Monthly Archives: December 2016

ARZA Statement on Conference of Presidents Hannukah Party at Washington Trump Hotel Today

14 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by in Uncategorized

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ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America, will not be endorsing, supporting or attending the Hanukkah party sponsored by the Conference of Presidents and the Embassy of Azerbaijan at the Washington Trump Hotel on December 14th.

We were alarmed that the Conference of Presidents Hanukah party with the government of Azerbaijan is scheduled to take place at the new Washington Trump Hotel because, to date, the President-Elect has not explicitly condemned racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, Islamophobia, and anti-ethnic bigotry that he himself stoked and tolerated in his campaign for the Presidency. Unfortunately, until he does so we have to respectfully decline attending this Hanukah celebration.

We know that the Conference of Presidents does not hesitate to condemn anti-Semitism whenever and wherever it appears, and so we are confused that the CoP has taken the position it has vis a vis the Trump Hotel.

It is our hope that such meaningful decisions will in the future more accurately reflect a consensus of the member organizations and we encourage you to find a different venue for this event.

Rabbi Joshua Weinberg – President              Rabbi John Rosove – Chair

 

 

Human Rights and the Environment

08 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Beauty in Nature, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Social Justice

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Sixty-nine years ago on December 10, 1948, forty-eight nations signed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights [1]. This historic document resulting as a consequence of crimes committed against humanity during World War II was the first global expression of what constitute inherent human rights for all human beings.

On this Shabbat coinciding with the anniversary of its signing, “T’ruah – The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights” invited hundreds of American rabbis and their synagogues to focus on the most dangerous threat to human rights on the planet – climate change.

The theme of climate change coinciding with the Declaration of Human Rights couldn’t have been calendared at a more propitious moment given President-Elect Trump’s selection this week as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, a proven ally of the fossil fuel industry and arguably the greatest climate change denier in the United States.

Pruitt’s selection ought to chill the blood of anyone who accepts what 90% or greater of all scientists believe to be settled fact, that human-made greenhouse gas emissions have caused a 1.7 degree Fahrenheit warming of the earth since records were kept in 1880 and that virtually all warming since 1950 has been caused by the human release of greenhouse gasses.

In an article from the NY Times explaining what climate change is and does and what are the politics surrounding it, we read this about people like Trump and Pruitt:

“The most extreme version of climate denialism is to claim that scientists are engaged in a worldwide hoax to fool the public so that the government can gain greater control over people’s lives.” [2]

The truth, of course, is otherwise – that if we can’t find enough carbon neutral energy as a way to limit global climate disruption, we won’t be able to grow enough food and there will be no space in which we can protect fundamental human rights around the world. Unless we successfully find a way nor will societies be able to maintain democratic governments.

We need not look very far to see evidence of the danger. In the past year increasing fear of Syrian refugees has helped to invigorate right-wing and proto-fascist policies in Great Britain and Europe.

Rabbi David Seidenberg, an activist, writer, and scholar on environmental issues, has written from a Jewish perspective about the climate change threat:

“The intersection between the economy and human rights is … not only found in opposing the building of a toxic waste incinerator near a poor community, or fighting the exposure of children to endocrine-disrupting pesticides…[or] is it in the perceived moments of conflict between human rights and the environment, such as the false choice between making jobs and saving a forest… A deeper intersection is found in the great human tragedy that could accompany global warming. If predictions hold and the rising sea creates millions of refugees from coastal areas, then shelter, which should be a [basic human right], will become an impossibility. Any government trying to protect the most basic human needs and rights would find itself in extreme crisis under such circumstances, and many governments will be tempted to discard human rights in the name of national emergency…Where we find the deepest depths is…where human rights…makes us blind to our place in the earth …” [3]

Scientists warn that if we allow the warming of the environment, the polar ice caps will continue to melt, the seas will rise, and there will be greater, more frequent and damaging coastal flooding. Rainfall will become heavier in many parts of the world and hurricanes and typhoons will become more intense. There will be a massive extinction of plants and animals, more waves of refugees will flee their lands, and more governments will be destabilized.

What do we do?

First, we all need to become activists and protest the Trump administration’s expected elimination of regulations on the fossil-fuel industry.

We need to support the Paris Climate agreement’s implementation, and in every way reduce our own individual carbon footprints. If large numbers of people did so it would make a difference. Suggestions include insulating homes, reducing our use of power, using efficient light bulbs, turning off lights and heaters, driving fewer miles, taking fewer airplane trips, and reducing or eliminating the eating of beef.

In the Book of Genesis, the first humans were given dominion over the land [4]. Though we were given the privilege to have use of the land and its resources for our benefit, later Jewish tradition gave a warning to the irresponsible use of and the waste of our natural resources:

“Upon presenting the wonder of creation to Adam, God said: ‘See my works, how fine and excellent they are! Now all that I created, for you I created. Think upon this, and do not corrupt and desolate my world; for if you corrupt it, there is no one to set it right after you.” [5]

When this Midrash was written some 1500 years ago, the intent was likely focused on specific towns and villages. Today, we are confronted with a threat to all life on the earth.

[Temple Israel of Hollywood in Los Angeles will celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday, December 10 at 6:30 PM and we will focus our attention during services on climate change and human rights. All are welcome.]
Notes:

[1] General Assembly resolution 217 A.
[2] “Short Answers to Hard Questions about Climate Change”, by Justin Gillis, NYTimes, November 28, 2015.
[3] https://www.google.com/#q=Human+rights+and+ecology+-+david+seidenberg).
[4] Genesis 1:28.
[5] Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:28.

