Elul Unbound 2020: Justice

Each Thursday of Elul (beginning August 27th, 2020) we are highlighting ways in which you can participate in social justice work, so that the internal, personal work we do during the month can be channeled out into bettering our world.

Week 1: Mutual Aid (August 27th, 2020)

Today’s justice project isn’t an organization, but an invitation! Let’s talk about mutual aid. 

Mutual Aid networks have been cropping up across the country since the pandemic began (you can read about it here), but Mutual Aid isn’t a new practice. Mutual Aid basically means people in a community helping each other, offering what they can and asking for what they need. Odds are, you’ve participated in Mutual Aid at some point in your life, even if you didn’t know it!

Mutual Aid networks are built around a few key principals:

1. Solidarity, not charity. Instead of a model where “the rich" help “the poor" through a one-way relationship, Mutual Aid is based on reciprocal relationships that protect dignity and agency. Mutual Aid networks do not rely on charitable “givers" to decide who “deserves" support; everyone gives and receives. 

2. Rooting in community. A community knows its own needs best, and can meet those needs through the resources of its people. Whether it's money, food, clothes, time, child care, transportation, garden space, or emotional care, everyone has something to offer.

3. Filling in the cracks. Mutual Aid helps meet needs where governments and institutions fail. Black, Indigenous and other marginalized communities developed many of the principals and practices of Mutual Aid as a way to survive in the United States, and continue to be on the frontlines of this vital work. 

This week, we’re spotlighting Mutual Aid networks because they’re an awesome form of justice work, and because Mutual Aid can be a model for the grassroots approach to community that Judaism Unbound believes in. Wherever you live, you can do Mutual Aid work right now, where you are. If there isn’t an existing network nearby,  all you have to do is find a group of people and commit to taking care of each other in some way. Here’s a link to information about Mutual Aid networks around the U.S. to help you get started.