Jewish Alliance for Law
and Social Action - www.jewishalliance.org.
18 Tremont Street, Suite 320,
Boston, 02108 - tel: 617-227-3000 fax: 617-227-3453
12 Tishrei 5765 Update September 27, 2004
Wishing all our members and friends a good healthy peaceful New Year and a joyous Sukkot holiday
In memoriam.
Past president of
the New England AJCongress, Milton Borenstein.
The funeral will be Wednesday,
September 29 at 11:00 am
Stanetsky Chapel in Brookline.
Due to
Sukkot, the family will sit shiva only until sundown on
Wednesday.
Separate not yourself from your
community!
Pirkei Avot 2:51.
1. This week's JALSA and Coalition Meetings
Voices of Choice
Physicians Who Provided Abortions
Before Roe v. Wade
Video presentation
Monday, September 27, 6:30
pm.
Suffolk Law School, Boston, Massachusetts
This film and featured panel of speakers, including Dr. Phil Stubblefield, document the courageous and inspiring stories of illegal and legal abortion provision prior to 1973 as told by the physicians who provided these health services and advocated for abortion reform. Co-sponsored by the Abortion Access Project, ACLU-Massachusetts, American Constitution Society at Suffolk Law School, Greater Boston NOW, JALSA, Massachusetts Midwives for Choice, Medical Students for Choice - Harvard, NARAL ProChoice Massachusetts, Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH), and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice - Massachusetts. For more information on the video: http://www.prch.org/voicesofchoice.shtml.
JALSA Board
Tuesday, September 28, 12:00
noon
JALSA Office, 18 Tremont Street, Suite 320, Boston
Strategic Plan
provided by our Young Social Activists.
Annual Fund underway.
Upcoming
events.
Jews Choose or Lose:
Jewish Values and Issues in
the 2004 Presidential Election
Tuesday, September 28, 7:30 - 9
pm
Temple Ohabei Shalom, 1187 Beacon Street, Brookline, (Green C Line to Kent
St)
Program in cooperation with Jewish Interaction and JCRC
*Invited:
Congressman Edward Markey (State Chair, Kerry campaign) and
Lieutenant
Governor Kerry Healey (State Chair, Bush campaign).
Are there uniquely Jewish issues this election year? What
are the Republican
and Democratic views on topics of historical interest to
Jewish voters
(Middle East politics, religious freedom, separation of church
and state,
social and economic justice)? Where do the candidates stand on
issues such
as the war in Iraq, same-sex marriage, healthcare and education
reform?
We're partnering with the Young Leadership Division of Combined
Jewish
Philanthropies to hear the party line from Bush and Kerry
campaign
officials. A rabbi will moderate and there will be an opportunity
for
attendees to ask questions as well.
RSVP by Monday, September 27,
617-227-3000
CLSA, Committee on Law and Social Action
No
meeting this week because of the holiday of Sukkot
It is, however, a good
time for each of us to select a social action
item of particular interest to
highlight for weekly meetings of CLSA.
Meetings open to all interested in the
development of public policy.
After the holidays, we will return to Friday
meeting dates 12:30pm for
our in-town meetings.
2. Upcoming JALSA and Coalition Meetings
Citizens for Public Schools (CPS)
Promoting
Excellence & Equity in Education
ANNUAL MEETING
Tuesday,
October 5, 4:45-6:45 pm.
Combined Jewish Philanthropies, 126 High Street,
Boston, 9th Floor
ACTIVIST FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AWARDS
Connie Rizoli,
Long time staff member, Education Committee, Massachusetts State
Legislature
Hattie McKinnis, Retired Director of the (Boston) Citywide
Parents Council
Award Presentation by Rep. Peter Larkin, House Ways and Means
Committee
Featured Speaker:
LITIGATION: PROMOTING EQUITY AND ADEQUACY IN
EDUCATION
Mark Michelson, Esq.,Founding Vice President,JALSA and Former
President,ACLU-Massachusetts
CPS Brown Bag Lunches with speakers on public
education
Thursdays noon – 1:30pm
November 4
December
2
January 6
February 3
March 2
April 7
May 5
June 2
Alliance for High Standards NOT High Stakes
Fall
Meetings
Alliance meetings have been scheduled for the second Monday of
the month
(except when it is a holiday) at 10:00 AM - Noon
JALSA
office, Suite 320, 18 Tremont Street, Boston
October 18
November
8
December 13
October Executive Committee Meeting
Tuesday,
October 12, 12:00 noon
JALSA office, 18 Tremont Street, Suite 320,
Boston
Young Social Activists
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
AWARENESS
Sunday: October 17, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Temple Ohabei
Shalom, 1187 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02446. (“C” branch of the Green
Line).
