Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Second North American Conference on Judaism and Human Rights Conference 2008

The conference is for Rabbis, Cantors, Rabbinic Students and all who are committed to human rights. Sunday, Dec. 7 - Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008 Adas Israel Congregation 2850 Quebec Street, NW Washington, DC www.adasisrael.org. Mark your calendars for December 7th and register now for a conference that will inspire and reinvigorate you!

For conference details and registration go to:
http://www.rhr-na.org/story/registration-is-now-open-for-the-second-north-american-conf

Among the highlights of the conference are the following plenaries:

"Zionism, Israel and Human Rights" with Avram Burg, author and former Speaker of the Knesset, Paula Hyman, Lucy Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History, Yale University, and Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al Quds University. This panel will be moderated by Kathleen Peratis, Board Member Emerita of Human Rights Watch.

(Sunday night)
"The Abrahamic Religions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" with Dr. Arnold Eisen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. David Gushee, founder of Evangelicals for Human Rights, and Imam Yahya Hendi, founder of Imams for Human Rights and Dialogue, moderated by Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Director, Religious Studies Program, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

(Monday)

Dear Ma Nishma Subscriber,

I'm happy to deliver to your e-mail doorstep the latest issue of Ma Nishma ("What's Happening?"), featuring news and events from JRF.

Now everyone can subscribe to Ma Nishma. Register at the JRF website at http://jrf.org/user/register then click "Manage your JRF e-newsletter subscriptions" at the top left of the home page to subscribe.

Newsletter editors and webmasters: Please reprint stories and announcements from this issue for a JRF News page in your congregational newsletter and on your website.

Visit the Tents of Hope Project: www.tentsofhope.org
The mission of the Tents of Hope project is to support a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan by creating tents that are both unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan.
The tents are not answers in themselves. Rather, they are points of entry for more concrete forms of Darfur advocacy.

One.org web site.

About ONE

ONE is Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life - united as ONE - to help make poverty history. We are a campaign of over 2.4 million people and growing from all 50 states and over 100 of America's most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. As ONE, we are raising public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and efforts to fight such problems in the world's poorest countries. As ONE, we are asking our leaders to do more to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries.

JRF’s resources are now part of the toolkit available through ONE to organize a ONE Sabbath event at your house of worship.

http://www.one.org/faith/jewishgroups.html

Also watch the new international multi-faith video ONE has produced with religious leaders speaking on this issue, including the Reconstructionist movement:
http://www.one.org/joinonesabbath/ and
http://www.one.org/documents/faith/multifaith/index.html

This article is reprinted with permission from the New Jersey Jewish News.

Donna Kirshbaum led several lives before becoming a rabbi. (Photo by Marilyn Silverstein)
by Marilyn Silverstein
NJJN Bureau Chief/PMB

September 9, 2008

The scene is crystal clear in Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum’s memory. She was eight years old and had just finished reading a child’s biography of George Fox, founder of the society of Quakers.

“I remember leaning against the fridge and telling my mother, ‘I’m going to lead my people the way George Fox led his people,’” she recalled.

This summer, close to half a century later, that childhood dream became a reality as Kirshbaum took her place as religious leader and educational director of Princeton’s only Reconstructionist congregation, String of Pearls.

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation is once again enthusiastically joining Jewish communities, organizations and individuals from around the world in celebrating a month of social action and Jewish unity. The Hebrew month of Heshvan – which in 2008/5769 will be from October 30-November 27, 2008 – has been declared Jewish Social Action Month (JSAM).

In the words of JSAM in Israel: "The huge amount of social action work the JRF is involved in, at a global, national and local level makes your involvement and support of great import to this initiative."

Whether you call it Tikkun Olam, social action, chesed - Join thousands of Jewish organizations and individuals around the world of all backgrounds and affiliations for a month of unity through social action. Volunteer with children, rally for Darfur, clean up a river, feed the homeless, raise money for Sderot, paint a mural – or do whatever you are passionate about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFsWZgGmo4E

More Jews attend services during the High Holiday season than any other time during the year, but in many instances, only synagogue members can purchase High Holiday tickets. In response to this perceived need, 13 congregations in the New York/New Jersey region are setting aside seats for non-members who wish to attend High Holiday services at those synagogues.

Called Open Seats, the campaign is aimed at opening doors to Jewish participation and inclusion, a strong theme in Reconstructionist synagogues.

JRF endorses and joins national interfaith coalition "Fighting Poverty With Faith: A Week of Action", September 9-16, 2008

WHAT WILL THE CANDIDATES DO IN THEIR FIRST 100 DAYS
TO ADDRESS POVERTY AND OPPORTUNITY IN AMERICA?

From September 9-16, 2008 people of faith across the country will be mobilizing their communities to ask their local, state and national candidates what they will do to address the pressing issues of poverty and opportunity in America in their first 100 days in office.

