Jon Stewart's riff on Planned Parenthood of Indiana's gift cards is pretty hilarious, but the reality is that an increasingly large percentage of women cannot afford the reproductive health services they need. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation and Urban Institute study, 19% of women are without health insurance, and women are the most vulnerable population for losing their insurance. Women without insurance are more likely to delay or go without important preventive care such as mammograms and Pap tests. With the current economic crisis and rising costs of health care in general, women are likely to turn to low-cost clinics like Planned Parenthood for their annual gynecological exams and other common reproductive health needs. Yes, the gift cards can be used for abortions, STI/HIV testing, and contraceptives, but their foremost purpose is for preventive care. 

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Around the world governments, faith groups and organizations will hold events celebrating, studying, and helping to realize the principles laid out in the declaration. Here are a few ideas to help you with your own observation of Human Rights Day and making your own contributions to the lasting work for human rights in our world.

• Order postcards urging President-Elect Obama to make Darfur, one of our most critical human rights crises, a priority.
  
  
• Spread knowledge about human rights in your community-host a human rights Shabbat this weekend or some other time at your congregation.
  
  
• Read about what today's Jewish scholars have been teaching about human rights. Check out these unofficial transcripts from this week's Rabbis for Human Rights conference. Learn about everything from Abrahamic tradition and human rights to current issues like torture.
  
  
• Endorse the National Religious Campaign's Declaration of Principles for an Executive Order Banning Torture.
  
  
• Learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and see how well you know your rights!
  
  
• Honor Rafael Lemkin, whose Genocide Convention was also signed 60 years ago, by learning about his actions at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum website and by learning about the recently released report from the Genocide Prevention Task Force.
  
  
• Stand up for the right to health by buying a bed net to protect the most vulnerable populations from malaria through our Nothing But Nets program. I only costs $10!
  
  
• Call for US involvement in efforts to stop major human rights violations and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo!

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As the holiday season grows nearer, families across the country are warning their children that this year, money will be too tight for the same sort of extravagant gifts that often accompany both Christmas and Chanukah. This year's, Santa's got to watch his wallet, too, and "eight crazy nights" may not translate into crazy-big gifts.

But in an op-ed in the Forward last week, Leonard Fein, founder of Mazon, explains why now, more than ever, Americans should be opening their wallets this holiday season - not for big toys or extravagant vacations but for tzedakah and providing help to those who need it most. He writes,

The Union for Reform Judaism has launched a campaign entitled "Nothing But Nets," an effort to provide insecticide-treated bed nets to the impoverished in Africa. Such bed nets, which cost $10 each, are the surest defense against malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes and which in 2006 killed 881,000 people, most of them children younger than 5 in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda, "home" to some 18,000 people, including growing numbers of Congolese refugees, is infested with mosquitoes, so malaria is easily spread -- but the refugees can't afford mosquito nets and bedding. The Reform movement campaign plans to provide every person in the Nakivale camp a proper bed net, and then to move on to other locations. It has set a goal of $500,000, enough to distribute 50,000 nets. Why not make a point, during Hanukkah, of gathering the family just after the candle-lighting to make an online contribution to Nothing But Nets? Just click on to www.urj.org/nets and send $10 -- or, better yet, $18. (It can be such a compelling ritual that you might want to send $10 a night on each of the eight nights.) The kids at Nakivale can't wait until the recession's over and things are back to "normal."

I'm not saying that we're not hurting, too. We are. But as Fein says in his closing lines, "It's not easy, I know. I actually was trying to figure out where I could cut my giving this year before I realized that I'd rather gamble with my future solvency than with other people's lives. There is a reason, after all, we do not call it charity but tzedakah -- righteousness."

Posted by Religious Action Center at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Carolyn Kunin is Director of Programming and Advocacy for Women of Reform Judaism.

As the deepening crisis looms over our economy, Women of Reform Judaism considers an emergency stimulus package, to respond to the urgent needs of impoverished Americans while boosting the economy, a first priority for the new administration and the 111th Congress. As reported by the Coalition on Human Needs, this should include increased funding for nutrition and home energy assistance, child care and Head Start, and state-run health care programs, such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Creation of new jobs directed towards rebuilding and greening the infrastructure and helping families to stay in their homes should be an integral part of the emergency stimulus package.

