Fresh Updates from RAC

In 1972, Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath sent me to Florida to organize Jewish students protesting the Vietnam War at the 1972 Republican Convention in Miami.

In 1990, my wife, my father and I travelled through China just a few months before Tiananmen Square.

In both situations, the moral passion and democratic hopes and aspirations of the young people we encountered were palpable. Infused with the belief that by using non-violent methods they could   transform their lives, their nation, their world for the better, they set about with courage and confidence to change their future.

That was exactly the feeling I had as I spent two lengthy visits with the protestors in Gezi Park in the Taksim area of Istanbul over the past  few days.  There is something special happening in Gezi Park – and it is inspiring.

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This was originally published on June 5 in Haaretz.

It is, as they say, the “end of an era.” The last World War II veteran serving in Congress, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, has died. He was part of a generation that journalist Tom Brokaw famously dubbed “The Greatest Generation,” – those who won World War II, led us politically and economically into a period of remarkable growth domestically, and extended U.S. global, military and political influence to a degree rarely rivaled in world history.

For Jews, it was a similarly extraordinary period. As a result of vastly increased legal protections for minorities and cultural shifts reflecting the increasing diversity of America, Jews moved from the peripheries of American society to the very center of American economic, political, academic and professional life.

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This piece was originally published on March 13 with the Very Reverend Gary Hall, dean of the Washington National Cathedral, in the Huffington Post Religion Blog.

Our two faiths mark the Sabbath in different ways — different days, in fact. But the common thread we share is that it is a time when we pause from daily life for reflection and worship. This weekend, not only will the Sabbath be different from other days of the week, it will also be different than other Sabbaths during the year. Congregations across the country will participate in a gun violence prevention Sabbath.

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This article was originally published on March 13 with Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, a Church Distributed, as a column in The Washington Post’s On Faith feature, a forum for news and opinion on religion and politics.

One might guess that a politically conservative evangelical pastor and a politically liberal rabbi would have little in common, and it is true that we have our differences.

But we agree passionately about many things: that without robust religious liberty, democracy is weakened; that society is better off and the needs of the weak and the vulnerable can best be addressed when government and religion can partner effectively and within constitutional constraints; that America with its magnificent tapestry of religious identities and expression is one of the glories of America.

And we agree that no one with whom we have worked over our decades of public service to the religious community is more committed to this vision and more skilled at implementing it than Melissa Rogers, who has been appointed to serve as the new director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and as a special assistant to President Obama.

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This piece was originally published in the Washington Post “Guest Voices” section on January 17 with Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Assembly.

The tragedy of Sandy Hook was stunning in its human face, the faces of first-graders and their teachers. In the aftermath of this tragedy, countless millions flocked to their houses of worship to mourn, to ask how this could have happened, and to seek the inner determination toward the goal of ensuring this would never happen again. Our grief and compassion have united Americans in a way we don’t often see.

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Twenty-five years ago today, on the cusp of a visit by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, 200,000 Jews gathered on the National Mall to protest the oppression of Soviet Jewry and demand that they be allowed to emigrate from the USSR. Culminating over two decades of activism that transformed the American Jewish community even as it transformed the Jews of the Soviet Union – emboldened, sustained and inspired them – this event had personal resonance to me for five reasons.

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After a months-long political campaign, we wake up this morning, take a look around at the new additions to the political landscape, and get ready to “think big” about our goals over the next few years. Whatever your political views, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democratic, our responsibility for shaping the world includes choosing who will lead us politically in the forefront of the fight for social justice. Each of your votes counted and played a defining role in setting policy agendas. Exercising your constitutional rights as voters and activists not only strengthens American democracy but our work for social justice at the RAC.

President Obama in his second term will face a host of challenges at home and abroad. The voices of people of faith “speaking truth to power” as the president decides how to meet those challenges will be more vital than ever. And during the campaign, discussion of our responsibilities to provide a safety net to the poor were alarmingly absent.

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If we’ve learned anything from Hurricane Sandy, it’s America’s ability to come together in times of crisis.

We need to be as strong in times of opportunity, and that’s why casting your vote today is especially crucial.

However the election turns out, after it is over, we face vital political, economic and moral issues of concern to us as North Americans, in addition to issues of special concern to North American Jews. From health care to climate change, from immigration and gay rights to support for Israel and addressing the threat posed by Iran, during the next four years, there will be important decisions made about the way our government does business.

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