Wes Peskin and Sarah Glassman are participants in this summer's Machon Kaplan Internship Program. Wes hails from the University of Rhode Island and Sarah comes to us from the University of Vermont.

Today we attended a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Building with Senators Reid, Kennedy, Clinton, Schumer, Durbin and Rabbi Michael Namath, Program Director of the Religious Action Center. The speeches were not only informative on the topic of minimum wage but they gave us a chance to really see the democratic process in action.

Supporters are fighting for the minimum wage to increase from the current $5.15 an hour to the proposed $7.25. Senators backing the effort are so supportive of the increase that they are offering to forego a cost-of-living-adjustment in their own wages until the minimum wage has been raised.

Senator Kennedy pointed out that a family in the state of Missouri that is living at the minimum wage would spend 146% of their salary on living expenses. This is before accounting for the costs of medicine, tuition, clothing and child care. Senator Reid showed his support for these efforts by tearing up a mock congressional pay raise check!

For us, this experience was not only informative on the issue of minimum wage but one of our most memorable experiences thus far as Machon Kaplan Interns at the Religious Action Center. Not only have we now watched members of our government in action, but we got to sit just over eight feet from Hillary Clinton, Edward Kennedy, and other senators. This experience will go down in our books as the first of many awesome experiences that we expect to come from being in Washington, D.C. during this important time in our nation’s history.

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Mark J. Pelavin is the Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He is one of the Jewish community's leading legislative strategists, and one of its senior lobbyists.

The Reverend Jim Wallis, author the bestselling God’s Politics, and his Call to Renewal organization, which describes itself as “a national network of churches, faith-based organizations, and individuals working to overcome poverty in America” are hosting an important conference in Washington this week: Pentecost 2006: Building a Covenant for a New America.

I’ve just finished reading the conference’s “keynote address” by Illinois Senator Barack Obama. I have read many speeches by many politicians talking about religion. Too many of them are either self-congratulatory or naked pandering to a particular audience. Barack’s speech is neither; and it’s one of the best examinations I’ve read of the political consequences of failing to understand the role of religion in the lives of most Americans.

Barack talks movingly about his own personal religious journey and how he came to organized religion late in his life:

I … came to realize that something was missing - that without a vessel for my beliefs, without a commitment to a particular community of faith, at some level I would always remain apart and alone.

He speaks about the need to address social problems on multiple levels:

Solving these problems will require changes in government policy; it will also require changes in hearts and minds. I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturer's lobby - but I also believe that when a gang-banger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels somebody disrespected him, we have a problem of morality; there's a hole in that young man's heart - a hole that government programs alone cannot fix.

He makes a powerful case for the separation of church and state:

[Leaders of the Religious Right need to] understand the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy, but the robustness of our religious practice. That during our founding, it was not the atheists or the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of this separation; it was the persecuted religious minorities, Baptists like John Leland, who were most concerned that any state-sponsored religion might hinder their ability to practice their faith.

And offers some thoughtful criticism to those of us who sometimes view church/state issues in black and white terms:

Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation - context matters. It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase "under God;" I certainly didn't. Having voluntary student prayer groups using school property to meet should not be a threat, any more than its use by the High School Republicans should threaten Democrats. And one can envision certain faith-based programs - targeting ex-offenders or substance abusers - that offer a uniquely powerful way of solving problems.

Don’t let reading these excerpts lull you into thinking you don’t need to read this whole speech. You do need to read it – as do every one of Senator Barack’s colleagues on Capitol Hill.

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Jason Kleinman is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He is a graduate of University of Michigan.

Though recent statistics have shown the public supports a shift away from executions, this week our nation’s highest court ruled in favor of a Kansas law that requires a death sentence when jurors find that the “aggravating circumstances” supporting execution appear to be equal to the “mitigating factors” arguing against execution.

