The Davis Center for Social Justice

Serve with Sinai: Back to School Backpack Assembly
2026-08-03 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York)
Help Assemble School Supplies for Friendship Place and Sinai House Kids!
We’re filling over 50 backpacks with all the supplies needed for DC Public School students. Please help to ensure that Friendship Place and Sinai House kids’ school year gets off to a great start! Temple Sinai supports the work of Friendship Place as a Congregation Partner.
View the Wish List here; please complete your purchase by July 24. Every purchase helps! Contact Susan Kidd with questions.
Sign up to help assemble the backpacks on Monday, August 3, at 2pm at Temple Sinai here.

Serve with Sinai: A Wider Circle
2026-08-20 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-09-17 10:00 - 12:00 UTC
Volunteer at A Wider Circle (9159 Brookville Road in Silver Spring) on the third Thursday of each month, 10 am – 12 pm with your fellow members – all congregants are invited to join. Lunch is not included in this program but those interested in going to Parkway Deli afterwards are more than welcome!
If you have questions, please contact Jim Jaffe or Ed Cohen.
Register

Serve with Sinai: So Others Might Eat
2026-08-23 06:30 - 09:30, 2026-09-27 06:30 - 09:30, 2026-10-25 06:30 - 09:30, 2026-11-22 06:30 - 09:30, 2026-12-27 06:30 - 09:30 UTC
Join other Temple Sinai volunteers in serving breakfast at So Others Might Eat (71 O Street, NW) on the 4th Sunday of the month from 6:30am – 9:30am – all congregants are invited to join! Please register at least a week in advance. We have a limited number of volunteer slots and they sometimes fill up. *Once signed up, you will receive instructions for how to register as a volunteer with SOME.
​If you have questions, please contact Wendy Kahn at wlkahn44@gmail.com.
REGISTER

Cards & Coffee Social
2026-09-02 09:00 - 11:30 (America/New_York)
Drop by the member lounge during the TSNS’s second transition day anytime between 9:00 and 11:30 am to socialize over coffee and snacks with Temple Sinai’s Get Out the Vote (GOTV) and Reproductive Health and Rights groups. While you’re there, write a couple of postcards to Southern voters to encourage them to vote this fall. Every postcard is a reminder that our community is engaged in working to keep our democracy intact. Open to all – especially TSNS parents!
Please register to give us an idea of how many people to expect. See you then!

Reverse Tashlich: River Cleanup
2026-09-13 11:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Join Temple Sinai’s Green Team and the Potomac Riverkeeper Network for a community cleanup of our local waterways. As we welcome 5787, we’ll come together for a “Reverse Tashlich” to care for the world we share through hands-on action.
Oronoco Bay Park, 100 Madison Street, Alexandria, VA
This is a great service opportunity for teens and families! (Recommended for ages 12+.) All cleanup supplies will be provided.
Please register in advance and indicate the expected number of people in your group.
Questions? Email Beth Plotkins at bethplotkins@gmail.com

Serve with Sinai: Food For All Lunch Packing
2026-09-18 10:00 - 11:30 (America/New_York)
Food For All (FFA) is one of the few programs in Washington, DC that deliver groceries to homebound individuals citywide. FFA also distributes bagged lunches to unhoused DC residents each Friday. Join us on Friday, September 18 to assemble these bagged lunches at Temple Sinai, alongside your fellow congregants. We are also looking for volunteers to assist with the grocery shopping beforehand and delivering the lunches that afternoon. You can indicate your availability for these additional activities on the registration form.
Questions? Email Elizabeth Roos
Space is limited. Please REGISTER in advance

Don’t Despair, Prepare: Ensuring Free and Fair Elections
2026-09-24 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
With the midterms approaching during an era of heightened political division, many Americans are understandably worried about threats to free and fair elections. How can we tell what the real dangers are? What steps are needed to ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast a ballot and make their voice heard? And what changes are needed to ensure the long-term health and stability of American democracy?
Join us on Thursday, September 24, at 7 pm in person at Temple Sinai, where we will discuss these and other questions with leading elections experts.
Panelists include:

Danielle Friedman, Legal Director of the State Democracy Research Initiative
Adav Noti, Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center
Virginia Kase Solomón, President and CEO of Common Cause
Moderated by Dan Weiner, Senior Director of the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law (and Temple Sinai member)

