Fresh Updates from RAC

Imagine a world without the voices of women.

In Reform Jewish communities, it is natural for a rabbi to lead her congregation in song, for a cantor to teach her favorite niggun during a Friday evening service, or for a young woman to lead birkhat hamazon, the blessing after meals, for her youth group. As a rabbinical student, I take the greatest joy in chanting Torah and creating lively musical services at my congregation. At our URJ summer camps, at our Biennial gatherings, at our synagogue Shabbat services, and beyond, music and song are essential to who we are as a movement. In our daily lives and in our sacred moments, a world without the voices of women would be dramatically different in the ways that we pray, sing, and connect with each other.

None of these practices are normative or acceptable in the halachic, traditional religious world. According to Jewish law, “kol b’isha erwah,” – a woman’s voice is considered a sexual incitement (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 24a; Kiddushin 70a) and should not be heard. This concept is commonly referred to as kol isha. The halachic proscription creates a world unimaginable in our congregations and communities: a world without the voices of women. Yet kol isha is among the exclusionary principles that continue to dictate the behavior, movement, and religious freedom of women who visit one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem – the Kotel, the Western Wall.

On Tuesday evening, Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, was arrested at the Western Wall for violating these restrictions, for the crime of wearing a tallit and lifting her voice in prayer.  A long-time gender equality activist, Hoffman has been detained by police at the Kotel six times in over two decades as leader of Women of the Wall, a prayer group that meets monthly in the women’s section of the Kotel. This week, police arrested Hoffman with exaggerated violence in the middle of leading services celebrating the 100th anniversary of Hadassah, a women’s Zionist organization. Hoffman was arrested while she was proclaiming the Sh’ma, the central declaration of Jewish faith.

In the middle of our sacred words, Sh’ma, Yisrael, Hear, Oh Israel, Hoffman’s voice was silenced. I am proud to be part of a movement that deeply supports the equal participation of women and men in worship, music, and leadership roles. Calling to mind a melody composed by one of our pioneering women in music, Debbie Friedman (z”l), I am proud that I can sing another prayer: Sh’ma koleinu, Adonai Eloheinu! In this blessing, we ask God to hear all of our voices, to hear every voice. As we raise our voices against the restrictive policies of those controlling the access and actions of women at the Western Wall, we look toward a day when we will be able to overcome the prohibition of kol isha, and when every voice will be respected, valued, and heard.

Liz Piper-Goldberg is a third-year rabbinical student at HUC-JIR in New York. She served as a Legislative Assistant from 2009-2010, and currently represents HUC-JIR on the Commission on Social Action.

Image Courtesy of A Wider Bridge.

Yesterday, President Obama signed into law a new Iran sanctions bill that passed the House and Senate with flying colors (408-8 in the House and 99-0 in the Senate) last week. The nuclear non-proliferation community has had quite a year leading up to last night’s signing ceremony, and I know that many of you across the country have actively supported this bill. We can’t thank you enough for filling out our action alerts, lobbying your Members of Congress, holding programs at your synagogues, and organizing grassroots events! Your advocacy is reflected in the strong bipartisan and international support for new sanctions that will work to prevent a nuclear Iran.

Rabbi Saperstein and Peter Weidhorn, Chairman of the URJ Board, were pleased to be invited to attend the Presidential signing ceremony yesterday evening. Here, Peter speaks with President Obama after the bill signing. On this significant occasion, Rabbi Saperstein issued the following statement, available here and below. For more information, check out http://www.rac.org/iran .

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Yesterday evening, both the Senate and House passed H.R. 2194, the Iran Sanctions Conference Report, which will enact strong new sanctions against Iran. Demonstrating all-too-rare bipartisanship, the Senate voted 99-0 and the House voted 408-8 in favor of the legislation. For those of you who were not glued to CSPAN.org (yes, I enjoyed every minute!), it was moving to watch our elected officials from across the nation speak about their commitment to address Iran’s disregard for diplomacy and uninhibited pursuit of nuclear weapons capability.

The Reform Movement has advocated for effective sanctions and divestment measures against Iran for several years, and both the new United Nations and Congressional sanctions are exciting and significant policy successes. H.R. 2194 now awaits President Obama’s signature to become law, which legislation author Rep. Howard Berman expects “before July 4th.”

In response to yesterday’s important votes, Mark Pelavin issued a statement, available here and below the jump.

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Yesterday, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), the chairs of the Conference Committee charged with harmonizing the language of two independent House and Senate bills on Iran sanctions, announced that they have reached an agreement enabling Congress to move forward with legislation. They will now submit the draft text to the rest of the Conference Committee for their review.

