EA for Jews: Launch and Call for Volunteers

By EA for Jews @ 2021-10-26T17:35 (+39)

Overview: Announcing the launch of EA for Jews 

We’re excited to announce the launch of a new EA outreach and community group: EA for Jews.  EA for Jews’ mission is (1) to share EA ideas with Jews (broadly defined to include religious as well as secular Jews) and (2) to build a community of Jews interested in EA. 

Join our Facebook group here and learn more through our website here.  

We are currently launching within the EA community to grow the group and will then reach out more widely to Jewish communities worldwide. We are keen to find people who want to get involved in any way, big or small, from helping us run the organisation to speaking at your local synagogue or youth group about EA. If you’re interested in getting involved or would like to learn more, please fill out the form here and contact us if you have any questions! 

Background

EA and Judaism share several key principles and values. There is also evidence that similar faith-based groups have been successful in both outreach and community-building (see, e.g., EA for Christians, Buddhists in EA). With this in mind, Ben posted this piece on the forum in March 2021, proposing the formation of EA for Jews. Since then, a group of volunteers have combined to build the website, launch the organisation, and begin working on future programmes. We hope that through fostering a global community of Jews interested in EA, we can encourage more individuals to use their time and money to more effectively tackle the world’s most pressing problems. 

Group’s goals and plans 

How you can get involved

There are several ways to get involved with EA for Jews, from joining our community to helping to run the organisation. Here are several suggestions, but we would love to hear any other ideas, either by filling out this form or contacting us at shalom@eaforjews.org.


G Gordon Worley III @ 2021-10-26T19:25 (+11)

Woo, as the person running Buddhists in EA, really excited to see more groups like this! At this point there's enough of us (3 groups) that maybe it's time to start thinking about an EA Interfaith group. :-)

BenSchifman @ 2021-10-26T23:33 (+3)

Thanks Gordon!  I think an pan-interfaith group would be great! I'd love to compare notes and hear more about what your group is up to.  

UriKatz @ 2021-10-26T21:50 (+3)

What would you say are the biggest benefits of being part of an EA faith group?

G Gordon Worley III @ 2021-10-27T19:36 (+7)

I think of it as coming from two angles. One is that it's a form of community building to expose folks to EA ideas who might otherwise not engage with them by doing so in a language they are familiar with. Two, it's a way for EAs who are religious to explore how EA impacts other spheres of their life.

I think it's also nice to have community by creating a sense of belonging. With EA being such a secular space normally, having a way to learn you're not the only one trying to combine EA and practice of a religion is nice. Good to have folks to talk to, etc.