Obama and McCain might not have been there to give bellicose speeches, but just a couple of weeks ago, over 140 Jewish activists from across the country took part in Brit Tzedek v’Shalom’s largest-ever DC conference, bringing the real pro-Israel, pro-peace message to the nation’s capital.
The conference included 115 Congressional visits, presentations by MK Yossi Beilin and Mideast analyst Daniel Levy, interactive activist trainings, and speeches by U.S. Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA), Charles Boustany (R-LA), and Mike Capuano (D-MA).
Check out this six-minute highlight reel for a taste of what an American Jewish grassroots peace movement can look like.
That’s right folks, we can all eat meat again. So say the good people at Uri L’Tzedek.
A few weeks ago, Rubashkin’s retained former federal prosecutor James Martin from the Prevene group to insure the company’s compliance with relevant secular and Jewish laws. No one was really sure how serious this would be, or what Mr. Martin could actually do. However, following a meeting with Mr. Martin, the Uri leaders were satisfied that he was prepared to do exactly what they had wanted. The original open letter had called for the company to comply with all relevant laws (both Jewish and secular) and to bring in a third party for verification. Well, well, it looks like Mr. Rubashkin listened, and did exactly as he was asked.
So today is a happy day. A good day for Jewish law, for workers’ rights, for consumer activism, and for Uri L’Tzedek.
So it would seem at least. But, I don’t know, I feel a little empty. Something doesn’t sit right for me. Uri L’Tzedek had the right demands, and they were fulfilled, but I guess I wanted a little repentance, a little chest thumping. Something akin to how Tylenol dealt with the cyanide crisis of the ’80s. A radical change, a broad corporate effort to make the world better. That hasn’t happened. Well, maybe that’s asking too much. You can’t ask people to be good people, only to do the right thing. And, well, it seems they have.
However, Uri L’Tzedek, and the rest of us should remain vigilant. Mr. Martin was only retained for one year, and we need to make sure that the work he does is effective. But, until then - enjoy your hot dogs!
The 4th of July has forever been one of those occasions where I wish we could just take giant X-rays of this place, this country – turn the layers inside out, uncover its history. What did this street used to be named? Over whose home was this highway built? From whom was this neighborhood stolen? And at whose expense was this city, this country built? Literally looking at those x-rays might be the most potent way to understand the many fraught and disturbing answers to those questions.
While this is certainly not the same as talking about similar history-layer-uncovering work being done in Israel/Palestine, it still feels connected to me – and I thought that posting about it would be an opportunity to engage some of the comments on my last post (particularly, the questions about what it really means to be an anti-Zionist, which I appreciate, and hope I can continue to address in coming posts). So in that light, I want to mention the work of Zochrot – a group whose goal is just this kind of uncovering, of reminding. As an anti-Imperialist US citizen, and as an anti-Zionist Jew, it’s important to me to be a part of making visible the history that governments, history books and popular discourse try so desperately to erase – both here, in the U.S., and internationally - and this is central to Zochrot’s work.
For me, one big part of being an anti-Zionist is to remember – and to bring into public conversation as much as possible– that what’s happening in Gaza and across Palestinian communities today started the moment the state of Israel was founded. While it is widely accepted to talk in our Jewish communities about 1967 being the year that marks the beginning of Israeli occupation of and military violence against Palestinians, it’s so important to remember that 1948 was the year that more than 500 Palestinian villages were depopulated and/or destroyed, and 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their lands, communities, and homes, so that a Jewish-majority state could be created.. Israel’s continued violence against and repression of Palestinian communities today is a continuation of the project of 1948 – a Jewish majority state at the ongoing expense of another people.
Zochrot does an excellent job of uncovering the history of the place we call Israel that is so rarely publicized or talked about. They bring tourists and locals to see where Palestinian villages used to stand, what streets used to be named, and what that map of Israel that some of us know like the backs of our hands used to look like. This is a vitally important and creative way to help insure that this history stays a part of the conversation – the colonization of Palestinian land did not start with sieges or with settlements, but with the vision for a Jewish majority state that initially drove them out in 1948. And talking about, staying rooted in this history, and in the ongoing fact that ethnic cleansing is not a Jewish value - for me, this is one big part of what anti-Zionism is about.
Profiled in all his ugliness in The New Yorker this week: Billionaire Sheldon Adelson is the third richest man in America, a huge funder of birthright israel, Bush’s election campaigns, the ZOA, the Republican Jewish Caucus (check out the new RJC Watch blog, by the way), One Jerusalem, AIPAC…the list goes on. You’re looking at the sugardaddy-Godfather of American (Jewish) right-wingery here.
