Our Core Values & Principles

These principles are the basic guidelines that everyone in JFREJ agrees to. They hold our organization together, and guide our people through action. Wherever you are from and whatever being Jewish means to you, if you share these values and agree to adhere to these principles, you are welcome here.

  1. We affirm that all the Jews...are Jewish! At JFREJ, we draw meaning and power from a plurality of relationships to Judaism, and most of us find the juiciest inspiration at the intersections of several: historical, cultural, religious, political, familial

  2. We are the home for Jewish New Yorkers to organize with our neighbors and allies for a New York where everyone has the freedom and opportunity to thrive.

  3. We show up for others and for ourselves. We understand that antisemitism, racism, and other forms of oppression uphold one another, and that our safety lies in solidarity. When we fight for ourselves as Jews and our neighbors across New York, we recognize that we are all in this together.

  4. We take care of ourselves and each other. Our community aspires to move at a collective pace and in the rhythms of our ancestors and traditions. Shabbat requires us to regularly rest and nourish ourselves and each other, and we bring the wisdom of interdependence, sharing and valuing care, into the everyday.

  5. We recognize everyone has experience and skills to contribute to our movement. We need people to organize, to plan, to hold us together, and to simply show up. We welcome all Jews and allies, of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. Together, we are working towards building an open, accessible, participatory, and leaderful organization.

  6. We create the world we want through how we act right now. We are committed to being and building a community that is blessedly human; we aim first to prevent harm; we welcome healthy conflict and disagreement; we approach honest mistakes with curiosity and generosity. When harm happens, we commit to teshuvah (repentance) as a roadmap toward accountability and repair. We center and believe survivors.

  7. We build vibrant Jewish diasporic culture. We are committed to our diasporic languages and our cultural traditions and texts, to study and ongoing learning, and to artmaking, ritual, and joyful celebration that bring us into new ways of relating to one another and allow us to be in dialogue with the past, present, and future.


Download the JFREJ Member Handbook to learn more

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