This was the second time that this case was argued in front of the Supreme Court. The first was while Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was still on the court. Her growing skepticism of capital punishment was replaced by newly appointed Justice Samuel Alito, who was called in to break the 4-4 split. Justice Alito allied himself with Justices Scalia, Roberts, Kennedy, and Thomas, who wrote the majority opinion.

The Supreme Court has been especially busy lately, taking on a wide array of new cases, ranging from antitrust to global warming. It will be interesting to continue to watch how Justice Alito shifts the court.

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Jessica Goodman is the Regional Social Action Vice President for the NFTY New York Area Region.

On June 18, 2006, eleven passionate NFTY Regional Social Action Vice Presidents from across the country, and the incoming NFTY Social Action Vice President gathered in our nation’s capital for an unforgettable experience at the RAC. All of the Regional SAVPs have been recently elected by their peers to the position, and are trusted to bring Social Justice to each region in interesting and creative ways. Scared and anxious, none of us were ready for what was to come throughout the next three days, our experiences ranging from running through Congress to listening to the inspirational words of Hillary Shelton (Director, Washington Bureau, NAACP). Each SAVP set out on the same path although each wanted something very different out of our inspirational visit.

In today’s world, teenagers are sometimes not given the respect and attention they deserve. Being in an organization like NFTY gives participants a sense of belonging and a controlled environment in which all ideas are respected and listened to with equal attention. Our time spent at the RAC demonstrated how the Reform Movement values our opinions and realizes that our generation has the power to change and affect the future. An unwritten rule of being a Regional SAVP almost requires a passionate view on life and a greater drive to want to change the world. I can confidently say that all eleven of us fit these criteria, and go beyond wanting to make a change. We are the change. Realizing this, we were more then excited to begin our journey to self-discovery and deepening our understanding of what is currently happening to our world, ranging from the genocide in Darfur to the Climate Crisis. Eager and open-minded, we entered the RAC to hear from various speakers on issues such as interreligious affairs and how to communicate Social Action to participants in an effective way. Inspired and motivated by these speakers, we each look forward to our transition into the upcoming year, quickly forming ideas in our minds and with each other about what programs we could run with participants and what fundraisers we could try to make happen.

As the Reform Movement’s headquarters on Social Justice, the RAC is overflowing with information and tools to create insightful and intriguing Social Action programs within each of our regions. Having spent time at the RAC helped each of us immensely and set us on a very clear and exciting path for the upcoming year.

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Barbara Weinstein is the Legislative Director for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

I’ve been captivated over the last day or so by the news of Warren Buffett’s gift to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There is something inherently fascinating about the world’s second richest man bestowing his billions on the world’s richest man’s foundation. Because it is tied to stock prices, the exact value of Buffett’s gift is unknowable. But at the stock’s value today, the donation to the Gates Foundation has a worth of about $37 billion.

Several elements have intrigued me about the Gates Foundation’s plans and Buffett’s actions. First, the Foundation’s primary goal is to eradicate diseases that strike particularly among the world’s poor. These titans of capitalism have noted plainly that finding cures for ailments that affect the poorest among us is one area where the market system simply does not work. Second, both Buffett and the Gateses have stated that one of the reasons for their philanthropic inclinations is their strong belief that their immense wealth should be used for the betterment of society, rather than being passed on to their descendants.

The commitment of these individuals to tackling some of the worlds more pressing human health crises and to using their wealth to help millions of people they will never meet is inspiring. And (permit me a little dig) it’s a refreshing change of attitude after watching weeks of congressional efforts to repeal the estate tax that applies only to the richest 1-2% of Americans. Even if most of us will never have a net worth in the billions, the example Buffett and the Gateses set this week is one we would do well to follow.

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Liz Kaplan is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She is a graduate of Williams College.

Today, June 26 th, is the United Nation’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. But you already knew that, right?

If not, I don’t blame you. The UN has established a hefty calendar of days, weeks, and even years “to help focus the world on the issues in which the UN has an interest and commitment,” not all of which appear to be of equal concern at any given time. This is not to suggest that I don’t think the UN really cares about ending torture and cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners, but I do believe the lack of public awareness of this day suggests a real responsibility for concerned individuals to express our outrage that these violations of human dignity are still practiced by governments around the world. The UN is not going to put an end to torture without our help.