As this week’s Torah portion opens, a prominent Israelite named Korach ben Yizhar, together with two hundred and fifty chieftains, publicly revolts against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Korach’s grievance is is expressed thus:
They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourself about the LORD’s congregation?” (Numbers 16:3)
The rebellion does not go well for Korach, to put it mildly - at the climax of this episode, the earth opens up to swallow him, his followers, their families and all of their possessions.
One of the most common issues folks have with this troubling story has to do with the “collateral damage.” Even if we assume (as many commentators do) that Korach and his followers were self- serving charlatans who deserved what they got in the end, why on earth did their “wives, their children, and their little ones” have to be swallowed up as well?
It is ironic that Korach, who purports to have the good of the people at heart, ends up destroying them. Indeed, though he speaks the rhetoric of the masses, his actions ultimately lead to a tragedy of massive proportions. In this regard we might claim that Korach’s primary failing was not hubris per se, but his willingness to let his zealous attachment to a single principle endanger the safety and well-being of his community.
This lesson has particular relevant this Shabbat, coming as it does one day after the US Supreme Court struck down a gun-control law in Washington DC, ruling that the Second Amendment protects the right to possess a firearm unconnected with militia service and to use it for “traditional lawful purposes.” It is clear that this landmark ruling - the first time in 70 years that the High Court has ruled on the Second Amendment - will lead to widespread challenges to gun control laws across the country.
It is equally clear that this ruling will have a real effect on public safety in our nation. An editorial in today’s NY Times put it aptly:
Thirty-thousand Americans are killed by guns every year — on the job, walking to school, at the shopping mall. The Supreme Court on Thursday all but ensured that even more Americans will die senselessly with its wrongheaded and dangerous ruling striking down key parts of the District of Columbia’s gun-control law.
This is a decision that will cost innocent lives, cause immeasurable pain and suffering and turn America into a more dangerous country. It will also diminish our standing in the world, sending yet another message that the United States values gun rights over human life.
There already is a national glut of firearms: estimates run between 193 million and 250 million guns. The harm they do is constantly on heartbreaking display. Thirty-three dead last year in the shootings at Virginia Tech. Six killed this year at Northern Illinois University. On Wednesday, as the court was getting ready to release its decision, a worker in a Kentucky plastics plant shot his supervisor, four co-workers and himself to death.
I have written before on the importance of gun control from a Jewish perspective. According to halacha, pikuach nefesh - the preservation of life - is the most sacrosanct commandment, taking precedence over all other commandments, obligations, or even “rights” (as we would say here in America). As such, I would argue that gun control is a critical spiritual imperative for our national community.
If you agree, check out the Brady Campaign for more info and actions you can take in the wake of this latest ominous ruling.
Just returned from DC and an invigorating few days with Brit Tzedek v’Shalom’s Advocacy Days on Capitol Hill. Anyone who supports a Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace policy should take heart in knowing that more than 150 activists from all over the country devoted themselves to in-depth briefings and advocacy training before fanning across the Hill to visit the offices of House reps and senators, encouraging our leaders to redouble their efforts toward a two-state solution.
It currently is a time of tentative hope in the region. A fragile cease-fire has been brokered between Israel and Hamas, talks are continuing between Syria and Israel, and there are also encouraging signs of hope coming out of Lebanon. Sadly, the US is nowhere is be seen in these efforts. (The negotiations with Hamas, Syria and Lebanon were brokered by Egypt, Turkey and Qatar, respectively). On this issue, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted recently in Ha’aretz regarding negotiations with Syria:
I don’t think we will have negotiations before the end of this year without the contribution of the Americans, who, alone, can help bridge the gaps.
The plain truth is that no lasting negotiation between Israel and its neighbors has ever happened without an active mediating effort by the US. Sadly, the Annapolis talks are barely limping along - and despite Bush’s rosy prognostications, no one in his/her right mind could claim that anything resembling a negotiated settlement will emerge before time runs out on the current administration.
Our message to our national leaders was simple: Congress needs to urge our new administration to make peace between Israel and Palestine a real priority from day one. Time is running out - and we simply cannot afford another President who waits until the waning days of his presidency to become actively engaged in the peace process.
Our Congressional visits were encouraging - but the true test is yet to come. The latest polls tell us that 87% of American Jewry support a negotiated two-state solution. If this is true, then American Jews need to be unflagging in our efforts to encourage our leaders to take the specific and painful steps to make this a reality.