“What Type of Jew are you?” – A Response to Shmuel Rosner’s JJ Column

02 Friday Dec 2016

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity

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This week the LA Jewish Journal published a piece written by its Israel correspondent Shmuel Rosner entitled “What type of Jew are you?” (link – #1 below)

Rosner reflected on a new study of the Boston Jewish community, but the trends revealed reflect what I sense is true across the country. The study’s findings show how complex is Jewish engagement among American Jews today.

Rosner distinguished five distinct groups: the Minimally Involved (17%) who do almost nothing specifically Jewish; the Familial (24%) who engage mostly in home-based and family Jewish events and celebrations; Affiliated Jews (26%) who are engaged with their families and in some Jewish communal organizations; Cultural Jews (18%) who in addition to family events, listen to Jewish and/or Israeli music, go Israeli folk-dancing, read Jewish books, see films and attend theater on Jewish themes; and the Immersed (15%) who engage in all areas.

In Boston, two-thirds of the Jewish community has been to Israel at least once, and a third has visited many times, a rate higher I suspect than in Los Angeles. A national trend that was also revealed in the last Pew study of the American Jewish community in 2013 (link – #2 below) showed that increasing numbers of Jews don’t identify any longer with denominations. Of the roughly 6 million American Jews at least 50% (maybe higher) regard themselves as secular and cultural Jews or just plain Jewish.

The Boston and Pew studies each showed that people identify increasingly less with Jewish religion and increasingly more with Jewish peoplehood. And so the question of the hour is this that Rosner asks – “What type of Jew are you?”

This is how he characterizes the five groups (see a longer study  – #3 below).

Half of the “Immersed Jews” keep kosher at home, light Shabbat candles and attend Shabbat services regularly. They celebrate Pesach, light Chanukah candles, attend High Holiday services, donate to Jewish causes, and identify as Jews “by religion.” Almost all are affiliated.

Most “Cultural Jews” don’t do religious ritual at all, nor do they attend religious services unless invited to a special event such as a bar or bat mitzvah, and they don’t keep Kosher. But 80% of them are highly engaged with Israel, seek news from Israel often and attend Jewish programs. Though not religious, they do attend Seders, light candles on Chanukah, and attend High Holiday services.

“Affiliated Jews” practice the big Jewish holidays, affiliate with synagogues, donate to Jewish causes, but aren’t engaged religiously. They listen to Jewish music a little, attend services occasionally, and may partake in kosher food on occasion at an event. Affiliated Jews tend to be between the ages of 35 and 64 years and most have children who they want to “educate,” provide a Bar or Bat Mitzvah or give them a taste of Judaism.

“Familial Jews” attend family Seders and light Chanukah candles, but they don’t do much else ritually or religiously, though a third attend a Jewish program or donate to Jewish causes. They generally keep in touch with Jewish life and don’t consciously distance themselves from the community. Their deeper Jewish engagement does not extend into the community beyond the home. Many of these “familial Jews” are intermarried and unaffiliated.

A third of the “Minimally Involved” light Chanukah candles, have attended a Jewish program in the last year, but have little engagement with anything Jewish. In Boston, and I suspect here in Los Angeles, many minimally involved are Russian Jews. Most are unaffiliated and intermarried.

So – what kind of Jew are you? Immersed – Cultural – Affiliated – Familial – or Minimally Involved?

More questions: What is your Jewish narrative that has brought you to the Jewish identification that you have? Are you satisfied and at peace with this kind of identification? Are you fully fulfilled as you might wish to be in your life as a Jew?

These are questions all of us ought to be asking ourselves.

I wasn’t surprised by the survey’s findings, except for one thing – that the connection American Jews feel with the state of Israel is the strongest element in all of these five groups. The survey suggests that there is a strong connection between a Jew’s engagement with Israel and his/her engagement with Jewish life. Distancing from Israel co-relates with a distancing from Judaism and Jewish life just as the more engaged with Jewish life we are the more we tend to be engaged with Israel.

Put another way, a Jew’s relationship to Israel is a barometer of his/her relationship to Judaism.

I’ve drawn five additional conclusions from the study:

  1. It’s a mistake for us to judge anyone else’s engagement as a Jew, however much or little that is, especially in an era in which the community is changing so rapidly;
  2. There needs to be a multitude of opportunities for engagement and inspiration – through education – religion – family – culture – the arts – social justice work – and Israel;
  3. We are not an ever-dying people – we’re an ever-changing people;
  4. The depth and breadth of our relationships with other Jews is the best prognosticator of our depth and breadth of engagement in Jewish life;
  5. The more meaningful the Jewish education and learning is, the more welcoming are our communities, the more visionary is our Jewish agenda, so too will more of us be inspired to engage in ways that move our people forward creatively and meaningfully.

May we each find our way.

  1. http://www.jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain/item/what_type_of_a_jew_are_you
  2. http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/
  3. “Exploring the Jewish Spectrum in a Time of Fluid Identity” – The Jewish People Policy Institute – http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Exploring_the_Jewish_Spectrum_in_a_Time_of_Fluid_Identity-JPPI.pdf