabbi Rosen on the topic of the ‘Green Synagogue’.
I then asked if there were any moments or signposts that he felt reinforced his decision to become a Rabbi. Rabbi Rosen told of three specific examples in this next segment. A funeral he officiated, a trip to Nigeria and a trip to Iran.
For more info please check out Rabbi Rosen's Blog Shalom Rav and JRC's website.
For my own reflections please check out the new When Did You Know? Blog page.
Arloa Sutter, Executive Director, Breakthrough Urban Ministries
While revisiting the conversation I had with Arloa Sutter I realized that there 
is so much she says so well that I won’t interfere too much with it. For those reasons you’ll find below a relatively lengthy audio clip. It is about 15 minutes or so and worth every second.
First, however, a little background on how the meeting came to be. Alan Harrell, a graduate of i.c.stars and former resident at Breakthrough’s Ministry Center for men told me Arloa is a person I need to feature on the site. I asked Alan why and he said, “Arloa was willing to give up her lifestyle to help. She changes society one person at a time.”
You’ll hear in the clip more about Breakthrough’s services in addition to housing shelters, but so there is some context heading in I’ll briefly explain what Breakthrough Urban Ministries does. One of the values Breakthrough is built upon is the understanding of relationships and the power of being in relation to one another. Understanding that our networks are so critical to the lives we live Breakthrough provides services like housing shelters, providing groceries through the Fresh Market program, youth and family programs as well as community programs.
Now, without any further ado here is Arloa Sutter.
The clip ends where we begin, perhaps signaling that there is no end. My liberation is tied to yours. This is deep work that takes introspection and action. Breakthrough’s critical belief in the importance of relationship and network exemplifies the idea of mutually dependent liberation and creates more opportunities for us to meet together as we work to bring more and more freedom into the world.
John Bouman, President, Shriver Center
“You don't do this work with the idea that if you do it right you're gonna end poverty. It's one of those things where its just a constant struggle and the point of it is the struggle and the gains that you make within it, you do actually improve lives, you can look back over a career and see a footprint. So its not futile by any means. But it isn't ever over. The work itself is the point of it.”
Thank you John Bouman for reminding me of what I've written here at least a couple of times. It is easy to get caught up in the ends, the fruits of the labor. Yet the end isn't the purpose. His words recognize an ancient wisdom with roots many thousands of years old. Learning about Mr. Bouman's roots, however, it is easy to see how this perspective came to be.
So what does the job look like in action?
Though the struggle may be constant there are victories to savor. Mr. Bouman explains that those victories are what keep you going, keep you from getting burnt out.
For further information on the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law please see: www.povertylaw.org