Indeed, there’s nothing novel about advocating for a two-state solution per se. What is needed now for leaders to be explicit on the steps needed to make this happen. A preliminary laundry list: the appointment of a special envoy for this exclusive purpose, an unequivocal demand for an end to Israeli settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and stronger Palestinian efforts to maintain security in the territories.
In the current political climate it will take real bravery for American politicians to take these kinds of public positions. But the strong majority of American Jews who are committed to a real and lasting peace must do what we can to give our leaders the cover to provide this kind of leadership. I’m enormously proud that Brit Tzedek is leading the charge in this effort.
Dudes and dudettes, I’m stoked to announce a project that’s been long coming and is now fit for public announcement — Balkan Beat Box is going to play the 13th annual New Generations Benefit, the marquee event for New Israel Fund’s young leadership gang!
All the official bladdy blah aside (see below the fold), I’ve been on the Benefit Committee for this event before and really I cannot stress how empowering and fun this cluster of people and purposes is. It’s 500 folks in their 20s and 30s, totally excited to put a few bucks down for some raffles and auctions, a great party, and (this year) one of the most rockin’ bands from the Israeli scene.
It’s empowering because all the money goes to social change in Israel. If you’re an activist doing social change work in Israel, chances are your org got it’s founding grant from NIF, currently gets NIF money, or gets consulting from NIF’s 100-person training wing, Shatil.
I had the chance to interview the Israel-side staff of Shatil and NIF, who really shocked me with some numbers. What’s stunning is that, I shit you not, nobody in the funding world is supporting grassroots orgs in Israel like NIF. You’d think the OJC could send even half of NIF’s $28 million a year. But they’re not.
Those who remember the first conference two years ago can recall how incredible it was for a Jewish organization to finally speak out on torture, to offer serious approaches against torture from a Jewish perspective (Rabbi Saul Berman’s amazing session really stands out in my memory).
Once again, Rabbis for Human Rights North America is holding a conference. This one is to be open not just to clergy and students, but to everyone who is concerned about human rights from a Jewish perspective.
Also for a nice change of pace, it’s not to be in New York, but in Washington, D.C.
On International Human Rights Day last year RHR-NA launched a new initiative called K’vod Habriot, which is to be a Jewish Human Rights Network of Rabbis, Communities and Individuals dedicated to the human rights of all. The conference is intended to propel that work forward; at the conference there will be workshops and training and study sessions devoted to how to organize support for human rights in the various Jewish communities.
Some amazing presenters are already lined up, among them:
Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al Quds University
Avram Burg, author and former Speaker of the Knesset
Dr. Arnold Eisen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary
Dr. David Gushee, founder of Evangelicals for Human Rights
Imam Yahya Hendi, founder of Imams for Human Rights and Dialogue
Sammie Moshenberg, of the National Council of Jewish Women
Information here:
Register here
or download a registration form here
So happy to be joining the J-School gang. I’ll be bloggin’ from the wide open spaces of the great Midwest, doing my part to help report on Jewish doings beyond the Upper West Side.
Speaking of which, I spent my afternoon yesterday with 1,000 other demonstrators in front of the Congress Park Hotel on Chicago’s Michigan Ave. - the site of the longest ongoing labor strike in the country. Marking the fifth anniversary of the strike, it was certainly the largest labor demonstration this city has seen in some time.
Some shameful stats: Congress housekeepers currently make $8.83 per hour and are not scheduled to get a raise until 2010. If a housekeeper was “lucky” enough to to work full-time at that wage, he or she would make less than the federal poverty level for a family of three. (By contrast, the standard union wage for a Chicago housekeeper is $13.90 an hour.) Workers also have no access to affordable health insurance benefits and there have been repeated complaints about unsafe and unsanitary working conditions.
It is with no small shame that I add that the Congress is Jewish-owned and operated. (It’s owner, Albert Nasser Shayo is a businessman who lives in Argentina; Shayo’s representative/manager is Shlomo Nahmias, who resides in the hotel with his family.) The Jewish-owned nature of the Congress is palpable and obvious as there are mezuzzot on every room inside the hotel.
I am proud to report, however, that the Jewish presence at the demonstration yesterday was also palpable and obvious. The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs joined the over 1,000 demonstrators who marched in a circle around the hotel over the course of the day. During the program, the crowd heard from a number of labor representatives, local politicians and hotel workers. A bunch of us rabbis (above) also took the stage to pledge the Jewish community’s support of the strike, during which we repeatedly led the crowd in a chant of “What a Shande!” (This and “Si, Se Puerde!” were the two prominent foreign-language chants of the afternoon).