Fortunately, there is a new organization, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, that is working to gather voices of people of faith who are opposed to torture committed by the U.S. government (the Union for Reform Judaism is a member organization). Two weeks ago, a shorter version of this statement signed by 27 leaders from across the religious spectrum was published as a quarter-page ad in the New York Times--the publication of the ad was covered widely in a variety of news media, so even if you don’t see a lot of anti-torture activities in today’s papers, at least the faith community’s concerns have been in the media recently. If you haven’t already, signing the Statement of Conscience online is a good, small way to mark the day.

Some organizations have also chosen to make the entire month of June “Torture Awareness Month”. Many groups across the country are hosting demonstrations and other events around the country this month to express their opposition to torture (see the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s calendar of anti-torture events). Also check out the Religious Action Center’s Special Resources page on torture, which features Jewish resources on torture and other helpful information. And stay tuned to www.rac.org for opportunities to raise your voice in favor of current anti-torture legislation.

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Mark J. Pelavin is the Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He is one of the Jewish community's leading legislative strategists, and one of its senior lobbyists.

It has been something of a pipe dream of mine that we might use the fact that the Presidential campaign now stretches over three years to create a real, substantive debate on serious issues. 

Former Senator and former Vice-Presidential Nominee, John Edwards is certainly giving it a shot.  This week he delivered a remarkable speech calling for our nation to commit itself to ending poverty in the next thirty years.  Not ameliorating poverty.  Not reducing poverty.  Eliminating poverty, and doing so in this generation.

As striking as Edward’s audacity is his approach – it is at once faith-based and fact-based.  He is not embarrassed to talk in moral terms.  In one of the central sections of his speech Edwards says:

It’s wrong we have 37 million Americans living in poverty - - separated from the opportunities of this country by their income, their housing, their access to education and jobs and health care- - just as it was wrong we once lived in a country legally segregated by race. Too many places today are segregated by class.

Poverty is the great moral issue of our time, and we all have an obligation to do something about it.

Not just alleviate some of the symptoms…

Not just find ways to help some of the people…

But end it.

Most of the balance of the speech is dedicated to a detailed set of policy recommendations.  Here’s hoping they will mark the beginning of a real debate

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Sean Thibault is the web master/publicity guru at the Religious Action Center. He joins us from the great white north, and is proud to represent Canada's frozen chosen.

Of all the Israeli policies that I find difficult to understand, the most curious is President Moshe Katsav’s choice to not call Rabbi Eric Yoffie ‘rabbi.’

Rabbi Yoffie, the President of our Union for Reform Judaism, has in return refused to meet with the President.

Of course, the decision to radically weaken ties with the largest, most vibrant branch of Judaism, is not only unwise, but promises to be a strain in Diaspora-Israel relations more generally. How could it not be?

It’s as though the entire debate of “who is a Jew” has overshadowed the profoundly more important cooperation that could be had between Israeli leadership and the Reform Movement; Shmuel Rosner (of Ha’artez) discusses just that and concludes “If [President Katsav] doesn’t answer this call of duty, he doesn’t deserve the courtesy of being visited by Yoffie, nor by any other American Jewish leader.” The discussion his piece has inspired is quite interesting.

And while groups like the ADL and OU have called on Katsav to reverse his error; I have not seen other Jewish leaders, and no Israeli politicians step into this debate. A look into the past shows that rather than expect support from Israeli politicians, we can take solace in the fact that Katsav’s disrespect for the Reform Jewish Movement is concomitant with Prime Minister Olmert’s own record.

When Reform Jews feel slighted by the State of Israel, as we regularly do on issues of religious plurality and conversion, efforts to improve relations between Diaspora Jews and Israeli Jews will move more slowly and with less vigor than they otherwise could.

America’s Jews have been stalwart’s for the State of Israel; to feel as if those efforts are callously disregarded is a tragedy.

