A Pasadena Rabbi on the UFCW strikes: I have spoken with many congregants at my synagogue about how the strike has impacted their lives. Most seem to be shopping elsewhere. Indeed, so are many of their neighbors, a reality reflected in the near-empty parking lots and substantial drops in profits at the affected stores. Some of my congregants are joining picket lines. Some are helping the workers with food and moral support. Others have urged friends and co-workers coming to holiday potluck parties not to bring food bought from one of these chains. Californians are responding to the strike in heartening, unexpected ways. What we have not done is to speak out as a community. We Jews owe that much to our history. Many of the workers walking these picket lines are immigrants, as we were. All are working to make better lives for themselves and their families, as we did. We once fought the hard battle to make it in America. The labor unions helped lift many of us into the middle class. Is it too much to ask, now that we have for the most part prospered and built a better future for our children, that we remember our roots? Amen. (Via Zach)