Though Congress workers have been walking the line at the hotel literally every day for the last five years there is, sadly, no end in sight. But as yesterday’s demonstration proved, this effort is mobilizing an increasingly diverse Chicago labor community.
David Klinghoffer, resident Jew at the Discovery Institute, has just come out with a new book: How Would God Vote: Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative.
Longtime readers of Klinghoffer’s Forward column won’t be surprised to find the book maddening in its refusal to engage in serious thinking. He ignores whole swathes of Torah and Talmud; doesn’t bother thinking of the actual consequences of his policies; and lines up enough straw men to constitute a fire hazard.
Klinghoffer does surprise on occasion. He praises the idea of reparations to African-Americans for slavery. He downplays the need for global conflict. (Better, he says, to fight “cultural decadence” at home.) And if you’re looking for a Republican propagandist for whom opposition to abortion is only a first step toward banning contraception and no-fault divorce, Klinghoffer is your man.
However, as someone who does think the Torah has something to say about economic and political arrangements, I’m looking at this book as an opportunity. Get ready for: How Would God REALLY Vote: A Jewish Response to David Klinghoffer.
I’m looking for volunteers to write a chapter or two of the book. Chapters can come in a variety of genres:
You can rip into Klinghoffer’s logic
You can show where Klinghoffer misunderstands Torah
You can show how Torah addresses a policy area that Klinghoffer doesn’t deal with
Contributions can be repurposed from already-published articles, op-eds, and blog posts.
Deadline is July 7. Publication date is planned for August 15, in time for political conventions and the high campaign season.
If you’re interested, raise a virtual hand below, or drop me an email at larry at yudel dot com.
A few years ago, Jewish Women Watching used to regularly hit them out of the park. “MAJOR Center for Jewish Breeding” was a brilliant parody of the “Jewish continuity” agenda. “Strange Bedfellows” was a much-needed warning about the Jewish community getting into bed with the Christianist right, and the JTS hoax was an effective gotcha.
Since then, they’ve gone into a bit of a decline. “Make A Buzz” was more about shock value than about substance, and insulted millions of progressive Christians by generalizing about the “Christian agenda”. As we discussed here, “Embrace the Treyf” marginalized the very causes it was claiming to support.
So it’s good to see that JWW has returned to form. Their latest action, connected to Shavuot, returns to familiar themes and launches a scathing attack against the making-Jewish-babies industry. Go read the whole thing. My main criticism is that it doesn’t go far enough. They appropriately convey the idea that the “continuity” agenda demeans Jewish women, but leave out the fact that it also demeans Jewish men, and demeans Judaism. Jewish men may not have rabbis in their uteri, but are also objectified (albeit less invasively) when the Jewish community sees young adults only as potential parents rather than as individuals with their own needs and abilities. And Judaism itself is the greatest victim when it is transformed from a means of bringing holiness into the world to a means of making Jewish babies who can then make more Jewish babies, a genetic mutation devoid of content or value.
Jewish Currents magazine*, the 62 year old, (formerly Communist), now secular, progressive magazine, has recently started putting its archives up on the web. You can check it out here and find out what Israel and the Black Panthers have to do with each other. It’s a fascinating, ‘more things change, more things stay the same’ look at progressive Jewish history. Enjoy!
*As many of you know, I’m now a paid employee of Jewish Currents. I’d still think this was cool, even if they weren’t paying me to say that!
…there are precedents in Jewish law for environmental regulation. The most polluting industry in the time of the Talmud, for example, was that of leather tanning, which creates what we now call air pollution and water pollution, both of which were known even in Talmudic times to cause health problems. And, we find, the rabbis set forth all manner of regulations, regulating where tanneries can be sited and how damages are to be apportioned. Many Jews logically extend these ethical norms to other pollution-causing activities, be they individual (wasting energy, generating greenhouse gases) or collective. .. this is not novel; it is how halacha has progressed for centuries.