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Sarah Burrows is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She is a graduate of George Washington University

Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, the administration’s chief diplomatic figure in Darfur, resigned from his position this week to join the Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs.

While serving as Deputy Secretary of State, Zoellick personally played a role negotiating the peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the Darfur rebel groups. He paid several visits to the troubled region, met with representatives from both sides of the conflict, urged America’s allies across the globe to take action, and made the genocide in Darfur a priority in U.S. foreign policy.

Zoellick’s role as an advocate for the people of Darfur within the Bush Administration was fundamental to the efforts to bring peace and stability to the war torn region of Sudan. Now that he is leaving, it is vital that we continue to put pressure on President Bush to make Darfur a priority in the months to come. Most importantly, we must ask President Bush to appoint a special US envoy to the region and to press for a UN peacekeeping force to be on the ground in Darfur no later than October.

Furthermore, the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, made comments this week vowing that a United Nations peacekeeping force will not be allowed into Darfur as long as he is in power. He went on to blame Jewish organizations for pushing for such a deployment of troops, and compared the U.N. peacekeeping forces to colonial forces, claiming that the purpose of this mission would be to colonize sub-Saharan Africa. Although the President has proven his reluctance to a U.N. mission time and time again, this is without a doubt his most forceful and ill-conceived rejection of an international peacekeeping force.

These deplorable comments are obviously of great concern. Unfortunately, the situation in Darfur is one that cannot be ignored by the international community, as well as by Jewish organizations. As many as 400,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives since the outbreak of violence in 2003, and over 2.2 million have been displaced from their homes as a result of the continued attacks by the government backed Janjaweed militias. Although a peace treaty was signed between the Sudanese government and at least one Darfurian rebel groups on May 5, violence continues to rage. In fact, there are reports that the violence has increased since the signing of the peace treaty, and it has continued to spill into the neighboring country of Chad. As the largest country in Africa, peace in Sudan is vital to long lasting stability in the greater sub-Saharan region. The goal of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur is not the colonization of Africa, but rather to reinforce and strengthen the 7,200 African Union troops who are already in Darfur but lack the resources and support that is necessary to stop the violence. Without intervention by the international community, the humanitarian crisis will continue worsen and spread, resulting in the deaths of millions more.

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Liz Kaplan is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She is a graduate of Williams College.

Everyone was talking about immigration overhaul – and then what happened?

The next step in the immigration debate was supposed to be a conference committee meeting to reconcile the Senate’s recently passed comprehensive immigration reform bill (S. 2611) with the House’s harsher, enforcement-only bill (H.R. 4437) that passed last December. But conference committee members still have not been named, and yesterday House Republican leadership announced they would hold summer hearings across the nation on the subject before trying to reach a compromise on the legislation. This unusual step will further delay necessary action on the bills, decreasing the likelihood that lawmakers will complete work on a comprehensive immigration reform package this year.

Meanwhile, immigration restrictionists have been bombarding Capitol Hill with anti-immigrant phone calls and mail, their latest campaign being to encourage supporters to mail bricks to their Members of Congress (thousands of bricks have come in already to symbolize support for the proposed wall on the southern border). The Campaign for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is countering with a project to encourage constituents to mail in work gloves to demonstrate their support for a fair, humane, realistic approach to our nation’s immigration problems.

Members of the Jewish community are sure to remain involved as this debate continues. Check out a recent article in the Forward on Jews and immigration policy by Gideon Aronoff, president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and stay tuned to the RAC website for future updates and ways to get involved.

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Jennifer Gubitz is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She is a graduate of the Indiana University.