Please register in advance

Serve with Sinai: DC Diaper Bank
2026-09-29 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-10-27 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-12-08 10:00 - 12:00 UTC
Volunteer alongside your fellow congregants while repacking and bundling diapers for the DC Diaper Bank’s clients. You will meet at the DC Diaper Bank warehouse (8860 Monard Drive).
Register

Antisemitism and Anti-Black Racism: Two Sides of the Same Coin
2026-10-18 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Temple Sinai
With the midterm elections around the corner, join us for an afternoon with Eric K. Ward, a nationally recognized expert on hate-fueled violence, white nationalism, and authoritarianism. Drawing on more than thirty years working at the intersection of the Black freedom struggle and the fight against antisemitism, Ward will examine how rising threats against Jewish, Black, Muslim, and other minoritized communities are connected—and will call on us to move from anxiety to organized, coalition-based action to defend our fragile liberal democracy and work towards safety and freedom for all.
Please register in advance.
About Eric Ward:
Eric K. Ward is a nationally recognized civil rights leader, strategist, and cultural organizer who has spent over three decades on the frontlines of racial justice, democracy defense, and resistance to authoritarianism. He serves as Executive Vice President of Race Forward and as a Senior Fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center, where his work centers the relationship between white nationalism, antisemitism, and the struggle for a thriving multiracial democracy.
Ward is the only American ever to receive the international Civil Courage Prize and has also been honored with the Peabody–Facebook Futures of Media Award for narrative work that helped shift how the nation understands white nationalist violence. He is co-producer of the documentary White With Fear and appears in acclaimed films including Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations and We’ve Been Here Before. He serves on the boards of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and Auburn Theological Seminary, and is a founder of States At The Center (STAC), CultureGuard, and Moment Magazine’s Wide River Project.
Raised in the punk scene of Southern California, Ward made the Pacific Northwest home and launched his career as an organizer. He spent years researching and confronting white nationalist movements from the inside, work that shaped his groundbreaking analysis linking antisemitism and anti-Black racism. With this analysis and more, Ward has been quoted in The New Yorker, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, ESPN, CNN, MSNBC, Black News Channel, NPR, BBC, Rolling Stone, and many other media outlets. Wherever he speaks, Ward is known for pairing hard truths with a stubborn belief that belonging, not fear, is the foundation of a just society.

Interfaith Council's Annual Unity Walk
2026-10-25 13:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York)
You’re invited to the 21st annual IFC annual Unity Walk! The Unity Walk is the largest interfaith public program in the DMV. It brings together over 600 people of all ages for an afternoon of joyful community-building, experiencing sacred spaces, and connecting with diverse communities through dialogue, the arts, and acts of service. Come by yourself or bring friends and family to celebrate the wonderful diversity that exists in our region. All are welcome!*
This year’s walk will take place on Sunday, October 25th from 1pm-6pm. The Walk will begin at Annunciation Catholic Church (3810 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC) and end at the Islamic Center of Washington, DC (2551 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC).
Tickets are $10/$5 (students, seniors, and those of limited income). Tickets are $15 at the door. All participants must register. If it is against your religious practice to handle money on Sundays, you can register for the walk here. For groups of 10 or more, please email Symi Rom-Rymer (symirr@ifcmw.org) for registration details.

WTF: Washington's Totally Fine! Midterms Edition
2026-11-19 19:00 - 21:00 UTC
As the country processes the outcome of the midterm elections, we invite you to come together to learn and engage in thoughtful conversation.
Join us as we gather to reflect on the results of the midterm elections and what they may mean for our community, our country, and the path ahead. The evening will begin with a panel of Temple Sinai members representing a broad range of perspectives, offering insights into the election results and discussing their implications for our community and our city.
Panelists to be named soon.
The panel will be followed by pizza, beer and a chance to keep talking to each other. Join us for an evening of learning, networking, and conspiring.
While we hope you can join us in person, the panel portion of the program can be viewed virtually. Please indicate your preference when you register.
REGISTER

Civil Rights Trip to the South
2027-02-11 - 2027-02-14
See the full details about the Civil Rights Trip, including the registration link, here.
