Entries tagged with 'The RAC'
Mosque on Park Place: Round Up
Surely, you've been unable to avoid all the frenzy surrounding the so-called "Ground Zero" Mosque to be built on Park Place in lower Manhattan. Politicians and pundits on all sides of the debate have weighed in, and in some instances,...
Rabbi Saperstein Talks Faith-Based Council
Last week, Rabbi Saperstein spoke at the Brookings Institution's forum, "Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships in the Obama Era: Assessing the First Year and Looking Ahead." The event focused on understanding what the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has accomplished...
Jewish Leaders React to State of the Union
Following President Obama's first State of the Union address on Wednesday night, JSpot.org asked leaders throughout the Jewish community for their thoughts and insights on the President's words. Included in the video compilation below are reflections from Rabbi Jonah Pesner,...
Machon Kaplan: Fueling my "Jewish Soul"
Imagine this: You're the only Jewish student at your suburban Ohio high school of 2,000. The synagogue your family attends holds Shabbat services only twice a month, because there aren't enough Jews in the area to generate weekly interest. You...
Drumroll, Please! Winners of Our Tikkun Olam Photo Contest
Earlier this month, we launched Images of a Justice, a Facebook-based photo contest to recognize and celebrate the social justice work of Reform Jews everywhere. We asked Facebook followers to send us a photo of them putting their Jewish values...
A Rabbi, a Hammer & a Compost Bin
Rabbi Michael Namath is the Program Director at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.Yesterday afternoon, the RAC staff started preparing for the upcoming holiday of Sukkot by building a sukkah in the front yard of the RAC. Because...
RAC Contest: Images of Justice!
As a Reform Jew, you pursue social justice in your everyday life and participate in tikkun olam, the repair of our broken world, whenever possible. To recognize and celebrate these good deeds, we're launching Images of Justice, a Facebook-based contest...
JanetheWriter Goes to Washington: A One-Day Sabbatical Adventure
Jane Herman is a Writer and Assistant to Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism. This post originally appeared at RJ.org, where she regularly contributes under the pseudonym JanetheWriter. Earlier this month, I marked the completion...
The Jewish Community's Iran Advocacy Day
I'm just back from a few very interesting and very important hours of briefings as part of the National Jewish Community Advocacy Day on Iran. Community leaders from all across the United States (including URJ Chairman of the Board Peter...
Rabbi Saperstein on Shalom TV
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the RAC, is appearing on Shalom TV all week with the American Jewish Committee's David Harris, talking about the ways in which the late Sen. Ted Kennedy cared about Jewish concerns and the State of...
Slow to Understand the Importance of Fasting
Daphne Price is the executive assistant to Rabbi David Saperstein. It has been many months since humanitarian groups were expelled from Sudan, and the situation remains largely unresolved. To raise awareness of what life is like in Sudan, influential...
A Memorable Conference Call
There has been some discussion in the blogosphere about our annual pre-High Holy Days conference call for rabbis, held last week addressing health care reform and sponsored by the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist rabbinic organizations (as well as the Union...
Shoftim: Five Kinds of (Animated!) Justice
Parshat Shoftim is among the most quoted in the entire Torah. Shoftim, which means "Judges," helps the Israelites understand what forms justice takes - and ought to take - for a righteous people. To further explain, the good folks over...
Sometimes, It Takes a Village
Judy Hellman is the Associate Director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee in Overland Park, Kansas, serving the state of Kansas and western Missouri. All views expressed are her own.If you give people the information and the...
The URJ's Rabbi Jonah Pesner on CNN
What were you doing last Sunday at 8:30 a.m.? That's when Rabbi Jonah Pesner, Director of the Reform Movement's Just Congregations, appeared on CNN's "Faces of Faith" segment with host TJ Holmes and guest Rev. Dr. Derrick Harkins of the...
"May That Bullet Destroy Every Closet Door"
Joanna Blotner is the Religion & Faith Program Coordinator at the Human Rights Campaign and a former Eisendrath Legislative Assistant at the RAC. All views expressed are her own. Two weekends ago, a gunman attacked the Agudah LGBT community center in Tel Aviv, murdering two young,...
The Launch of Jews For Health Care Reform! (& a Call with the President)
Congress is officially on recess, but it won't be an easy vacation - for them or for us. As Members of Congress gauge their constituents' views on a range of issues, from health care reform to climate change, we at...
NFTY's Spreading the Word About Refugees in Need
Kyleigh Banks is President of the North American Federation of Temple Youth's Northwest region, and Daniel Landesberg is President of the North American Federation of Temple Youth's Southern Tropical region. Refugee camps are often overlooked in Jewish youth programming....