Almost exponentially rising health care costs with over 45 million uninsured Americans makes the need for health care reform to cover all Americans an urgent priority, which we urge the 111th Congress and the new administration to begin addressing immediately. WRJ also considers increased funding for comprehensive sexuality education an additional priority, which may be relatively cost neutral because of the need to defund abstinence-only programs, which do not work.

WRJ considers rapid passage and signing of the following bills an important priority: 

Posted by Religious Action Center at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over Chanukkah, we all look for thoughtful, useful and interesting gifts for our family and friends. Amid the ads for watches, sweaters and digital cameras this winter, you might notice an ad for another kind of gift. A bed net. As part of our goal to deliver 50,000 nets abroad, the Union for Reform Judaism will be advertising Nothing But Nets in Jewish media around the country this winter.

While you may not know anyone who wants their bed covered in insecticide-treated mesh, there are people abroad to whom this gift won't simply be nice and thoughtful, but life-saving. A child dies from malaria every 30 seconds, and the use of a bed net can reduce disease transmission by up to 90%. The bed nets donated through the Union for Reform Judaism's Nothing But Nets initiative will go straight to refugees of conflict in Africa-one of the populations most vulnerable to malaria. It takes only $10 to send a net.

And while your friends and family won't receive a bed net themselves, they will get the gift of leaning how small efforts at home can change lives far away. They will get a broader understanding of and connection to the world around them. They will get the chance to teach their children about issues facing children abroad. They will get an appreciation of the goodness in their lives. And most of all, they get to take part in one of the most important and amazing things in the world-saving someone else's life.

As Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, noted yesterday (on a call promoting ONE Sabbath, a great way to extend your Nothing But Nets activism,) "When you buy one net for $10, you are saving a life. That is a very rare thing to do. When you feed someone for $10 you will need to do it again. When you buy one net, it stays there."

This winter, due to the efforts of congregations, B'nai mitzvah students and others, the first shipment of bed nets will be delivered to the Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda, providing malaria protection for the entire camp.

We are halfway to our goal of delivering 50,000 bed nets. Inspire your friends and family with the gift of saving a life this Chanukkah. Give them each a donation to Nothing But Nets. Ask them to give the same to you. Have a net-giving party for your whole family! Make a great miracle happen there.

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Central to the abortion debate is the concern around the point at which a human life begins. Anti-choice advocates from the Religious Right often support their position by defining an unborn fetus as a "person," giving it the same moral value as an adult human being. Jewish teachings, on the other hand, supports the view that, although an unborn fetus is precious and needs protection, the life of the mother is paramount; an unborn fetus is a potential life, and higher value ought to be placed on existing life.

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rabbi Fred Guttman is the rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Greensboro, N.C. and a member of the Commission on Social Action. This post is adapted from his October 17, 2008 sermon.

Hospitality to strangers is a fundamental Jewish value and is found 39 times in first five books of the Bible alone, more than any other single commandment. Clearly in North Carolina, the strangers in our midst are the illegal immigrants. Most of us have recently seen political advertisements which seem to target illegal immigration as the source of all of society's ills.

Recently, I asked one of the candidates who was visiting Temple Emanuel about this issue. The only response was to say that a detention center should be built in North Carolina and that land should be given by the state to the federal government to build such a center. While the candidate certainly did not mean to be insensitive, I found that saying the words "detention center and illegal immigration" in a Jewish synagogue was jarring. Clearly given the history of the Jewish people, such language recalls many images which the candidate did not mean to convey.

No one knows the exact number of illegal immigrants that are in North Carolina. We are told that our overcrowded jails are filled with them. Often, our jails are full to a large extent because of our inability to do anything sensible on this issue, not necessarily because illegal immigrants have committed serious or violent crimes. According to Jewish law, one is forbidden to pass a law which is unenforceable or unreasonable. So for example, a law that would say that all 11,000,000 illegal immigrants should be deported and apply for legal entry would be such a law.

All too often we hear Jews and others say, "Well, our grandparents came to this country legally. Why shouldn't they?" My answer to this is twofold. First, many of our grandparents who did not make it into this country would have loved to have come here illegally, especially prior to and during the period of the Nazi Holocaust. Such immigration would have saved their lives. Second, such a statement ignores the facts on the ground, namely, that tens of thousands of illegal immigrants live in North Carolina and do so solely because they want a better life for themselves and their children.

