Rabbis For Human Rights - North America

Start a Student Group

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” (Mahatma Ghandi)

Rabbinical Students for Human Rights

Student groups, whether at a rabbinical school, college or Jewish day school, meet at least once a month and can meet as often as once a week. Your meetings can be used to host an event with a speaker, film, discussion, potluck, holiday celebration, fundraiser, etc.  Your meetings can be used to conduct advocacy letter writing, event planning or for other group business as well.

 

North American rabbinical students and others studying in Israel, are encouraged to participate in the Rabbinical Students for Human Rights: Year in Israel Program. This program is an opportunity for talented students spending the academic year in Israel to learn about human rights in Israel and the Palestinian Territories and to take action on human rights issues.

 

How to Start a New Student Group

1.    Identify a core group. In order to develop a local group you will need to identify a core group of three to five people who are committed to educating themselves about the work of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America and taking on responsibilities, including recruiting other people, planning meetings and events and showing up at the group’s meetings and events.

2.    Find a faculty advisor. Many schools, whether rabbinical schools, colleges or Jewish day schools, require new student organizations to have faculty advisors who are willing to serve as sponsors for groups and/or liaisons with the school’s administration. Your advisor can be a tremendous resource for navigating how to charter your student organization with your administration and can serve in an educational or advisory capacity on an ongoing basis. If you are at a college or university that has a Hillel or independent Jewish student organization, speak with the staff person or faculty advisor to see if you can become a student committee within the Hillel or Jewish student organization's umbrella.

3.    Know what to do if you run into obstacles from your school’s administration or from your Hillel/Jewish student organization. If your school is a publicly funded institution (i.e. a state school), legally, you should not face any difficulty establishing your group on campus. If you are attending a private institution, you need to familiarize yourself with your school’s rules and regulations for establishing new student organizations. If you demonstrate solid knowledge about human rights and the work of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, your request to form a student organization will be taken more seriously. If you run into difficulty with your school’s administration or with Hillel or your campus’ Jewish student organization, be respectful and diplomatic, seek out support from other progressive student organizations, faculty and directly from the staff of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America; you can contact us at office@rhr-na.org or 212-845-5201. Be aware that many rabbinical schools, colleges (and Hillels within those colleges) and Jewish day school provide small amounts of funding for student groups, so make sure you ask your administration if such funds are available for your group.

4.    Once you’ve gotten approval for your student organization with your school’s administration, contact the Rabbis for Human Rights-North America office at 212-845-5201 or office@rhr-na.org to register your group and receive educational and action materials.

5.    The core group should meet along with their advisor to familiarize themselves with Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s history, mission, goals and principles as well as with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with Supporting Jewish Sources.

6.    Recruit members and be inclusive. You need to expand beyond your core group. Involve as many people as possible who are committed to Judaism and human rights. Personal contact is vital to motivate others to get involved.  All core members should have one-on-one conversations, in person or by phone, with people they know. You can also recruit by tabling in a public space at your school (with permission), such as in a student union, activities fair, cafeteria, etc. Re-engage new people within one to two days of your initial contact, preferably by phone or in person. Shy away from overusing e-mail. E-mail is effective with people who are already active within your group, but the personal contact through phone calls or in person is much more effective in motivating and engaging new recruits.

7.    When you identify people who are truly interested in getting involved, get them involved immediately by putting them to work on recruitment as well.

8.    Identify people with skills and connections. Recruit key people who have skills in such things as publicity, new media, Jewish education, fundraising, etc.

9.    Keep detailed records of everyone you engage. Make sure to capture people’s names, contact information, areas of interest and skills.

10.  Publicize. Create information flyers to recruit new members and announce your meetings. Your flyers should include the name, phone number and e-mail address of a contact person. Hang up your flyers up on public bulletin boards and other locations where you get permission.

11.  Publicize online.  Consider creating a Facebook Page (rather than a Facebook Group or a Facebook Community Page) for your group. You can also consider creating paid Facebook ads. For information distribution or discussion, you can create a listserv using Yahoo Groups or Google Groups. If you want to have the e-mail list just for official announcements, set up the online group to allow only one or two representatives of the group to post content; if you want the online group to be a discussion forum, set up the group to allow everyone to post content. However you set up the group, it is recommended that joining the group and posting content to the listserv be moderated to avoid spam bots from flooding your group with junk mail.  If you are really tech savvy, you can create a website for your organization.  If you need assistance with any of these online issues, please contact Joshua Bloom, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s Director of Online Communications.

12.  Hold an Initial Information Meeting. Use your initial information meeting to talk about the work of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America and Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel. Establish a leadership structure with roles and responsibilities. Encourage people outside of your core group to commit to taking on responsibilities with the group. Discuss what issues the group will work on, what tactics you will use and determine a calendar for when your group will meet and what you hope to accomplish at each of those meetings for the next six months or more. Plan to use future meetings for advocacy letter writing, planning and implementing an initial fundraiser for Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, celebrating holidays using Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s materials, hosting speakers, showing films, etc.

13.  Keep on track. Hold your ongoing meetings and other events. Make sure to continue to try to recruit new people to join you and speak with your members by phone or in person to remind them to come to meetings and to ask them to take on additional responsibilities.

14. Keep the staff of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America informed about your activities. Ask for advice and assistance as needed.