RJ Blog

As a fellow Eisendrath Legislative Assistant, Raechel Banks, wrote yesterday, “There are many ways to ‘share our bread with the hungry’ (Isaiah 58:7).” She discussed a very tangible  way of helping to combat hunger in our midst (I still have blisters on my fingers from cutting potatoes for 3 hours straight). Today, however, I want to talk about a way of sharing with the hungry that is more difficult to conceptualize, but has no less of an impact on millions of lives – international food aid. There are nearly one billion people around the world with insufficient access to food. [...]

by Rabbi Barry Block The disconnect is striking. “The Jewish vote,” we were told last year, is all about support for Israel. But here I am at the Consultation on Conscience.  Israel is on the agenda, to be sure. But it’s a crowded agenda. And our friends in Washington seem to “get” that better than the pre-election press. The Consultation’s keynote was a conversation between Rabbi Rick Jacobs and Ambassador Susan Rice. They talked about Israel. But they also struggled with Sudan and Syria. They emphasized international LGBT human rights. Senators and members of Congress of both parties are poised [...]

On Yom Hashoah we remember the great tragedy that we as a people and as a world faced during World War II over 60 years ago. But how do we use that memory today? To what end does that experience motivate our community? Surely one answer is that we as a people must be particularly attuned to atrocities committed around the world. Yesterday the United Nations observed a Day of Remembrance for victims of the Rwandan genocide. This week marks the 19th anniversary of the beginning of a 100 day period during which hundreds of thousands of Rwandan men, women [...]

In response to the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s successful bid to become a nonmember observer state at the United Nations, members of the United States Senate have proposed three retaliatory amendments to the National Defense Appropriations Act (S. 3254). Amendment No. 3139 (read full amendment here), introduced by Senator Barraso (R-WY), and co-sponsored by Senators Inhofe (R-OK) and Lee (UT), mandates reductions in financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations and any country that votes in favor of a change in the status of the Palestinian delegation. Specifically, the amendment calls for a 50% reduction in aid provided to [...]

We’ve been hearing a lot recently about the so-called fiscal cliff: that moment, a few weeks off, when massive spending cuts kick in and major tax breaks expire. There has been a lot of frantic talk and heady discussion about how (and whether) America will dig in right now and face the hard facts about our federal deficit and debt. Amidst all of this it can be easy to ignore the truly crushing debt afflicting countries all across the Global South, and to ignore America’s implications in this crisis and to forget to consider what we could do to help.

On a recent visit to Capitol Hill I found myself outside of Senator Frank Lautenberg’s (D-NJ) office. Senator Lautenberg is one of only a handful of Senators left who served in the U.S. military during World War II. Outside of Senator Lautenberg’s office is a sign that reads: “As a World War II veteran, Senator Lautenberg wants to make sure we honor the sacrifice of America’s service men and women and created Faces of the Fallen for that purpose.”  Around this sign are placards with small pictures of every U.S. soldier who has died in the wars in Iraq and [...]

Rabbi David Saperstein today issued a statement commending Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Foreign Minister John Baird, and the Canadian government for reaffirming their opposition to the policies of the Iranian regime by closing the Canadian embassy in Tehran. Read the full statement, excerpted below.

Nuclear negotiations with Iran are “dead in the water,” experts say. The demise of talks comes during the same week that Iran has unveiled plans for a new air defense site and the announcement of its new short-range missile with a range of 180 miles and upgraded hardware. This also comes within days of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s plan to announce a new report, which will indicate that Iran is more and more focused on increasing its enriched uranium to 20% (the “magic number” that nuclear experts claim will allow Iranian nuclear scientists to develop a bomb). In anticipation [...]

Today marks the one year anniversary of South Sudan’s secession from Sudan. Plagued by a bloody civil war lasting nearly two decades and a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, Sudan found a greater chance for peace after a January 2011 referendum, in which 98.8% of voters voted for the separation of the north and south. Despite the formal delineation of nations, much turmoil still exists, especially along border regions, where Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has been launching attacks. Many populations have been targeted for ethnic, racial and political reasons. Certain areas have also been targeted because of a dispute [...]