Rabbi Limmer spells out three actions everyone can take, courtesy of the URJ Nitzavim Campaign to Protect the Vote

Dear Chicago Sinai Congregation,

Last summer, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King’s powerful march from Selma to Montgomery, whose travails and tragedies turned into the triumph of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Last summer, members of Chicago Sinai Congregation carried our sacred Torah scroll to Selma, AL, and participated in the NAACP’s America’s Journey for Justice under the banner, “Our lives, our votes, our jobs, and our education matters”.

This summer, Americans are preparing to make the momentous decision of electing our next President. Because the Supreme Court 2013 decision Shelby vs. Holder struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act, this November 8th will mark the first Presidential Election in over half a century that will lack important federal protections.

What does all this mean?

This summer and fall, we at Chicago Sinai Congregation have a lot of work ahead of us. As a people so often disenfranchised throughout our history, we know how important it is to ensure that every voice—and every vote—counts. In the absence of the protections of the Voting Rights Act, we need to maintain what our friend, the Reverend Cornell William Brooks, calls “the sacred franchise of the vote in America”.

Today, our Union for Reform Judaism is launching our Niztavim campaign, standing up for voter protection and participation. From August to November, the entire Reform Jewish Movement, under the leadership of our Religious Action Center, will be partnering with the NAACP, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the PICO National Network to protect the right to vote this election year. Our social action committee here at Chicago Sinai Congregation determined recently that we want to do our part in partnering with our Reform Movement and national partners to do the important work of voter registration, voter turnout, and voter protection.

Here’s how we’re doing our part and how you can lead the effort:

• August 18-20, 2016: Register Yourself and Others to Vote! Reform Movement leaders will join the NAACP and our congregations in NC to launch Nitzavim: Standing Up for Voter Protection and Participation in Raleigh and Durham. You can “virtually participate”, see key speakers, and learn how to engage by signing up here.

• August – November 2016: Get out the Vote! There are many ways we can do the important work of voter registration and voter turnout. Sign up here to participate in this important work with our Social Action Committee here at Sinai.

• Election Day, November 8, 2016: Protect the Right to Vote! Recent elections have shown that eligible voters can be turned away at the polls. The Reform Movement is organizing congregations, with a special appeal to our attorneys for their expertise, to travel to vulnerable election districts for the important work of Election Day voter protection. Chicago Sinai Congregation has been asked by NAACP President Cornell William Brooks to assemble a team to travel to Alabama—a vulnerable state with little in terms of local resources-for this important effort. While we are also likely to organize a Sinai team for Election Day voter protection here in Illinois, congregants with legal expertise—or hearts committed to this work—are encouraged to join our Sinai team in Alabama come election day. If you are interested, please sign up here.

On Yom Kippur, we will hear the words of our Torah: Atem Nitzavim haYom, “You stand here today, All of you.” In the months leading up to our High Holy Days, in the weeks that follow, we are Chicago Sinai Congregation and the Reform Movement a presented with the moral opportunity to protect the sacred franchise of the voting booth in America. I hope you join me in standing up as part of our Nitzavim campaign in the season of choice that lies before us.

B’shalom,

Rabbi Seth M. Limmer