SOCIAL JUSTICE
Annual Mini-Walk
for Micah House
Each spring, Micah holds a "mini-walk"
to support Micah House, a transitional
residence for homeless women
in recovery from substance abuse.
Our Partnership with
Friendship Place
Temple Micah’s Annual Underwear
Drive provides new underwear to
Friendship Place, helping them supply
the dignity of fresh underwear.
Sukkot in Spring
Temple Micah participates in Yachad’s
annual housing rehabilitation program for
DC residents in need, preserving
affordable homes and
revitalizing neighborhoods.
We know when we are at Micah that there is such a thing as the sacred, that our good deeds count for something – Rabbi Zemel
The pursuit of social justice is fundamental to Temple Micah. As a community, we engage in a range of service projects, we support advocacy efforts to promote social justice, and we work to educate ourselves on important social justice issues.
Our Projects & Partnerships
Fall Underwear Drive
Every Fall, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, since 2000, the sixth grade class organizes our Underwear Drive. This drive provides a year’s worth of undergarments for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. We donate the underwear to Friendship Place.
Washington Jewish Week featured our underwear drive in this article.
Good Faith Communities Coalition
Temple Micah is a member of this faith-based coalition that advocates on issues of poverty, affordable housing, and homelessness in the District of Columbia. Good Faith organizes congregations to engage in educational activities to better understand these issues. Good Faith members also participate in a range of advocacy activities, from letter-writing to testifying at the DC Council.
To learn more or join Micah’s chapter of the Good Faith Communities coalition, contact our coordinating team.
Mazon Micah
Once a month we gather on Sunday afternoon to break bread together, and then assemble mazon, food, for our neighbors in need at Friendship Place. This sandwich-making initiative helps us deepen relationships within the Micah community, and simultaneously reminds us to turn our awareness outwards. See the calendar and weekly emails for upcoming Mazon Micah Sundays. If you would like to be involved please contact us.
Micah House
Micah House
is a transitional, supportive residence for homeless women in recovery from substance abuse that was founded by Temple Micah members in 1989. Micah House’s board is comprised of Temple Micah members and it is substantially supported by the generosity of Temple Micah members.
Each spring, our community comes together for a “mini-walk” to raise money to support Micah House in what is consistently Micah House’s single largest fundraiser. Last year’s Mini-Walk raised over $10,000. Mark your calendar for our next walk, April 26, 2020.
Purim
Every year as we gather to celebrate Purim, we ask everyone to arrive with a box of uncooked macaroni. After we shake the macaroni groggers during our high-energy Purim shpiel, we donate the boxes. Mark your calendar for our 2020 Purim Celebration, March 9, 2020.
For more information contact Rabbi Beraha.
Share Your Hanukkah, Spread the Light
Every December, the Micah community participates in “Share Your Hanukkah, Spread the Light.” Through this project, launched in 2004, Micah members provide holiday gifts for adults and children in needy families in conjunction with a local social service agency. This project is run each year by the 5th grade students.
Sukkat Shalom (Shelter of Peace)
Sukkot in Spring
While springtime brings Passover, it also signals preparation for Yachad’s Sukkot in Spring — a week when hundreds of Washington-area Jews repair the homes of area residents who, through poverty, age or disability, are unable to make the repairs necessary to keep their homes clean, dry and safe. Temple Micah sponsors and participates in minor to moderate repairs on a family’s home. For more information contact us. Read about our impact here.
Temple Micah & the Environment
Temple Micah recognizes that environmental issues are an essential part of tikkun olam, repairing the world. Therefore, Temple Micah devotes attention, resources, and energy to apply this principle to itself, its members, and the broader community in order to preserve, sustain, and repair our environment. We strive to operate and maintain our facilities in an environmentally sound manner, and we incorporate environmental principles into our Jewish education.