In communities across the country, people of faith will be calling and writing the candidates, holding forums to discuss these issues with civic and political leadership, engaging in interfaith community service to aid those in need in their communities, and otherwise highlighting the need for increased leadership on these issues.

A crucial election day is only months away. At stake are vital political, economic and moral issues of concern to all Americans, in addition to issues of special concern to American Jews.

During the next four years, there will be important debates about the way our government does business. Legislation on significant issues such as health care, foreign aid, civil rights and support for Israel is likely to be considered by the next Congress and Administration. In addition, over the next four years, the President and Senate will confirm judges who will make crucial decisions affecting our lives. With the stakes so high, we must work to reverse the trend toward declining percentages of voters.

As Jews and American citizens we have an obligation to participate in the elections to ensure that our country's policies at the local, state and national levels reflect our commitment to social justice. Every vote counts and plays a defining role in setting policy agendas. It is our civic duty to register promptly, educate ourselves about the critical issues and VOTE!

The Get Out the Vote 2008 Guide attached to this article, provides you with tools, resources and information to help your congregation or community plan a successful voter engagement effort in advance of Election Day.

Since its publication in 1994, Kol Haneshamah: Shabbat Vehagim, the Reconstructionist Shabbat and Festival Prayerbook, has been used by thousands and thousands of Reconstructionist and non-Reconstructionist Jews for worship, prayer, and study in the synagogue and at home.

Shortly after the publication of the prayerbook, Braille Hebrew translator Caryn Navy and John Riehl, president of JRF's Chesapeake Region, began the arduous, complex, and ultimately rewarding task of taking an electronic version of the prayerbook and creating a Braille version which would be fully usable and accessible to visually-impaired Jews. The Reconstructionist movement fully supported this work, as did the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI International), which enthusiastically agreed to make copies of the prayerbook available to anyone requesting a copy, at no charge, once a "blind-user-friendly" version of the prayerbook had been produced.

Where: Mishkan Shalom, 4101 Freeland Ave., Philadelphia, PA
When: Part 1 - Sunday September 28, 10 am to 12 noon; Part 2 - Date to be determined
Cost: $36 for Mishkan members, $54 non-members.

Fasting is an essential part of spiritual development, intended to purify the body, allowing non-material concerns to emerge. In the best sense, “we rise from the earth to meet the consciousness of the heavens,” yet many people who fast are plagued with headaches, nausea and dizziness, rather than enjoying an ascendant moment. This class, facilitated by Nancy Post, Ph.D., M.Ac., will cover how to prepare for and break fasts, and how to let fasting springboard into healthier eating.

People of diverse faiths in almost 100 communities in 36 states are challenging candidates and elected officials to address the issue of poverty in America during "Week of Action” September 9 – 16, 2008. This call to action is to bring attention to the needs of the nation’s poor and urge candidates for elected office to outline what they would do in their first 100 days in office to develop comprehensive plans for reducing poverty and creating economic opportunity in the United States.

Visit www.jrf.org/fight-poverty-with-faith for full details of this initiative.

Protesters at the July 27 rally at Agriprocessors' Postville, IA plant (photo from Shalom Rav, the blog of Rabbi Brant Rosen)JRF calls on the members of its affiliated communities to join together in dialogue and action in response to human rights and social justice infringements at Agriprocessors, Inc, the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse.

To these ends, the JRF Update on Agriprocessors: Background and Action Steps, attached to this story, was compiled to assist you in your local communal and personal decision making.

For more information on JRF tikkun olam initiatives visit www.jrf.org/to or contact Rabbi Shawn Zevit at szevit@jrf.org.

Dear Ma Nishma Subscriber,

I'm happy to deliver to your e-mail doorstep the latest issue of Ma Nishma ("What's Happening?"), featuring news and events from JRF.

Now everyone can subscribe to Ma Nishma. Register at the JRF website at http://jrf.org/user/register then click "Manage your JRF e-newsletter subscriptions" at the top left of the home page to subscribe.

Newsletter editors and webmasters: Please reprint stories and announcements from this issue for a JRF News page in your congregational newsletter and on your website.

Seven JRF conregations--five on the East coast, two on the West--have new Reconstructionist rabbis and all of them are graduates of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, including four from RRC's class of 2008. Here's a little bit about them [click "read more" to see the full list]:

Temple Beth Sholom in Salem, Oregon, welcomes Rabbi James Israel Greene (RRC '08). James moved to Philadelphia from South Florida after graduating from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in Holocaust and Judaic Studies. He has served as a JRF intern and led music and programming at Camp JRF.

String of Pearls in Princeton, New Jersey, welcomes Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum (RRC '08). Donna holds a B.A. in Ancient Greek from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in Latin Literature from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. While at RRC, she held internships at CLAL (the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership), the Academic Coalition for Bioethics, and Greenfaith (New Jersey's interfaith environmental coalition). She was honored this year by the Forward as an up-and-coming rabbi to watch! Rabbi Kirshbaum will also serve as String of Pearls' Education Director.