Why I Chose to Fast: For Darfur, For Me
Rabbi Marla J. Feldman is the Union for Reform Judaism's Director of Development. She is the former director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism and was previously a member of the founding board of the Save...
Calling for an End to Violence & Hate
I couple weeks ago, I told you about American Apparel's announcement that the clothing company would send free "Legalize Gay: Overturn Prop 8 Now!" shirts to any organization in the D.C. area working for LGBT equality. Last week, the RAC...
Israel as a Model for Health Care
As Congress is working to reconfigure our country's health care system, many are pointing to health systems overseas as examples. Israel has one of the most advanced health care systems in the world, and rivals the United States on everything...
Youth Are the Future: A NFTY Perspective
Molly Goldberg is the Social Action Vice President of the Missouri Valley Region of the North American Federation of Temple Youth.You're sitting in your temple's social hall contemplating the meaning of the week's Torah portion or synagogue office proof reading the...
Saperstein Video: Health Care For All!
A little more than a month ago, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the RAC, joined religious leaders and believers from more than 40 faith organizations of all denominations to support one of the hottest legislative topics before Congress right now:...
Such Thing As a Free Lunch
Sarah Garfinkel is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Bradley University and an intern at the Food Research and Action Center. As we wrap up our...
Break the Cycle, Stop the Hate
Lizzy Genatowski is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Carnegie Mellon University and an intern at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. For the past six weeks,...
Jailhouse Rock: Combating Youth Violence
Debra Fricano is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Brandeis University and an intern at the Student Peace Alliance.The US has the distinct honor of being...
"Endless & Inevitable?" Stopping the Cycle of Gun Violence
Ariel Bucher is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Rutgers University and an intern at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.My six weeks in Washington, D.C....
"I am equal and deserve equal protection."
Eliza Scheffler us aparticipant in the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Yale University and an intern at Hadassah. Equal Rights Amendment: "Equality of rights under the...
Potlucking for Immigration Reform
Alex Hull is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. He is a student at Kenyon College and an intern at the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, run by the Friends Committee on National Legislation....
Educating the Public About Homelessness
Samantha Hordes is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at American University and an intern at the National Coalition for the Homeless. Although I live in DC throughout...
A Call to Duty: Caring for Our Returning Soldiers
Kaitlin Kaufman is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Brandeis University and an intern at the American Academy of HIV Medicine. The other day I visited Arlington...
Sotomayor Hearings: Day 3 (With More Video!)
Things are heating up here in D.C., and I don't just mean weather-wise. This morning, I headed to Capitol Hill with RAC intern Madeline to get in on the excitement of the third day of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation...
A National Treasure
Donald Cohen-Cutler is a former Communications Manager at the Union for Reform Judaism. This post originally appeared at RJ.org. All views expressed are his own.In the days after we returned from our honeymoon the questions turned from "how was your...
All in a DC Day's Work
Raechel Banks is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Brandeis University and an intern at Global Action for Children. Sometimes it's when I'm walking in front of...
When Secular Meets Sacred
Susan Landau is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Brandeis University and an intern at Generations United. One of my colleagues at my internship excitedly informed me...
Fireworks, Sunshine, and Expectations
Hannah Helfman is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Dickinson College and an intern at Jewish Women International. I was excited to come to DC this summer...
Clinton, Pelosi, McCain, OH MY!
Madeline Stolow is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Binghamton University and an intern here at the Religious Action Center. My Facebook status on Tuesday July 7th read, "hearing Bill...
"We eat it, they eat it"
Yossi Alpher and Ghassan Khatib do yeoman's work in fostering productive discussion and mutual understanding through their production and editing of bitterlemons.org. Each week, Bitterlemons publishes and delivers to its subscribers four insightful opinions, divided equally between the Israeli and...
Now is the Time for Health Care Reform
Robb Friedlander is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. He is a student at Hofstra University and an intern at The Center for Medicare Advocacy.Former Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) recalled in his autobiography The...
Faith Leader Summit on Health Care
Summer is heating up, and so is the debate over health care reform. Yesterday, a group of nearly 30 religious leaders rolled up their sleeves, put on their sunscreen (figuratively, of course), and jumped right in.At the Faith Leader Summit...
Content with my Internship
Elizabeth Goldstein is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Hampshire College and an intern at Americans for Peace Now.I am loving my internship and my time here on the...
Praying With Your Feet
Julie Bressler is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Washington University in St. Louis and an intern at the National Education Association.At our Tuesday night Machon Kaplan class,...
