Rabbi Miriam Liebman canvassed for political candidates before she could legally vote. That passion for social justice and community involvement is still a large part of her life’s work at the age of 37.
Liebman is the rabbi-in-residence for Jews United for Justice, a nonprofit grassroots organization that concentrates on local issues. She serves as the co-director of community organizing for the Conservative Jewish movement and the lead ruach Avodah faculty member for Avodah, where she works with aspiring social justice leaders in their 20s. Liebman lives in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, D.C., with her husband and their daughter, Amalia, where she belongs to DC Minyan.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in [metropolitan] Detroit. My mom grew up in The Workmen’s Circle, [now known as the Workers Circle], which is an organization that’s secular socialist activism via Judaism, and my dad grew up Orthodox, so my parents like to joke that they’re [in] a mixed marriage.
I grew up with Democratic politics and campaigning. That was just as important a part of our lives as Judaism was. Those two things really came together in our household growing up and those were values that really shine through in what my parents were trained in.
You’re originally from Michigan. What brought you to D.C.?
I originally came to D.C. for a job at Maryland Hillel. My first campus job was during rabbinical school at NYU Hillel. I think it’s really powerful to be able to work with young people, young Jews, specifically … to be a part of their life, encourage positive Jewish interactions and positive Jewish community.
What drew you to JUFJ?
I had been working as a community organizer in Detroit, and that’s really one of the primary things I would say that brought me to rabbinical school and the reason I wanted to be a rabbi. When this job opened up at JUFJ, it really felt like it was mission-aligned, work-aligned. It was exactly where I saw myself going when I started rabbinical school, and it’s been really great. It feels like a place that really embodies my values that tries to bring the Jewish community into justice, really thinks and talks about the ways that our own power can be used to make changes, and does so through a Jewish lens, so that’s why I came here.
What are your responsibilities as rabbi-in-residence at JUFJ?
Most of the Jewish content that comes out of the organization comes from me, which comes in different forms. We have one-pagers and testimony that we try hard to make sure isn’t just standard but has a Jewish lens to it. For example, we do a lot of work in low-income housing. Any information that we put out about that will have a Jewish framing to it, and that is something that I’ve worked on.
There are some programmatic events that I also work on. Every year, we do a labor seder in D.C. and a social justice seder in Baltimore, and we pick a theme and incorporate that theme into a traditional seder. In Maryland, we used the framework of a seder to talk about youth justice and, specifically, youth incarceration in the state of Maryland.
Another example is [over] Labor Day weekend, we have a program called Labor on the Bimah, so we pick an issue related to labor rights and encourage synagogues in D.C. and Maryland to sign up and speak about or teach about or run programs on issues of labor rights in our community.
Why is social justice work important to you?
As a Jew and as a rabbi, I look at the Jewish tradition and I look at what our texts are asking of us, what God is asking of us. There’s really a sense of ‘if I’m not doing it for a greater purpose, if I’m not doing it to make change in the world, then I’m doing it for nothing.’ When I think about my religious identity, it inherently needs to be connected with a fight for justice and a better world and community for everybody around me. I don’t live in a silo; I live in a world that’s bigger than me. It’s really important that when I am doing my work in the world, [it’s] apparent that it isn’t just about me; it’s about making a lasting change in a community that I think deserves better than what we have right now.
You’re very involved in the community. How do you take a break from all your work?
I have a three-and-a-half-year-old — she’s very fun — so I spend time with her. I try to travel some.
What do you want your child to know about your leadership and community involvement?
I think it would be important for her to see that she doesn’t have to be one thing and she doesn’t just have to fit into a particular mold, that she can be fully and completely herself. And I want that to be part of a Jewish world and a Jewish community — one that is open and accepting and loving towards who she is as her fullest self and also to people who don’t necessarily fit a specific mold.
