CJC strives to foster connections between members and joyfully welcome people into our community. Working together, we build organizational structures, programming, and a culture that values the needs, perspectives, gifts, and capacity of each member. Our goal is that no one ever feels pressured to offer more to the community than they can give. We honor the many ways that members build our community, be it through time, money, knowledge, leadership, art, or numerous other ways.

As members, we endeavor to joyfully welcome people into our community and expand our circles. We commit to the collective co-creation of our community, participating and leading in ways that feel meaningful and doable to each of us. We recognize that each person has their own gifts, talents, passions, and capacities, and we honor the many ways that members build our community.

CJC actively rejects the capitalist, racist, ableist concept that a person must work or create something of value to others in order to have value themselves. We affirm the beauty and strength of diverse community.

As members, we strive for intentional inclusion and honor every person, including those who have been most often marginalized.

CJC strives to create a space where members feel safe asking for what they need. We will provide structures that enable and encourage community members to support one another.

As members, we commit to supporting each other within our capacity at any given moment. We recognize that each of us can offer support in different ways, such as providing home-cooked or takeout meals, showing up for a shiva minyan, or contributing financially. We acknowledge that it can be hard to ask for help and that we will endeavor to do so.

CJC commits to honoring the differences in our worldviews, life experiences, and perspectives, and the ways those can lead us to differing conclusions. We recognize that conflict is an inevitable but often generative process, allowing us to refine our actions, ideas, and processes in ways that uplift our community and the wider world.

As members, we strive to root ourselves in a place of respect, curiosity, and compassion in all of our interactions with one another, both positive and challenging. We encourage each other to speak up, question, and disagree, in a respectful and compassionate manner, in ways that lead to learning, growth, and justice.

CJC believes in the power of tochecha (calling in) and that everyone is capable of tshuvah (atonement and growth). As a community, we strive to foster an atmosphere where we can engage in these processes interpersonally and institutionally.

As members, we strive to hold each other accountable in ways that respect each other’s inherent worth. We work to repair harm in ways that restore relationships whenever possible.

CJC affirms the Yiddish socialist concept of doikayt (hereness) – that we are interconnected with, committed to, and in solidarity with our neighbors and the place we live. Our lives are bound up with each other and the Earth, and we commit to approaching justice through an intersectional lens.

As members, we recognize that while the oppressions faced by different communities are unique, our liberation is intertwined. We commit to support each other in the face of these oppressions and not invalidate the varied experiences of others.

CJC commits to being a place you can come to for rest. We recognize that in a capitalist ableist society, it is deeply countercultural to put down our work, and we strive to make it easier for our members to do so in whatever way feels meaningful to them.

As members, we recognize and honor each other’s rest and Shabbat practices. We seek to cultivate our individual and collective capacity to carve out time for rest and renewal. 

CJC strives to provide a safe space within which to experiment with new practices and ideas, even – or especially – when it’s uncomfortable. We know that experimentation can be intimidating, and we commit to transparency around the implementation of new structures and processes.

As members, we are here to support each other through the discomfort that is a part of all growth and the inevitable mistakes we will make along the way. We commit to keeping an open mind about practices that are new to us and structural changes at CJC.

CJC approaches learning as a way to explore Jewish beliefs and practices, engage in the work of liberation, and wrestle with what it means to be human in this messy world. We value different kinds of learning, including text-based, cultural, political, experiential, and earth-based modalities.

As members, we value the wisdom of different experiences and perspectives, and learn from the different ways people practice and experience Judaism. 

CJC seeks to create space for the full range of human feeling, to cultivate our collective and individual capacity to experience all of our emotions, and to support each other through the ups and downs.

As members, we recognize that emotions can be difficult to navigate and strive to provide space and support for each other in times of high emotion.