I often hear that illegal immigrants are a burden to state and federal revenues. But consider this: Many illegal immigrants are hired by companies and give false social security numbers. Their employers pay withholding and FICA taxes for them. They rent apartments whose landlords pay property taxes and like you and me, they pay sales tax on goods purchased. They are not eligible for Social Security benefits but pay into the system. It can take up from a year or two for the Social Security administration to inform the employer of a mismatch. For the most part, illegal immigration is financially neutral or even profitable to our governmental agencies.

The situation, however, which makes the least amount of sense, is the current effort to deny illegal immigrants drivers' licenses. Illegal immigrants will still drive, with or without a license and we would have no way of knowing whether or not these drivers would know the basic laws, or have bad eyesight. This endangers us all.

So what is the solution to this mess? The solution is first to stop "demagogueing" the problem. Many refer to illegal immigrants as "illegal aliens." The word "alien" is far more hostile and frightening than "immigrant." The history of the Jewish people is such that all too often we were treated as aliens and persecuted or even killed because of it.

Second, we desperately need what is called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Basically this is what President Bush called for when he advocated:

1. Tightening Border Security
2. A way for those who are here to enter into a program of earned citizenship without having to return to their former countries, and
3. A guest worker program.

Such an approach would recognize and respond to the reality that approximately 11 million undocumented individuals currently reside in the United States.

We are living in a highly charged environment concerning this issue and personally I am afraid that without some sort of comprehensive reform of immigration, Americans will begin to scapegoat immigrants for our economic problems, and society as a whole could suffer and could become cruel toward them. As Americans, let us not forget that when our grandparents or great grandparents came to Ellis Island, they passed the Statue of Liberty whose inscription written by Emma Lazurus reads "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

May we have the wisdom to ask our elected representatives the difficult questions on this issue. May we have compassion toward those whose only crime has been to better their lives and those of their children, for they are truly the "poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

Posted by Religious Action Center at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week, hundreds of world leaders gather in Poznan, Poland to discuss the ongoing global response to the imminent threat of climate change at the UN Climate Change Conference.  The meeting will set the stage for next year's Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol will be drafted. Poznan presents yet another critical opportunity for the U.S. to step up to the plate on climate issues and make amends for our failure to take a meaningful role in past international negotiations. As a global superpower and the historic leader in CO2 emissions, we have responsibility to come to the table prepared to act.

The good news is that Senator Kerry (D-MA), incoming Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will lead the U.S. delegation to Poznan, joined by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and others. Kerry's decision to make the trek to Poland is critical because the Foreign Relations Committee will be the first to pour over any international treaties that come out of Copenhagen. As Kerry and others outside the Committees that typically address environment issues (Energy and Commerce in the House, Environment and Public Works in the Senate) become active on climate and energy, the opportunity expands for robust debate in Washington, and U.S. leadership on this issue.

Less encouraging is the decision of the Obama transition team not to send anyone to Poland, despite repeated promises to make this a priority issue when the President-elect takes office in January. Disappointing to me, on a personal level, is the lack of Jewish presence at the Conference; while several Christian denominations and other faith groups sent representatives to monitor the negotiations and hold faith events on climate, there is no formal Jewish participation in the event. The Jewish voice on climate is steadily becoming louder and more articulate but we as a community, like our nation as a whole, are still far from leaders on this issue.

While no new treaties are expected to emerge by the time the conference closes next week, Poznan is a critical step along the path to global action to confront the climate crisis. Without serious U.S. engagement and leadership, the possibilities for a meaningful global response to climate change are severely limited. And without participating in these conferences, our Jewish voice on this issue will be dampened as well.  Politicians and faith leaders alike deserve praise for braving the cold and making the trip, and leaders who are not participating need to hear from their constituents (read: all of us!), urging them to keep climate change in the forefront.

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, led by former Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Jim Talent of Missouri, announced at a press conference earlier today the findings of their bipartisan panel. In a stark warning to the United States and the world, the commission found that "unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013."

The panel's report makes clear the urgency of nonproliferation efforts, warning that "the more proliferation that occurs, the greater the risk of additional proliferation, as nations that have to this point declined to acquire nuclear weapons will believe it necessary to counter their neighbors who have developed those capabilities." As this "increases the prospect that these weapons will be poorly secured and thus may be stolen by terrorists", the commission made a number of recommendations about addressing this threat.