Over the past six months, my father has been the recipient of two corneas from two separate organ donors in order to replace his own which had deteriorated as a result of a condition called Keratoconus. A cornea transplant does not seem nearly as dramatic or significant as transplanting other major organs such as the heart, lungs, or kidneys. As a result, I did not immediately consider the fact that my father’s vision was rejuvenated by the cessation of another person’s life. As in any other transplant, my parents were given information about the people from whom each cornea came. We found out that each individual had led a life shortened by a traumatic disease or event that ravaged the rest of his body – but left the corneas unharmed and usable for transplant. We were excited for my father’s improved vision and health – but upon learning of the donors’ histories, took pause at the thought of another family’s loss.

According to the official United States government web site for organ and tissue donation and transplantation, www.organdonor.gov, “Over 92,000 people are waiting for the gift of life. Each day, about 74 people receive organ transplants. However, 18 people die each day waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs.”

We learn in Jewish tradition of the value of "p'kuach nefesh," the saving of a life. There are many lifesaving opportunities we may have in our lifetime – organ donation is one such example. All four branches of Judaism support and encourage organ donation. Particularly, the Union for Reform Judaism has been a long time advocate. President and CEO of the New York Organ Donor Network, Elaine Berg, noted in a June 9, 2006 Forward article, “There seems to be no hesitation on the part of the Jewish community to partake in the miracle of transplantation when an organ is needed to live. Tragically, however, there seems to be a lack of understanding that the benefit of receiving an organ cannot exist without a commitment to organ donation. From an ethical perspective, the miracle of organ donation embodies the highest level of mitzvah — what Maimonides characterized as giving anonymously…if it is possible to donate an organ to save a life, it is obligatory to do so — even when it comes to cornea transplantation, as restoring sight is considered to be lifesaving.”

My dad will be able to continue to pursue his goals and visions in life because of the selfless act of organ donation. I encourage you to consider signing up to become an organ donor. Please visit www.organdonor.org.

• Declare your wish on your driver's license.
• Join the donor registry if your state has one.
• Include donation in your advance directives, will, and living will.
• Tell your family. They can be your advocate should you become a donor candidate.
• Tell your physician, faith leader, and friends.
• Complete a donor card and carry it in your wallet.

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Barbara Weinstein is the Legislative Director for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Yesterday afternoon, I was part of a small group of Jewish leaders who met with Poland’s Foreign Minister, Anna Fotyga. Equivalent to our Secretary of State, Minister Fotyga took office in early May and is in the midst of her first official visit to the U.S.

The gathering – sandwiched between meetings with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) – demonstrated the importance with which the Polish government views the American Jewish community. The Foreign Minister spoke particularly about her government’s efforts to address incidents of anti-Semitism. The conversation also addressed restitution of property and xenophobia.

Our discussion of the consequences of war, displacement, and racism more than 60 years after the end of the Holocaust was a reminder that the healing process takes generations. That is partly why the Jewish community has been so outspoken in its efforts to end the current crisis gripping the Darfur region of Sudan.

So as I shook hands with Minister Fotyga at the end of our meeting, I reminded her of the Jewish community’s commitment to ending the violence in Darfur. I asked her to use Poland’s influence, particularly as a member of NATO, to see to it that the people of Darfur are not forgotten. By helping end the violence in Darfur, we can take the lessons of the past and help heal the future.

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Donald Cohen-Cutler is a Legislative Assistant for the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. He hails from the University of California, Davis.

Economic Development sounds like such a good thing. Ideally, everyone gets something from it!  Economic development is a fantastic opportunity for the United States to take the lead on bringing better systems of living to impoverished countries and people all over the world!  Best yet, it is a moral thing to do!  This week in “The Forward,” Benjamin Friedman, a professor of political economy at Harvard University, wrote an article about the imperative of global economic development.  Friedman discusses at length the dangers - social and economic - of unrestricted poverty while also addressing concerns stemming from a stagnate economy.   The article shares arguments expressed from both those who fear and praise economic development, while looking through a moral lens.

While the article poses about as many questions as answers, it is an interesting piece worth the read…

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Sherry Levy-Reiner, Ph.D., is the director of development at the RAC.

Last Shabbat I attended Monmouth Reform Temple, where the congregation was honoring Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first woman rabbi to have been ordained by a theological seminary, on her retirement.