The tough new sanctions in this legislation will increase pressure on the Iranian arms, banking, technology, and investment sectors, to make clear that Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons program is unacceptable. As Sen. Dodd and Rep. Berman emphasized joint statement: “A month ago, we announced our intention to develop a powerful package of new sanctions against Iran that would substantially augment ongoing multilateral efforts by the U.N. Security Council and the European Union. Our agreement does just that.”

The White House, which led the effort for new multilateral UN sanctions against Iran that were successfully passed by the Security Council earlier this month, also issued a statement of support for the joint effort of the House and Senate to enact domestic sanctions. The Administration released a statement underlining their commitment “to work with the Congress over the coming days as it finalizes work on this important bill, and in our ongoing efforts to hold Iran accountable.”

Dodd, Berman and others are confident that President Obama will sign the bill into law when Congress sends him the full and final version.

You can urge Congress to move forward with this important sanctions legislation by filing out our action alert. For more information, check out our Weekly Legislation Update, available online here and as a video here.

As always, check out our Iran special resource page at http://www.rac.org/iran or email me at lpiper-goldberg@rac.org.

This post appeared today in Ten Minutes of Torah. Sign up for Ten Minutes of Torah here.

In the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Chukat, Miriam dies, leaving the people to wander without water in the wilderness. Heeding their usual complaints, Moses and Aaron turn to God, who instructs them to order a rock to yield its water. Instead, the two leaders gather the people, and upon declaring “listen, you rebels, we shall get water for you out of this rock” (Numbers 20:10), Moses strikes the rock twice with his rod. Copious water does flow out to satisfy the people, but God rebukes Moses and Aaron for their disobedient actions. In choosing to challenge God’s instructions, thereby showing a lack of faith in God and wasting an opportunity to sanctify God in the eyes of the people, Moses and Aaron will never enter the land of Israel. The waters that quenched the people’s thirst but fueled the disagreement are known as mai meribah – the waters of conflict.

Almost a tale of foreshadowing, we learn from this parshah that since the time of Sinai, water has been at the center of conflict in the Middle East. So, too, does the misfortune of our biblical leaders provide a clear indication of the way to approach the waters of meribah, to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: we must talk to the rock.

Dialogue and diplomacy must not be deemed too challenging or doomed to fail. To borrow a well-known injunctive from Moses in Parshat Nitzavim: “It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea…No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart,” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). True dialogue from the heart to the mouth is the only way that peace will come to the people of the region.

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Everyone has something to say about the Gaza flotilla incident, and it comes as no surprise that many of these responses are impassioned and opinionated. However, in recent days, several Israeli Arab Knesset members have been the targets of the anger and vitriol felt in Israel and elsewhere. Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin was quick to denounce this behavior, and Rabbi Saperstein joined his call for civil discourse and minority rights in a statement released today.

The full statement is available here and below, and many more resources about Israel are available at http://rac.org/israel or by contacting me.

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UPDATED: President Obama and President Abbas had a productive meeting
this morning,
at the conclusion of which President Obama announced $400 million in U.S. assistance for the West Bank and Gaza. These funds will be
directed toward infrastructure projects, particularly education funding,
refugee assistance, health care programs, and water structures. President Obama
also predicted that there will be “real progress” in coming months in
U.S.
efforts to direct the Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct peace talks.

The full White House release is available here.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Washington, D.C. yesterday in advance of meetings with President Obama and other White House officials. These meetings will emphasize the importance of continuing proximity negotiations Israel, particularly in light of the recent events in Gaza.

President Abbas’ op-ed piece in yesterday’s edition of The Hill provides a preview of his hopes and goals for this visit, for the peace talks, and beyond:

The resumption of negotiations came as a result of concerted and persistent efforts by the U.S. administration and by President Barack Obama in particular, together with extensive Palestinian, Arab and international support.

                        

This round of negotiations provides an 11th-hour opportunity to achieve a permanent and lasting peace based on the two-state solution. For the opportunity not to be lost, courage and bold leadership are required.

To continue reading President Abbas’s op-ed, click here. If you are passionate about peace in the Middle East, write to your Representative, Senators, and President Obama in support of a two-state solution using our action alert, and check out http://rac.org/israel for more information.

Photo: President Abbas meeting with President Obama in 2009.  

Today, the United Nations Security Council voted to pass a tough new Iran sanctions resolution. President Obama spoke today in response to the vote, which he said will show the Iranian government that “[a]ctions do have consequences.” Rabbi Saperstein welcomed the new sanctions in a statement, calling “this demonstration of consensus among global leaders… a clear signal to Iran that its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program remains unacceptable.”

The final draft of the resolution is available online here, and Rabbi Saperstein’s full statement is here and below the jump. For more information about the Reform Movement’s work to prevent a nuclear Iran, check out our special resource page, or contact me at the RAC.

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