The Boston Globe reports that President-elect Obama is set to heed the eighth recommendation of the commission by designating a White House principal advisor for WMD proliferation and terrorism.

President-elect Obama's administration can help prevent nuclear terrorism by taking seriously as well the recommendation to "work internationally toward strengthening the nonproliferation regime, reaffirming the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons." Only by doing so can we truly hope to turn back the tide against proliferation, prevent Iran and other dangerous regimes and terrorist groups from obtaining nuclear weapons, and ensure the instability and terrorism emanating from Pakistan do not involve even deadlier weapons.

The Reform Movement has long called for the world to work together to prevent the massive destruction wrought by the use of nuclear weapons by achieving total nuclear disarmament. While the White House must step up its efforts, we must also get involved in the effort to create a safer world free of nuclear dangers.

One way to get involved with the work to create a safer, nuclear weapons free world is to take action through our partner, the Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World.

Indeed, as the report's final recommendation states, "citizens should hold their governments accountable." Let's do so and make sure our government is doing everything possible to keep us safe by eliminating the threat of nuclear weapons from the earth.

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to the Texas Board of Education, Intelligent Design and Evolution have reappeared on the forefront of public debate. Recently, Reform Rabbis testified in front of the Board of Education on the importance of keeping religion from the classroom and Rabbi Ana Bonnheim posted on the RACBlog about that experience.

Since then, there have been interesting posts on, in addition to the RACBlog, AU's The Wall of Separation,  ReligionClause, and WiredScience.  On salon.com, David M. White posted an interesting article called "Intelligent Design Rules Out God's Sovereignty Over Chance," in which he explains how ID is not only bad science, but is also faulty theology.  On Monday, the Houston Chronicle ran a fantastic op-ed by Lisa Falkenberg decrying the required teaching in states like Texas of the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific theories (i.e. evolution).  She calls it "a new buzz phrase that's replaced 'creation science' and 'intelligent design,' and other science curriculum labels that incorporate teachings of faith" and she is absolutely right.

So please, read up, check out the RAC's resources on Intelligent Design and Evolution, including the URJ and CCAR Resolutions that state our opposition to teaching ID in schools, and get ready to help us fight this fight when the time comes! To quote Falkenberg: "True scientific debate is healthy. So are questions. But injecting doubt in curriculum for the sake of ideological agenda will harm our students and our state."

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rosalind Gold is Program Director of the Rabbi Balfour Brickner Rabbinic Seminar and Fellow Program.

Mid-November saw the first gathering of this year's Brickner Fellows. The Rabbi Balfour Brickner Rabbinic Seminar and Fellow Program, sponsored jointly by the RAC and CLAL (the National Jewish Center for Leadership and Learning) and funded through a generous endowment by Mr. Al Engelberg, is part of a two-year commitment by a group of rabbis to study and learn together and to gain the tools necessary to do effective, honest social justice advocacy. 

The goal of the Brickner program is to empower rabbis from across denominational lines to discern core Jewish values and to approach Jewish texts freed of pre-conceived notions of what the text means - to "de-automate" as our teachers from CLAL have termed it. This approach to study involves active listening, and developing the ability to understand and even empathize with positions other than our own. Being open to new possibilities in a text, the rabbis can then become more effective social activists - being able to articulate Jewish values with integrity, and engage in constructive dialogue and debate with those who stand on opposite sides of an issue, capable of influencing social policy.

The retreat, held at Capital Camps in Pennsylvania, followed an earlier seminar held in Washington, where more than 30 rabbis from the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements gathered to study Jewish texts on various topics of social concern, learning from Rabbis Irwin Kula and Tsvi Blanchard of CLAL, Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson of the American Jewish University, Rabbi Lew Barth of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbis Nina Beth Cardin and Fred Scherlinder Dobb of COEJL (the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life), Rabbi Marla Feldman, Director of the URJ Commission on Social Action, Rabbi Jonah Pesner of Just Congregations, and the RAC's own Rabbi David Saperstein, Rabbi Michael Namath, and Mark Pelavin. From this original group, a cohort of 11 rabbis was chosen to become Brickner Fellows, participating in the retreat and in upcoming distance learning calls. Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard, CLAL's Director of Organizational Development, led the 5-day retreat, assisted by Rabbi Michael Namath, Program Director at the RAC and Rabbi Rosalind Gold, Coordinator of the Brickner programs.

