Sunday, 27 February 2011
Shabbat and Weekly Readings - Week 4 Va-Yakheil
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Guest post - The Board of Deputies and Israel
Broadly speaking, the Board advocates for the peace and security of the State of Israel as representatives of our community to government, foreign embassies and other faith organisations. The Board has a role in expressing the Jewish community’s views on what can be one of the most divisive of issues. Attitudes towards Israel from Diaspora communities have always been complicated and with the peace process in abeyance, there has never been such a diverse range of views as to the direction in which the State should be heading. The Board’s role is to make sense of this range of views and represent as nuanced a position as possible. An impossible task I hear you cry! But that doesn’t stop us trying and we view it as a positive challenge both to present the range of opinions within our own community but also to highlight the democratic and pluralistic nature of Israeli society.
So what Israel based work do we do?
The Board implements a three-pronged Israel strategy– Public Education; Supporting Peace initiatives; and Advocacy.
Our Public Education work generally involves building and maintaining contacts with Israelis from all shades of the Israeli political spectrum and society to bring their narratives and realities to our community. This ranges, for example, from hosting Israeli government officials both from the UK embassy and from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (most recently Ismail Khaladi, the MFA’s senior advisor on Arab citizens of Israel) to organizing meetings at the Board with such diverse civil society groups as Neve Shalom (Peace village) and IsraAID, an umbrella organization for all international Israeli humanitarian missions, such as those in Haiti, the Sudan and even Pakistan.
As well as supporting a negotiated peace for all people of the region through organizations such as One Voice, the Board promotes initiatives which are designed to inculcate the right conditions for peace. For example, the Board is a founding member of the UK Taskforce on Arab Citizens of Israel. The Taskforce promotes the prosperity and equality of Palestinian Israelis, recognising that the founding principles of the State of Israel demand such actions. Just last month, Elizabeth Harris-Sawczenko, the Board’s Director of Public Affairs, spent a week in Nazareth and the Galilee as part as of the Taskforce’s first ever Israel trip, a trip which included Lucien Hudson, Chairman of Liberal Judaism.
Our advocacy work falls into two categories – responding to concerns from the Jewish community and advancing a proactive policy.
The Board is often the first stop for members of the community when they have concerns about Israel’s treatment in the press, on TV or in exhibitions. Recent examples of this include misleading adverts in newspapers, gratuitous demonization of Israel in non-Israel related articles or imbalanced exhibitions, such as Rod Cox’s ‘Loss of Innocence’. The Board responds in a firm, nuanced and constructive way – we’re not afraid to make a noise if necessary but we also try and resolve issues in a way that wins us friends and offers a positive vision of Israeli democracy rather than a divisive negative one.
The Board also conducts a proactive Israel strategy. We support and initiate campaigns and projects to present a different paradigm to the one peddled by those who attempt to demonize and single-out Israel for criticism. This has included BUYcotts, to counter the negative boycott campaigns against the Jewish State, and the community has had no trouble in shopping to support Israel!
The Board is currently taking part in a cross-communal Gilad Shalit awareness campaign. As part of this, the Board has asked the Jewish community and the general public to wear a yellow ribbon, or add a digital ribbon to their Facebook and Twitter profiles, to show solidarity with the Shalit family. The campaign very much focuses on the human rights aspect of his captivity rather than the general political situation in the Middle East.
In the last few months the Board has been doing much to build relations with key political figures in the European Union, including a delegation to Brussels last November when we met MEPs from the three major British parties. At these meetings tougher sanctions, and implementation of sanctions, against Iran’s nuclear programme featured high on the agenda, as did a long awaited upgrade to Israel-EU bilateral trade relations.
It is not the Board role to act as an extension of the Israeli embassy or to support one or another Israeli government policy, but whilst the State of Israel remains a key part of the lives of British Jews, it will remain a key aspect of the work of the Board of Deputies.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
To mark the end of Liberal Judaism’s Israel Month
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Guest Post - Yaron Shavit, Chair of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism
As the Chair of the IMPJ, I am honored and delighted that you are having Liberal Judaism Israel Month!
I had just returned from San Francisco, where the World Union of Progressive Judaism held its "Connections 2011" biennial!
It was great meeting reform committed leaders from all over the world as well as from the UK! I was given the opportunity to address the plenum speaking on The reform world and Israel!
For me it was an opportunity to speak in short about my thoughts in the matter, and I simply shared with them my thoughts being basically that as Israel is a Jewish Democratic state, it is through Democratic means that we are to influence the Israeli society and government! The Progressive movement in Israel are the best allies of the progressives around the world as we are the people on the ground fighting daily on the Tikun Olam of the Israeli society. Even those that chose: "not to be involved" or "connected" to Israel, cannot escape a simple truth that for the coming years, every Jew is and will be highly influenced from Israel and the way it is being perceived in the western world. We can and should be all proud of our ability to maintain a democracy in this part of the world and despite circumstances that are very complicated, yes we are not proud of many of the things that happen, but they will not go away, if we are not committed, together, to roll our sleeves and start working….
Happy ADAR
ירון שביט, עו"ד
יו"ר, התנועה הרפורמית - יהדות מתקדמת בישראל.
Yaron Shavit Adv.
Chairman, Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ)
מסורת של התחדשות יהודית
Monday, 21 February 2011
Is Israel our Golden Calf?
To read the complete sermon see http://www.npls.org.uk/Sermons/New/KiTissa5771.html
And see the response at http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/is-israel-our-golden-calf
Jewish values and State .v. Synagogue and State
A State of Israel learning about, inspired by and applying Jewish values. I can buy that: Jewish values and State. Synagogues, Rabbis and State, I think we are best served without.
read the complete sermon at http://www.npls.org.uk/Sermons/New/ErevKiTissa5771.html
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Guest Post - Learn, Lead, Serve -The Leo Baeck Education Center, Haifa
Learn, Lead, Serve -The Leo Baeck Education Center, Haifa
Fulfilling the LJ Vision in Israel
"We are committed to a democratic and pluralistic society that respects and honours the minority in our midst…," Dani Fesler, Managing Director, the Leo Baeck Education Center.
Founded in 1938 as a kindergarten for children fleeing the horrors of Nazi Europe, the vision, values and goals of the Leo Baeck Education Center remain the same today as they were 73 years ago, rooted in the pluralistic, humanistic values of Progressive Judaism and implemented through its schools, Community Centre, 10 social outreach satellites, and Congregation Ohel Avraham synagogue.
Today, the Leo Baeck Education Center, with 2,267 pre-school to 12th graders, including autistic spectrum students, studying in its schools, a Community Centre with 10 satellite centres serving thousands of local residents, and Congregation Ohel Avraham at its heart, offers a unique blend of formal and informal education rooted in the principles of academic excellence, human rights, community responsibility and social outreach to all of Haifa's needy populations.
Through its Community Centre Leo Baeck reaches out and serves 35,000 Haifa households, supporting and empowering disadvantaged populations, in particular, the Arab, Ethiopian, FSU, Mizrachi and special needs communities. Leo Baeck is rooted at every level in the Jewish tradition of academic excellence, social action, Tikkun Olam, ethical leadership and is absolutely committed to deepening connections with Jewish communities throughout the world.
For more information, please contact.
Carol Brauner
Director of International Development
The Leo Baeck Education Center
Haifa, Israel
Office: 972 4 8300573
Israel Mobile: 0524-75 33 75