The Zombie Raptor Rises Again
Sorry folks, this is not a post about a great new summer movie!Many people have heard of the military-industrial complex which President Eisenhower warned against. In reality, this nexus includes Congress, where Representatives and Senators whose districts include military contractors...
Challenging Extremism Everywhere
In Israel's general elections in February, Avigdor Lieberman and his ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party won 15 Knesset seats, eventually becoming the second party in the government coalition with Lieberman as Foreign Minister. Their electoral campaign featured disturbing demagoguery and egregious racism, including...
The Importance of Making Connections
Elyssa Pfeffer is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Emory University and an intern at the Food Research and Action Center. Making connections with others and with one's...
Intro to Social Justice 101: Finding Your Place
Josh Handel is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. He is a student at Indiana University and an intern at the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Disoriented, befuddled, puzzled, disconcerted: These...
RAC Round-up: Looking Back on June
As June comes to a close, I've been compiling press clips of stories the RAC has appeared in throughout the month. Let's take a look back at what we've been working on for the past few weeks, shall we? June...
Fulfilling a Lifelong Desire
Summer Miller-Walfish is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Swarthmore University and an intern at the Violence Policy Center. In these past two weeks in Washington D.C., I've...
Different faiths, same fight
Deborah Swerdlow is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at the University of Florida and an intern at the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. This is my city,...
The Life of a DC Intern: Welcome to Orientation!
Michael Evers is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. He is a student at DePaul University and an intern at the Men's Health Network. Getting oriented: That is basically what this past...
Free Gilad Shalit
The tweet made my heart skip a beat. Haaretz posted "Palestinian report: Gilad Shalit to be transferred to Egypt within hours http://bit.ly/LnAKL" and for a minute I thought that we could today be celebrating Gilad Shalit's release rather than lamenting the third anniversary...
How Sir Richard Branson Reminded Me Why I'm an Activist
Raezel Geiser is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at McDaniel college and an intern at the Save Darfur Coalition.During my first week in Washington while participating in the Machon...
I Got Lost & Found Myself at the White House!
Sydney Zimelis is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at the University of Michigan and an intern at the NAACP.When sitting in the classroom at the RAC...
The Separation of Church & State: "It Is Necessary"
Lucy Rose Davidoff is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at the George Washington University and an intern at Americans United for the Separation of CHurch and State....
"Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation"
Lauren Weissman is a participant in the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at the University of Florida and an intern at the Food Research and Action Center. Last week in Machon...
"Stand on the Right; Walk on the Left:" A Plunge into the World of DC Min'hagim
Elliot Kort is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan program for college students. He is student at the University of Kansas and an intern at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. I love the Metro. I mean, seriously....
Rev. Wright is Back in the News
It seems we haven't heard from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Obama's former pastor, for quite some time. After the media frenzy that surrounded a number of his offensive and controversial past remarks, he mostly fell off the campaign season radar...
What Are You Reading?
Spend this Summer reading with the RAC's Social Justice Book Club! Suggesting your favorite social justice works and sharing your thoughts and informal reviews is a great way to keep the summer filled with tikkun olam!The RAC is pleased to...
Equality Extravaganza!
The passage and signing of marriage equality in New Hampshire was yet another exciting victory for the LGBT community and advocates across the country. With the realization of full marriage equality now in 6 states, the movement is gaining momentum...
McCain Agrees: No Nukes is Good Nukes
While the world's (and my own) attention have turned today to President Obama's speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, there's a development back here in Washington that shouldn't pass unnoticed. President Obama set a goal of a nuclear-weapons-free world...
Interfaith Week of Health Care for All: June 19-26
Across the country, Americans are demanding change in our broken health care system. They are calling for equal access to and better quality of health care, and stressing the moral imperative for health care reform. They are telling Congress: The...
North Korean Nuclear Test Highlights "Global Alarm System"
On Monday, May 25th, officials from North Korea claimed they had conducted a nuclear test, leading to widespread condemnation and forthcoming additional sanctions.Before the official announcement was made, however, 23 seismic monitors in the region had already detected the impact...
Get Involved! Speak Up for (a) Justice
As you probably know (especially if you've been keeping up with Court Day on the RACblog!), Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced a few weeks ago that he'd be retiring from the court at the end of the term. For...
Rape and Torture
Andrew Sullivan, blogger for The Atlantic, has been relentless in advocating for the prosecution of government officials who sanctioned the torture of detainees during the previous administration, a position the Obama Administration has resisted.Torture opponents seeking to defend human dignity...
