On Sunday I presented at Limmud Chicago, an interesting movement of serious (and not so serious) adult learners who are passionate about Judaism. I submitted an application back in August and was chosen to speak about my experiences in Guatemala with American Jewish World Service visiting a coffee plantation, CCDA and my program in Elgin called Java and Jews.
CCDA, a collaborative in Guatemala that grows coffee, honey and macadamia nuts, builds community by selling produce, education of women, protecting land rights, documenting human rights abuses. When we visited CCDA we learned that sometimes building community comes with real risks. There are 84 arrests warrants out for the leaders of CCDA. Nonetheless, the director of CCDA was elected to the Guatemalan Congress in the recent elections.
Perhaps even more importantly we learned two stories from members of CCDA. One woman told us that with the proceeds of the eggs from her single chicken in the Patio Systemes Group which teaches women how to do container gardening on the patios, she was able to send her daughter all the way through middle school. Her daughter is now in high school. The woman, dressed in jeans and a traditional Mayan top, can not read or write but has learned the importance of education, the rights that women have to education and the hope that community brings. Another woman, told us that she learned through CCDA that she had the right to tell someone no, that she did not have to submit to sex. In her own words, she explained, she prevented her own rape.
It was my job at CCDA to thank our hosts. I spoke about my husband, the dairy farmer and his love the land and how he roasts his own green coffee beans. I spoke about Abraham buying a burial plot for his wife Sarah. (This past week’s Torah portion, in fact!) and that as Jews we understand the value of owning land and then the ongoing struggle to preserve that land.
In Elgin, I introduced a program I call Java and Jews. It is an opportunity to sit over coffee once a month and discuss any number of things. We meet at a Starbucks, Blue Box Cafe and Calibre, two local independent cafes. It gives people easy, casual access to the rabbi. It deepens the conversations more than I could ever do in a 10 minute sermon or discussion on a Shabbat morning and it builds friendships. I gave out tips of how to set up similar programs in other communities. And coffee. We modeled the program by having fair trade, kosher, organic coffee from Guatemala and all the fixings. Great for a late Sunday afternoon. We created a community of learners.
What I could not have predicted all the way back in August, would be the controversy over a red cup. Part of me is just shaking my head. Really? Starbucks in trouble because its Christmas cup is red but does not have snowflakes or other “holiday” decorations on them? Excuse me, not holiday, Christmas decorations. I thought red and green were Christmas colors. I thought snowflakes were not Christian symbols.
I am not one who objects when someone says “Merry Christmas” to me. I smile and respond, “Merry Christmas”. It is not my holiday but I enjoy the festive lights, the good food, the music, the time with family and friends. Frankly the building of community. I wish it would really bring
Peace on earth, goodwill to man.”
There are pluses and minuses to Starbucks, to be sure. They do have programs to help farmers grow fair trade coffee, but not all their coffee is fair trade. They do a good job with employee benefits. They could probably go further. And on Veterans Day, it is important to note that Starbucks is committed to hiring 10,000 veterans and military spouses.
Red cups, with or without snowflakes and ornaments? I will proudly go get my Starbucks this week, and next week, and the week after that. Because they are a company I want to be linked with as a person of faith, as a person committed to social justice and building community. I may even bring my own cup–with or without dreidls–because that would be better for the environment than all those disposable cups. But when I proposed to talk about building community through a coffee cup, I just didn’t know that Starbucks red cups would become a part of it.