Sally and I were undergraduate English majors at the University of Cincinnati (UC). At the same time she was accepted at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) as a rabbinical student, I began graduate school at UC, and we decided to share an apartment. We lived together for four years and have remained good friends since.

So I was Sally’s roommate during those early years at HUC-JIR, when – as she reports – faculty and classmates alike anticipated that she would marry a rabbi rather than be the first woman to become a rabbi herself. Much was written in those days about her, especially during her senior year as her ordination drew near; we fielded dozens of phone calls, I could give her quotes by rote myself (though I never did), and we had a lot of laughs about the fuss everyone was making.

While Sally was aware she was making history, that was not her intent. As she is frequently quoted today, she simply “wanted to be a rabbi.” To her, the fact that she would be the first was truly secondary to her goal: serving the Jewish people with knowledge, understanding, and compassion.

Her Retirement Service testified that she achieved her goal. The core of Sally’s relationship with her congregants was clearly being there for her people, in times of joy and in times of great sadness. Sally, who never enjoyed cooking, would make pots of Cincinnati chili to feed anyone who came to dine with her for seven nights in the synagogue’s sukkah. And Sally would sit for hours at the bedside of an ill or dying congregant, holding their hand and easing their pain.

Rabbi David Ellenson gave the d’var Torah at the Service, speaking both in his role as president of HUC-JIR and as Sally’s former assistant rabbi, emphasized Sally’s compassion and caring.

He noted too, however, that she is an example of how one person can heal the world. Sally’s courage and determination gave a voice – not only to the hundreds of women who subsequently have been ordained rabbis and invested as cantors – but also to the millions of women who play a public role in the educational and spiritual life of the Jewish community.

Sometimes we can foresee the consequences of our actions, and sometimes we cannot. By the time of Sally’s ordination, we recognized that it was momentous. We knew it would have consequences for her and for the congregants and others with whom she would interact in her career. What we did not/could not comprehend were the ways in which her ordination would open the gates for so many other women who had been waiting to enter this new world that is now our new world.

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Sarah Burrows is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She is a graduate of George Washington University

As the humanitarian situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate, it is becoming evident that the international community must increase its efforts to establish peace in the troubled region. The Washington Post ran an article this past Sunday that describes many of the problems the United Nations is facing as they attempt to transition the current African Union mission in Sudan into a UN peacekeeping force. Most notably, the article notes that the United Nations must first convince Sudan to allow such a mission into the region before one can be deployed.

This article further demonstrates the importance of international cooperation if we are to ever see peace and stability in Darfur. 30 Days for Darfur, a campaign launched by the Reform Jewish Movement after the Save Darfur: Rally to Stop Genocide, is a way for people across America to participate in diplomacy on behalf of the people of Darfur. We need the help of countries across the world, specifically countries that are members of the African Union, NATO, or the UN Security Council, to continue to put pressure on Sudan until a UN peacekeeping force is allowed into Darfur.

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Samantha Pohl is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She is a graduate of Brandeis University.

As the legislative assistant who works on Israel as part of her portfolio, I receive several emails a day that contain various news articles about issues pertinent to the Middle East peace process, Iran, and the political goings on in Israel. In addition to these emails, I also receive weekly updates from our friends at the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the public and legal advocacy arm of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, as well as from Israel21c, an organization dedicated to “inform[ing] Americans about 21st century Israel, its people, its institutions and its contributions to global society.” I enjoy taking the time out of my day to read these emails because they allow me to broaden my focus on Israel, reminding me that, as the mission of Israel21c states, it is my responsibility not only to follow the matzav, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Israel, but also to keep abreast of all the political, social, cultural and religious happenings there.