A Cosmic Peace for a Cosmic War?
On Tuesday afternoon, I headed over to Capitol Hill to meet in the office of Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) to join a meeting with two religious peacemakers, Rabbi Menachem Froman, and Sheikh Ghassan Manasra.Both men defy stereotypes;...
Crack the Disparity
Last week the Crack the Disparity Coalition held its second annual (and last) lobby day seeking to reform the egregious crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity....
Saperstein and Prendergast: "Going to Jail to Fight Genocide"
Last Monday, Rabbi Saperstein joined other activists and members of Congress in civil disobedience at the Sudanese Embassy in protest of ongoing suffering in Darfur. Rabbi Saperstein and Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast wrote a piece for the Huffington Post,...
An Outsider's Take on the CSA Meeting
Ari Paskoff is a sophomore at American University and an intern at the RAC. Following the Consultation on Conscience, the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism met last week to discuss and debate resolutions that speak to core values...
Saperstein and Lewis Arrested in Darfur Protest
Today Rabbi Saperstein joined Representatives John Lewis (D-GA), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Donna Edwards (D-MD) and Jim McGovern (D-MA), as well as Jerry Fowler, Executive Director of Save Darfur and John Prendergast, Co-founder of the Enough Project,...
Consultation Updates! Live from D.C.
You may have heard us in past months trumpeting Reform Judaism's flagship social justice conference, the Consultation on Conscience. Well, we'll have video clips soon - but for now we've got some photos for your viewing pleasure from last night's...
It's here! Announcing the ENTIRE Consultation speaker lineup.
Here it is, folks! The long-awaited announcement of the lineup of speakers for the 2009 Consultation on Conscience, the Reform Movement's flagship social justice conference, held next Sunday, April 19th through Tuesday, April 21st here in Washington, D.C. The schedule...
Big News! Our Keynote Speaker Is...
Consultation on Conscience is less than a week away, and the time has finally come for our biggest announcement of the year - our keynote speaker! Our Sunday night keynote speaker will be renowned economist Larry Summers, Director of the...
Pre-Pesach Bonanza: Three New Consultation Speakers!
We've got three great Consultation on Conscience speakers to announce before Pesach begins. On Monday, April 20th, we'll be joined by two extraordinary activists. Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children's Defense Fund, which she founded in 1973 to advocate...
Dynamic Duo: Announcing Another Pair of Consultation Speakers!
Consultation on Conscience is fewer than two weeks away, and we've still got a stellar list of speakers to reveal. Today, we're announcing two outstanding special guests, one from the advocacy world and one from Congress. Joining us on...
A Shabbat Twofer: More Consultation Speakers Announced
Only 16 days left until Consultation on Conscience! As the big event looms closer, we've got plenty of as-yet-unannounced speakers to reveal here on RACblog. Today, as a special gift to you on this Shabbat, we're announcing not one but...
What's That, You Say? Another Consultation Speaker?
Consultation on Conscience, the Reform Movement's flagship social justice conference, is just 17 days away, and we've got lots of exciting speakers to unveil before then. Today, we're thrilled to announce that Congresswoman Nita Lowey of New York's 18th district...
And Our Next Consultation Speaker Is...
No, this isn't an April's Fools joke! Our rollout of speakers scheduled for the 2009 Consultation on Conscience continues, and today, we're able to announce our third special guest: California's Sen. Barbara Boxer, will be joining us on Tuesday afternoon,...
It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Our Next Consultation Speaker!
We've been hard at work lately getting the latest information about the Consultation on Conscience coming next month for you, dear readers.Today we can confirm that David Axelrod will address this year's Consultation on Conscience. Mr. Axelrod, a key member...
Drumroll, Please! Our First Consultation Speaker Is...
March Madness? Indeed! Washington is buzzing with speculation about the speaker lineup at the 2009 Consultation on Conscience. It's THE place to be next month - especially for Jewish social justice activists! RACBlog has the inside scoop on the...
Social Action Briefing - Recapping the Dialogue
Yesterday's Social Action Briefing was attended by people from all over the country! Thanks for joining in - but we know that many of you were unable to listen in, so we've got the audio available here! Check it out...
President Obama Addresses Congress: LIVEblog!
Religious Action Center's Liveblog of President Obama's Address Watch the address live:...
Tomorrow Night: Presidential Address Liveblog!
Live at rac.org tomorrow night - Mark J. Pelavin, Associate Director of the Center will be on hand to provide LIVE up-to-the-minute coverage of President Obama's Address to Congress!Mark is one of the Reform Movement's most senior lobbyists, having been...
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