The 11 Brickner Fellows will "meet" by conference call for continued study and discussion over the coming months, and meet face-to-face for study and discussion during the Consultation on Conscience in April.

Posted by Religious Action Center at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bob Sedler is a Distinguished Professor of Law at Wayne State University Law School and a member of the URJ's Commission on Social Action.  All views expressed are his own.

This case arises out of an unfortunate situation of peer-on-peer sexual harassment at the elementary school level, involving a third grade boy and a kindergarten girl. When the girl's parents complained to the school authorities, they investigated the matter. They decided not to take disciplinary action against the boy, and proposed that the girl ride a different bus. Her parents rejected this suggestion and countered with other proposals that the school authorities rejected. There were no further incidents aboard the bus.

The girl's parents brought a federal court suit against the school officials. The suit alleged that the actions and inactions of the school authorities with respect to the peer-on-peer sexual harassment constituted gender discrimination in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause and also violated Title IX of the Education Act Amendments of 1972. The constitutional claim was brought under the federal civil rights act of 1871 (the Ku Klux Klan Act), 42 U.S. C. sec. 1983, which imposes liability against any person who, acting under color of state law, violates rights guaranteed by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Title IX provides that, "[n]o person . . . shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance," and authorizes claims against school districts receiving federal funds.

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (which covers Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico) held that by the enactment of Title IX, Congress intended to preclude the use of 42 U.S.C. 1983 to present claims of unconstitutional gender discrimination in schools. (The Court also held that the actions of the school authorities in dealing with the matter were not violative of Title IX, and that part of its decision was not appealed to the Supreme Court). The result of this decision is that when there is a claim of unconstitutional gender discrimination in the schools, the claim must be asserted against the school district in accordance with the provisions of Title IX instead of as a constitutional claim against the school district and against school officials under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983.

The question is one of Congressional intent. When Congress enacted Title IX, did it thereby intend to preclude the use of 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983 to present claims of unconstitutional gender discrimination in schools? It may be noted that Title IX did not expressly bar the use of section 1983 to present such claims. Rather the Court held that Title IX's remedial scheme is sufficiently comprehensive as to demonstrate Congress's intent to limit the available remedies to those provided by Title IX itself. The parents contend that Title IX's remedial scheme is not sufficiently comprehensive to demonstrate such intent, primarily because the primary means of enforcing the statute is the withholding of federal funds, which is rarely used. They also argue that Title IX does not provide a remedy against school officials and so will not deter them from engaging in unconstitutional discrimination.
Since the case involves a question of statutory interpretation, Congress can revisit the matter and make its intention clear - either way - after the Court decides the case.

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This holiday season, Claudia Castillo will have something extra to be thankful for- a functioning windpipe- thanks to the miracle of stem cell research. Castillo has been breathing easier since an operation performed in June by a team of French doctors using stem cells drawn from her own bone marrow to line a tracheal passage transplanted from a donor. While it is still too early to call the procedure a definite success, so far Castillo is doing well and her body is accepting the tracheal transfer, due in part to the stem cells used in the procedure.
Here in the U.S. we can also celebrate stem cells this year, following a ballot measure to decriminalize and fund such research that passed (by a slim majority) in Michigan in November. The CureMichigan proposal allows fertility clinics to donate for research embryos that would otherwise be discarded, and lets researchers create embryonic stem cell cultures to study disease. Several Reform Rabbis and other Jewish community members worked in support of the proposal, backed by strong URJ policy supporting stem cell research.

Many doctors and research scientists believe that stem cells may hold the key to treating and potentially curing diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, in addition to their tremendous value for tissue and organ transplants.

Innovations like the windpipe transplant serve as a constant reminder of the potential of stem cells to relieve human suffering and allow so many men, women, and children to live longer, healthier lives. However, these cures will never emerge if primary research, and the funding for it, is curtailed by federal and state laws limiting work with both adult and embryonic stem cells. The Reform Movement has long been an outspoken supporter of stem cell research, consistent with one of our core Jewish values: pikuach nefesh, the obligation to save a life. As we continue to hear these amazing stories, let us not forget all the behind-the-scenes work that enables such breakthroughs, including the public policy that is so critical to shaping our priorities and opportunities as a nation.

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)