Some may think that the connection between Jews and sweatshops is long over, that the Jewish immigrants who used to toil away in garment factories are part of our past.
In one sense, it is. The Jews who used to work in sweatshops have been replaced by Latino and Chinese immigrants.
But there is still a Jewish connection to sweatshops, which was discovered a few years ago. Many of Los Angeles’ sweatshops are owned by Jews.
The Los Angeles-based Progressive Jewish Alliance has made sweatshop reform one of its core issues. The organization recently sponsored a “No Shvitz Shabbat” at San Francisco’s Congregation Sherith Israel, to bring awareness to the issue. PJA is officially celebrating its local arrival with a launch party on Tuesday, May 3, in San Francisco.
Abby Levine, PJA’s regional director, said that in the past few years, the progressive Jewish community in the Bay Area has been throwing all of its energy toward the Middle East conflict.
“We did a mapping project of Bay Area Jewish community about a year ago to look at what’s going on here in terms of social justice and social action,” said Levine.
Rabbis Alan Lew and Lavey Derby attend every execution to show their opposition to the death penalty, but Levine said, “They are doing this work without any support or alliances with Jewish organizations, and so there’s a pretty clear need.”
Indeed, Lew, of San Francisco’s Congregation Beth Sholom and Derby, of Tiburon’s Congregation Kol Shofar, are on PJA’s Bay Area board, as is Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller of Sherith Israel, who invited PJA to do their “No Shvitz Shabbat” at her synagogue.
After five years of serving as executive director of PJA in Los Angeles, Daniel Sokatch is very excited to expand PJA’s presence throughout the state.
“Why shouldn’t California have a statewide progressive Jewish voice?” asked Sokatch. “We’re the only state in the country that has two massively progressive areas with Jewish communities. We also have a ballot initiative system that allows us to be involved in politics. As an aggregated voice, we can become a responsive and dynamic presence.”
PJA was born out of the old Los Angeles chapter of American Jewish Congress, although presently, PJA does not resemble AJCongress at all.
Being that the garment industry in America has shifted from New York to Los Angeles, and that Jews have a long history in the garment business, the Los Angeles chapter of AJCongress decided to study sweatshop conditions.
What caused such a controversy, was that 50 percent or so of the sweatshops were Jewish owned.
Then when a local union put together a local Jewish sweatshop commission, which included prominent rabbis, academics and labor lawyers, the office closed down.
PJA’s catchphrase is “A progressive voice in the Jewish community and a Jewish voice in the progressive community.”
Levine, its 25-year-old regional director, first hooked up with PJA when she organized a Jewish contingent to go on a bus ride in the fall of 2003. The ride was called the JERICO Project and comprised about a dozen young Jewish activists. JERICO, modeled after “Freedom Rides” of the ’60s Civil Rights Movement, raised awareness about immigration rights.
With that issue also being on PJA’s agenda, it seemed like a good fit for Levine, a former hotel and restaurant union organizer.
Actually, a few people met in the Bay Area a few years ago to talk about setting up an organization like PJA. The idea didn’t come to fruition, but it didn’t die either. The people here knew what PJA was doing in Los Angeles and were impressed.
“So last July, we signed some papers and started to build a board and to fund-raise for a regional office of PJA here,” said Levine..
Their efforts paid off, as funding came from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the Vanguard Public Foundation.
In addition to immigrant rights, PJA opposes the death penalty and supports reform in the criminal justice system. It is also committed to helping foreign immigrants who have been adversely affected by the Patriot Act, and other post-9/11 measures.
While the organization has a “pro-Israel, pro-peace” stance, the Middle East is a back-burner issue, with its membership focusing much more on domestic issues. In fact, in Los Angeles, PJA has been the only group to carry out sustained dialogue between Jews and Muslims.
PJA’s launch party will begin 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, at the Simmons Gallery, 565 Sutter St., S.F. Information: (510) 893-1063 or www.pjalliance.org.