In today’s episode, we meet Judy Schindler and Judy Seldin-Cohen, co-authors of “Recharging Judaism: How Civic Engagement is Good for Synagogues, Jews, and America.

“Recharging Judaism” calls American synagogues to take institutional stands on social justice issues, explaining why this is appropriate with Jewish texts, and showing how to implement change with helpful frameworks. But it’s not just a message for Jews, because everyone should be able to draw inspiration from the idea of a “Minyan on the Move,” where a gathering of ten or more souls take their faith outside the congregation to stand, firmly rooted, in support of people from all walks of life who need allies to stand and fight injustice.

This book, which was a Finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards, is a call to action, inviting civic engagement, trumpeting how such engagement can recharge the synagogue and observing how such action can bring different faiths together in support of common human causes.

We start the show with the co-authors reading from early in the book, where they illustrate why it is necessary to travel upstream to do the work of civic engagement.