One particularly interesting article I read last week from Israel 21c entitled “The Other Side of Israel’s Hasbara” discusses a new hasbara paradigm that informs Americans and the media about Israel via Israeli music, fashion, and nightlife in addition to using the “traditional” hasbara paradigm of keeping Americans informed about Israel by helping to “monitor anti-Israel media, bring over high level political delegations, lobby Capitol Hill, and continue defending Israel's name and position wherever it is sullied.” I urge you to read it and also sign up for both the IRAC and Israel 21c email updates so you too can remain educated on the full array of issues regarding Eretz Yisrael.

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Liz Kaplan is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She is a graduate of Williams College.

As a long-time AIDS activist, I am extraordinarily proud to belong to (and work for) a denomination with such an impressive record on the disease UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called “the greatest challenge of our generation.”

As early as 1985, the Reform Movement responded to the emerging AIDS crisis in North America, heeded Judaism’s teaching to offer healing and give comfort to the sick, and called upon the governments of the United States and Canada to prohibit discrimination against people with AIDS and their families. Our community then reiterated and expanded this call in 1987, with a lengthy and detailed resolution addressing everything from AIDS testing and education to the care of those with AIDS and expedited research into treatment possibilities. In the following decades, we also addressed the need to respond to AIDS in the context of women’s health (1993), the exploding epidemic in Africa (1999), and several other issues. Browsing the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ list of resolutions, I was especially encouraged to find that our rabbis have even endorsed the expansion of needle-exchange programs, noting that “we do not stand idly by the blood of neighbors who suffer simply because they are [drug] addicts” (2001). And we have followed up on these resolutions with actions on the congregational level and at the RAC.

Yet we – and everyone else on the planet who has lent a hand in the global attempt to beat back the AIDS epidemic or to lessen its tragic impact – have so much more to do. As Abigail Zucker writes in an article in the New York Times today, science has come a long way, but living with HIV is still no picnic (this article is a great read, by the way, for anyone who has never known a person living with the virus).

Furthermore, while those in the United States and other developed nations have ever-increasing chances at a happy, healthy life with HIV, most of the world lags terribly behind. According to a recent column by Nicholas Kristof, if the epidemic continues to progress at its current rate, the total death toll from AIDS will be 70 million by 2020, yet 90 percent of those currently infected still do not know it. And beyond the statistics are the images of individual lives and even entire communities rendered unrecognizable from the scourge of AIDS. In 2003, I had the opportunity to spend five weeks observing and assisting in a public hospital in Botswana, where 24 percent or more of the adult population is infected with HIV. I will never forget the day I watched one doctor and one nurse see about 20 AIDS patients in just a few hours; they put me to work weighing patients and labeling test tubes to make the visits go even faster. Nor will I forget the patient who was dying of both tuberculosis and AIDS (not an uncommon occurrence in the developing world, and in many cases a speedy death sentence), who was too weak to talk and whose body was covered with sores. Or the young woman who I have never met, but whose story I show in a video for L’Taken participants – she is 15, was raped as a small child, and is now HIV-positive, living in a town in Tanzania where treatment is completely unavailable.

Last week, at the 2006 High Level Meeting on AIDS, the UN General Assembly adopted a nonbinding declaration that reaffirms commitments made in 2001 to address both medical and non-medical aspects of the epidemic. Among other things, the document calls on countries to support the rights of women and girls so that they can be empowered to protect themselves, to use scientifically documented prevention strategies (including condoms), to make clean needles accessible to drug users, and to take steps to provide universal access to prevention programs, care and antiretroviral drugs.

Like our Reform Movement resolutions, the recent UN declaration is an encouraging step, but the world needs to follow up with action. And after 25 years of AIDS, the time for this action is past due.

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David Morrill Schlitt is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He is a graduate of Columbia University in New York City.

On June 1, the New York Times featured an article about three new studies on Arctic climate patterns. We’ve been hearing a lot about Arctic weather lately, from reports of polar bears drowning as sea ice disappears, to the earlier arrival of spring displacing Inuit populations. But this article was different: it didn’t report on the rapidly warming Arctic of today. Instead, New York Times correspondent Andrew Revkin was reporting on the Arctic of yesteryear. And by yesteryear, I mean fifty-five million yesteryears ago, eons before human civilization, the mastery of the atom, and cable. But despite the fact that the studies deal with an era in which it was nearly impossible to find anything good on television, its results are still worth taking seriously.

The studies reported that, 55 million years ago, the Arctic Ocean was much warmer than scientists had previously suspected. According to the Times, temperatures of Arctic waters hovered around “a Floridian year-round average of 74 degrees.” Moreover, scientists determined that this warmer weather was a result of “an enormous outburst of heat-trapping, or greenhouse, gases like methane and carbon dioxide,” not variations in Earth’s orbit, as some have attributed climate shifts to in the past.

“While [these findings] show that much remains to be learned about climate change, they suggest that scientists have greatly underestimated the power of heat-trapping gases to warm the arctic … ‘The new research provides additional important evidence that greenhouse-gas changes controlled much of climate history, which strengthens the argument that greenhouse-gas changes are likely to control much of the climate future,” said one such expert, Richard B. Alley, a geoscientist at Pennsylvania State University.”

Even as scientists have not found a clear cause for this ancient gas discharge [insert adolescent wisecrack here], the study shows the radical extent to which greenhouse gases can alter our climate. This has significant implications for our world today: Antarctic ice cores, which keep a record of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels going back hundreds of thousands of years, show that today’s CO2 levels are the highest they have been during the last 650,000 years. Unlike the basis for the mysterious discharge [please see previous remark] of 55 million years ago, today’s greenhouse gas build-up is no mystery. It is a result of human activities, primarily “emissions from smokestacks, tailpipes and burning forests.”

And while marlin fishing off the coast of Greenland in one’s underwear does not sound altogether unappealing, the damage caused by unchecked climate change will have disastrous effects for those of us without shorefront property in Godthab. The ice in the arctic is already melting at an unprecedented rate. If Greenland’s ice disappears, sea levels worldwide will increase by between 18 and 20 feet. Flooding would inundate some of our favorite coastal cities, tragically cutting short the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox at a lopsided total of twenty-six World Series victories to six. Perhaps it is time for the President, and all the rest of us concerned about the most storied rivalry in professional sports, to take real action to stop climate change. The Natural Resource Defense Council shows how the U.S. can halve its carbon dioxide emission, in four manageable steps. And the RAC has more ways for you to take action on our Climate Change Resource Page.

Next Week: Meet the Skeptics

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Donald Cohen-Cutler is a Legislative Assistant for the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. He hails from the University of California, Davis.

Angelina Malfitano was not allowed to see the changes she helped to create. Angelina, a friend of mine, died this past Tuesday in a horrible car accident as she drove back to the University of California at Davis to receive the Chancellors award. This award, given to a few students each year, is for exemplary service to the university and the community. This award could not have been given to a more deserving candidate.

People describe her now and described her before her untimely death as a hero. She fought for ideas and worked with people. Her dedication to the rights and well being of all people was exemplified in her unfettered commitment to the cause of GLBT rights both on campus and politically. Angelina took up this cause with a true understanding of humanity and her belief that equality is not a luxury but a right that should be protected.

I believe whole heartedly that Angelina would have been, in Gandhi’s words, “the change [she] wanted see in the world;” in fact she already was. Her presence on the UC Davis campus and in the GLBT community was a driving force behind Conservative and Liberal communication regarding subjects of sexuality and equality. Angelina fought against the ideologies espoused by Conservative groups but took the time to work with all members of any organization. Angelina was the best kind of ally, friendly and fervent, warm and welcoming, committed and conscious.

This week, the Senate will vote on what opponents of marriage equality are lobbying for and calling the “Marriage Protection Amendment” (S.J. Res. 1), formerly known as the “Federal Marriage Amendment” to “preserve the sanctity of marriage.” This deceptively titled amendment would codify the inequality that same-sex couples face by denying them the same government benefits that heterosexual couples receive.

In Angelina’s memory, please contact your Senators and ensure that they will vote against the Marriage Protection Amendment this week.

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