Con:Yeah, get a Prius, but Israel and Jewish survival trumps all
… the environment is a problem, but it is not a Jewish problem and therefore it does not belong on a Jewish agenda. Eco-Judaism and its ideational and organizational offshoots are irrelevant to the Jewish community. They are irrelevant because Jews in America are totally free to operate within other groups. Since even the Jews, as wealthy as they may be, have finite fiscal and human resources, it is unnecessary and unwise to create another “branch” of Judaism; and to establish, staff and fund - and add still another entity to - what the late Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, used to call “our over-organized Jewish chaos.” Instead, since life is always a matter of priorities, Jews - as Jews - should turn their energies to areas that are existentially crucial to the Jewish people.
Reported in Vos Is Neias, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, of Ohev Sholom the National Synagogue in Washington, D.C., has called for the Vaad Harabonim of Washington to temporarily suspend Rubashkin’s meat in the stores and caterers that it supervises. So far the Vaad has not responded; it will be interesting to see if they do. Why? A quick view at the comments section might be edifying: Rabbi Herzfeld is dismissed as “a talmid of ‘Rabbi’ Avi Weiss;” apparently in some circles that’s enough to have your smichah be questionable.
But more than that, Rabbi Herzfeld, despite his innovative programming, energy and, let’s face it, success in reviving a dying shul, has not won him the kudos of the local Orthodox leadership. Aside from a minor scrap over his shul taking the name “the National Synagogue,” Rabbi Herzfeld has also put himself outside the pale by becoming the first Orthodox rabbi in DC to join the Washington Board of rabbis and sit down at the table with non-Orthodox rabbis and call them colleagues.
I’d like to think that instead of him being tarred with yet another reason to keep him on the outside of his Orthodox colleagues’ circles, this would be an opportunity for them to show some leadership on this issue, and also offer the opportunity for them to show some spine over politics. Rabbi Herzfeld isn’t the only rabbi out there -Orthodox or Conservative- who is working on trying to get some movement happening, but I do hope that he might help the DC area to move on this matter more effectively.
In other Rubashkin’s news, the CEO of Rubashkin, Sholom Rubashkin, will resign as head of Agriprocessors Inc. after a search for a new CEO is completed
Today is the strange, poorly understood festival we call Lag Ba’Omer (Day 33 of the Omer). Today, all around Israel, people go outdoors, run around have fun and light bonfires. Thousands of these beautiful fires are lit, dotting the entire map with dancing light. (Last year I flew on Lag Ba’Omer, it was one of the most amazing flights I have ever taken.) The only problem is that Israel is known as the land of millk and honey, not firewood. So, scavenging kids, and adults, go looking for anything at all that will burn. Construction pallates disappear, trees are uprooted, furniture destroyed, and all of that destruction goes up into the air. For an entire day, the country is covered in disgusting smog. It is difficult to breath, and there isa massive spike in emergency room asthma visits. The released carbon dioxide and toxic chemicals from burnt plastics spread all over the country, and settle down back all across the entire region. A Knesset committee decided to act, yesterday. So, it’s too late to help out this year, but maybe in the future we can see a more moderate celebration.
Meanwhile, let’s give a little hat tip to some organizations that are working hard to keep outdoor revelry possible.
Green Prophet This is the English language environmental blog. Started by a couple of people to write up the news, this has become a popular and active blog which keeps you up to date on everything environmental in Israel. Whether you’re looking for a good hike, info on the most recent shonda, or looking to help out, stop by here.
Adam Teva V’Din Check them out for some hard-core activism in Israel. These people are out for change, and they are going to make it happen.
Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel The granddaddy of environmentalism in Israel. Around since 1953, these people can pull strings. From large boycotts, to building trails and nature reserves, SPNI is where it is at.
Green Zionist Alliance One year ago, Noam Dolgin left his job as director of Teva to move back to Vancouver and start this upstart zionist organization. Believing that an important way to support Israel is to support its environment, the GZA is dedicated to mobilizing and educating diaspora Jews to what’s going on in Israel’s land, sea and air.
Since our call for donations, St. Bridget’s has received approximately forty thousand dollars. That’s real money. That’s real money that is making sure people have food, that their rent is paid, that they are getting legal representation, and that is reuniting families. Also, Rubashkin’s has responded to our lead. They have given meat (what else?) to the workers’ families, and are negotiating a way to pay the families at least part of their lost wages.
Bottom line - Yasher Koach. Thank you for donating and thank you for spreading the message. Our little campaign has made a difference. Now it’s time to move on, to figure out what the next steps are. Here are some ideas. More »
Profiled in all his ugliness in 
David Klinghoffer, resident Jew at the Discovery Institute, has just come out with a new book: How Would God Vote: Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative.
I’m looking for volunteers to write a chapter or two of the book. Chapters can come in a variety of genres: