This past Sunday, a small group of about five students who also helped to organize the event came together to discuss how social justice and Judaism are linked at an event called "Do Justice and Love Kindness: Models of Charity and Social Action in Judaism." The event was hosted by the Now Project as part of 'Deis Impact.

In an interview with the Justice, Associate Chair of the Executive Committee of the Now Project Sara Fried '15 said that the goal of the event was to get people talking to and learning from one another. She said she hoped the event would spark questions relating to how social justice is a part of Judaism and how it can span across denominations that might never have been asked otherwise.

The event commenced with a walk to Moody Street in downtown Waltham to a bookstore and at-risk youth group called More Than Words. On the walk there, participants were prompted to share their own experiences with social justice and discuss how it connected to their faith.

Once at the bookstore, participants were given a tour by two youths in More Than Words. More Than Words empowers youths ages 16 to 21 by giving them up to a year of employment and training, as well as helping them to "craft concrete action plans to move forward with their lives after MTW" according to their brochure.

After the tour, participants sat down to discuss Judaism and its relationship to social justice. They did an exercise in which several quotations about why people might feel compelled to participate in social justice activities due to their faith were posted around the room, and each participant picked one and spoke about his or her views on social justice. Some answers were deeply spiritual, while others were based in history and current events, and then led to a discussion of the connections between Judaism and social justice.

"I think one of my religious beliefs is that free will is a gift from God that is meant to do good in the world, and that God purposely created human beings' free will so that we can kind of piece the world back together to its perfect state," said Jessica Goldberg '13, cofounder of the Now Project and organizer of this event, during the discussion.

While all branches of Judaism were not represented in the small group that was present, there was discussion of how this profound sense of the necessity of social justice is held in almost every branch and how it is a common factor throughout Judaism.

"I'm hoping that people will be able to articulate why justice fits into their personal Jewish narrative and then the group that is here today can create a larger narrative about why justice is Jewish," said Goldberg of her hopes for what people gained from the program in an interview with the Justice.

The Now Project began last year in Goldberg's Ziv Quad suite while discussing Jewish pluralism on campus with cofounder Anna Bessendorf '15, and they soon recruited Fried to join the executive committee as well, according to Fried.

"The mission of the Now Project is to open up dialogue and action around the issue of Jewish pluralism at Brandeis, and also because we have such great resources in the Jewish community here, to be able to bring that beyond the Brandeis community," Fried told the Justice. They hosted a conference this past November to address their mission, and hope to continue to expand their efforts.