Fresh Updates from RAC

As a fellow Eisendrath Legislative Assistant, Raechel Banks, wrote yesterday, “There are many ways to ‘share our bread with the hungry’ (Isaiah 58:7).” She discussed a very tangible  way of helping to combat hunger in our midst (I still have blisters on my fingers from cutting potatoes for 3 hours straight). Today, however, I want to talk about a way of sharing with the hungry that is more difficult to conceptualize, but has no less of an impact on millions of lives – international food aid.

There are nearly one billion people around the world with insufficient access to food. That number is greater than the populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union combined. One in seven people go to bed hungry each night and hunger is the leading cause of severe health problems and death worldwide.

Read more…

The polling numbers are out, and for those Senators who “stood idly by the blood of [their] neighbors” (Leivitcus 19:16) and opposed the Manchin-Toomey amendment to expand background checks, those numbers aren’t looking very good. Americans are demanding that Congress take action, and are not taking “no” for an answer. Read more…

This excerpt is taken from a new post in the Jewish Energy Guide created by the Coalition for the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL). Rabbi David Seidenberg uses his website, Neohasid.org, to teach eco-Torah, including the environmental implications of Rainbow Day. He discusses the covenant God made with Noah, and how we should reflect more often on the rainbow covenant and our role in sustaining the environment.

Excerpt: Rainbow Day, which falls on the 42nd day of the counting of the omer, and the day after Yom Yerushalayim — Jerusalem Day — is a time to celebrate the diversity of life on Earth, and to remember our role in God’s covenant. It is a time to remember that the first covenant was not with human beings but with all living things, and it’s a chance to reflect on the deep spiritual and religious meaning of diversity, creation and our role as part of Creation and partners with God. This is a special time in human civilization when we need to reflect on the rainbow covenant and our place in sustaining a world where sowing and reaping, cold and hot, summer and winter will not stop.

Click here to read to the full post.

The struggle for the rights of Jewish women at the Western wall has put me in newspapers as well as prison. My intention from the beginning was neither. I simply wanted to celebrate and pray with other women at Judaism’s holiest site. That is still my desire.

Read more…

Rabbi Michael Namath, Program Director here at the RAC, tells a story to our L’Taken students:

One day, as a few people were walking by the riverside, they saw babies floating down the river.  Several people jumped into the river and started pulling the babies out to try to save them, but more and more babies kept coming faster and faster. One of the men jumped out of the river and someone screamed to him, “Where are you going?”  He said, “I am going to see who is putting the babies in the river and try to stop them.” (Version from Congregation Beth Israel)

Read more…

It can sometimes be tough to put a human face on many of the issues we work on here at the RAC. Sure, climate change is a pressing issue facing our planet. Yes, fighting school prayer is a crucial social justice topic with incredibly important implications. But who exactly is affected by our work? Which people, which families, are we fighting for when we lobby on Capitol Hill?

One population that often gets missed in the frenzied political discussions is children. In immigration reform specifically, we hear about the agricultural workers and the women and the adult married children and the LGBT spouses – all really significant demographics that we absolutely should be keeping in mind as we craft comprehensive legislation. But what about their children? Children of immigrants now comprise 25% of the U.S. child population. They make up a crucial sector of our future workforce, yet have little to no voice in the advocacy process.

Read more…

We’re still on a high from the whirlwind events during Consultation on Conscience and have more or less caught up on sleep. This week, we’ve begun getting back to our more usual work.

On Thursday, we sponsored a disability inclusion training at Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, MD. We also continued our work with the Rabbis Organizing Rabbis efforts in Texas. RAC LA Sarah Krinsky and I joined a conference call with rabbis there who are preparing to lobby Senator John Cornyn on immigration reform. The Senate will begin marking up the bi-partisan Gang of Eight legislation next week, so if you haven’t yet sent your Senators an email about the bill, now is the time.

Read more…

For all of the sci-fi-loving Jews out there, happy Star Wars Day! It may seem odd that a Jewish blog would produce a post for this secular (ok, cult) holiday, but the reality is that the names, story lines and even vocabulary of the “Star Wars” universe have important connections to Judaism and to its teachings. Recall C3PO’s dissatisfaction as he proclaims, “We seem to be made to suffer. That’s our lot in life.” Apparently this protocol droid fluent in over 6 million forms of communication is most comfortable conversing in Jewish guilt.

For those of you who have not taken a few hours to immerse yourself in the universe of Star Wars, let me give you a brief synopsis. The two trilogies follow Anakin Skywalker’s life from a young child to Jedi Knight and keeper of the peace to Sith Lord bent on Galactic domination. The heart of the story line is the struggle of good vs. evil. In Episodes I, II and III we witness the internal struggle between Anakin’s noble aspirations to be a keeper of the peace within the republic, a Jedi Knight, and his own desires and ambitions. The latter eventually wins out, and Anakin leads an army of storm troopers, loosely based on the storm troopers of Nazi Germany, on a tirade to replace the republic with a dictatorship. The culmination of this effort is the virtual annihilation of the Jedi Order. In Episodes IV, V and VI, a scrappy coalition of resistance fighters led by Anakin’s son, Luke, seek to overthrow the newly established empire and resurrect the republic. In the final chapter, Luke becomes the only surviving Jedi and is, presumably, the founder of a new Jedi Order.

The term “Jedi,” some have argued, is based on the German word “Jude” meaning Jew. The Jedi are portrayed as being somewhere between UN peacekeepers and monks dedicated to achieving a greater intellectual and spiritual understanding of the universe. In essence, Jedi Knights are the embodiment of Jewish philosophy; they study and work to achieve universal peace and prosperity and stand up to fight for the little guy. Indeed, as the Galactic Storm Troopers destroy the Jedi’s temple and massacre its residents, you can even see parallels to our people’s storied history as the quintessential victims of persecution.

Moreover, when the wise Jedi Master Yoda, a 900 year old Jedi with a bald head and a propensity to talk about the antics of youth and lament how old he feels welcomes a stranger, Luke Skywalker, into his home, he may not be serving matzah-ball soup, but it is not hard to imagine that he could. In fact Yoda’s name is close to the Hebrew root “yeda,” which translates to “knowing.” It is not hard to imagine him telling tails of days gone by around the Jedi Council table. Does that describe any Jewish grandfathers you know? If you need further proof, the name of the mentor of both Anakin and Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, bares a striking resemblance to the Hebrew “k’nah vi,” which translates to “like a prophet.” Obi Wan undergoes a transformation into some kind of non-corporeal being gently exerting influence on events as they unfold. Sounds profit-esque to me.

As Star Wars Day falls on Shabbat this year, there are even more important themes to reflect on. In both our “real” world and in the Star Wars universe, the rise of evil is and was facilitated by the indignation and inaction of those who are not directly affected.

We should all strive to be like Yoda. We want to live to a ripe old age, accumulate knowledge, achieve great wisdom and stand up and fight evil and hatred when it stares us right in the face.

Shabbat Shalom and may the force be with you!