THIS WEEK'S TRIBUNE  THIS WEEK'S TRIBUNE URJ president’s Shabbat sermon inspires resolutions
|
|
URJ president’s Shabbat sermon inspires resolutions |
|
|
|
|
Written by Atara Beck
|
|
Wednesday, 11 November 2009 |
|
TORONTO – The November 4-8 biennial event for the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ), serving Reform congregations in North America, ended with nine resolutions, three of which pertained to the Middle East.
The event, which included 3,600 participants and was held at the Metro Convention Centre, began with four resolutions up for discussion; the only one relating to the Middle East was the demand that Israel address inequality among Jewish and Arab citizens, which was supported unanimously. The others concerned climate change and energy, the viability of the Reform Day School movement and special needs camping.
Local Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin told the Jewish Tribune before the biennial that a call for Israel to implement the government-appointed Or Commission recommendations to give equal attention to the needs of the Arab citizens of Israel is “legitimate.” He expressed the “hope that a statement of support for the hardships of Israelis under constant terrorist threat will also be made and heard.”
Indeed, on Sunday, five new resolutions inspired by the Shabbat sermon delivered by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, URJ president, were adopted: support for Israel, taking a stand against nuclear Iran, eating Jewishly, harnessing new technology to build community and deepening mutual understanding between Canadian and American congregations.
The resolution on support for Israel discusses, among other points, the “bias” of the Goldstone Commission report and the “hypocrisy” of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
In his sermon, regarding support for Israel, Rabbi Yoffie explained: “…we should be clear that unconditional support is not the same as uncritical support. We love the Jewish state, and we embrace Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people; but we need not accept every idea of those who rule Israel, from the left or the right, even if they are democratically elected. When 100,000 people are settled in the heart of the West Bank, in the place where a Palestinian state must one day arise, this is not Zionism; this is anti-Zionism, and a blow to the very foundations of the Zionist movement.”
The resolution on eating “Jewishly” calls for finding “ways to eat that are right for farm workers, right for the planet, right for our bodies and right for our souls.”
According to Rabbi Yoffie, “this is not about kashrut. There are many Reform Jews who find meaning in the observance of kashrut, wholly or in part, and we deeply respect their choice. But it is not a choice that the great majority of us want to make.”
Until Rabbi Yoffie’s Shabbat sermon, the URJ speakers focused mainly on the need for Jewish-Muslim dialogue, global issues affecting all of humanity and the responsibility of Jews to work towards Tikkun Olam – repairing the world. In this spirit, one of the major goals of the URJ is to eliminate malaria in Africa, which causes a million deaths and affects 500 million people each year.
MP Irwin Cotler, the Liberal party’s Special Counsel for Human Rights and International Justice, was given the URJ’s Maurice N. Eisendrath ‘Bearer of Light’ Award in recognition of decades of work for international human rights. Cotler praised the Reform movement, which is “blessed with great rabbinic leaders,” for its social justice activism. His remarks included reiteration of the Iranian threat and praise for the URJ resolution calling for equality for Israel’s Arab citizens.
“We too were strangers in Egypt,” he said. “The principle of equality…underpins the work of the Reform movement.”
Guest speakers Israeli MK Avishay Braverman, minister for minority affairs, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Michael Oren and Israeli Ambassador to Canada Miriam Ziv focused largely on the Middle East.
“Netanyahu has only one choice” if he wants to move forward, Braverman stated: “the Rabin way.”
According to the Israeli MK, who praised the Reform movement’s advocacy on behalf of Israel’s minority population, Yitzhak Rabin was the only prime minister that gave respect to the Arab population, which “embraced him with love.”
Braverman – who belongs to the Labour Party, which experienced a significant downfall, having been reduced to 13 seats in the last elections and standing in fourth place after Kadima, Likud and Yisrael Beitenu – said: “I hope the prime minister will have the courage to forget what he said before and embrace two states for two people.”
Braverman warned that Israel should “forget moving to neo-Conservatism,” and that “by not embracing the Arab population, they will become fundamentalists.”
Oren however, reminded the audience that Israel had accepted a two-state solution several times, including as far back as 30 years ago, “only to be rejected with violence.”
“Today and tomorrow” the UN will be issuing a resolution report, which “I’m sure you will oppose,” Ziv told the assembled. “Only today Israel stopped a boat transferring arms for Hezbollah from Iran.”
According to King Abdullah II of Jordan, who addressed the closing plenary session via video, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict must come to an end by “recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people” and ensuring “security for the Jewish people.” Quoting from the Koran and the Torah on the affirmation of one G-d and the basic principles to love one’s neighbour and to pursue justice, he said we “must build on this common ground.”
The Hashemite monarch did not elaborate on how to achieve a Palestinian-Israeli accord. However, three weeks ago, on Meet the Press, he stated that Israel faces all-out war within 18 months if it does not permit the establishment of a new Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He said that threats from Iran and radical Islamist groups like Al Qaeda would diminish once Jerusalem is divided and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is solved.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, in a video-conference discussion with Rabbi David Sapirstein of the Religious Action Centre in Washington, said: “I do not believe the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the source of extremism in the world.
“There are many Muslims that have found more freedom in our countries than in their own,” Blair asserted.
Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago, has been working with the Reform movement’s North American Federation of Temple Youth (NAFTY).
According to Patel, who did not acknowledge any threat of radical Islam, there are “extremists” among all religious populations. Moslem extremists were responsible for 9/11; extremist Christians were responsible for the Atlanta bombing several years ago and a Jewish extremist killed Yitzhak Rabin, he said.
Coincidentally, on that same day, US Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan shouted “Allah Akbar” before killing 13 servicemen in Fort Hood, TX. |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 November 2009 )
|
|
|
|