JALSA Young Social Activist Event
Presenting organizations: Kol
Isha and Jane Doe, Inc., speaking on “Domestic Violence Awareness: Creating Safe
Communities.”
Light dairy/veggie dinner provided. Potluck desserts and
appetizers.
To RSVP, contact 617-742-1836 or Cindy@Jalsa.org. The event is
free.
October JALSA Board Meeting
Tuesday, October
26, 7:30 pm.
Home of Mary Ellen Grossman.
RSVP office for
address
office@jalsa.org.
Save the Date: JCRC 2004 Tzedek Institute for
Synagogues
"Building Leadership, Pursuing Justice"
Sunday, November
14, 1:00 - 6:00 pm
LaCava Campus Center, Bentley College, Waltham,
MA
JALSA Executive Director Sheila Decter will be presenting a
workshop.
Other upcoming Sheila Decter presentations:
October 4
- Burlington Bedford Jewish Women International
October 12 - Temple Emanuel,
Newton
October 24 - Temple Beth Shalom, Peabody
JALSA Annual Meeting
Jewish Alliance for Law and
Social Action
Sunday, December 5, 10:30 am.
Holiday Inn, 1200
Beacon Street, Brookline
Guest Speaker: Renee Landers, President, Boston
Bar Association
3. Legislative and Political Issues Justice, Justice shall thou pursue (Deut. 16:20)
On Separation of Church and State; Religion and
Politics
1. Christian activists
Fri, Sep 24, 2004
Christian
Coalition Mobilizes for Election
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press
Writer
WASHINGTON - With choruses of amens, Christian activists on Friday
affirmed that they have the power, with a little prayer and a lot of legwork, to
assure that President Bush (news - web sites) stays in the White House.
.....
see: http://jewishalliance.org/info/00000086.htm.
2. Catholic Church hierarchy
The Republican
Party is urging Catholics to shun Kerry. However, additionally, activists groups
of church leaders have been established to urge Catholics to measure Catholics
on key issues. While this activity is nominally non-partisan, even Catholic
political scientists conclude it clearly means appealing to more conservative
Catholics.
http://jewishalliance.org/info/00000089.htm.
Referencing
article in Boston Globe by Michael Kranish, September 26, 2004
and report by
Monica Brady Myerov, WBUR, September 27, 2004
Note references to instruction
by national church leaders on what activities will not jeopardize non-profit
status.
3. Legislation in the US Congress
US House of
Representatives voted 247-173 to strip federal courts of the authority
to
hear cases challenging the constitutionality of the Pledge of
Allegiance.
This follows House approval of a bill in July that limits the
courts' ability
to review cases involving the legal definition of marriage.
Also pending in both
the House and Senate is The Constitution Restoration Act
(HR. 3799 and S.2082)
which would prohibit the courts from intervening on
issues involving violations of
government/religion separation by elected or
appointed officials.
see: http://jewishalliance.org/info/00000087.htm.
see:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/24/221558/777.
for full article.
On Civil Liberties and US Patriot Act I and II
1. CBS announces new FBI measures between now and
Election
http://jewishalliance.org/info/0000008e.htm.
2. Terrorism intelligence center will connect local
cops to feds
By Tom Farmer, Boston Herald
Thursday, September 23,
2004
http://jewishalliance.org/info/0000008d.htm.
3. EPIC: The Transportation Security Administration has
released more
information about Secure Flight, the government's new
passenger
prescreening initiative which is being developed to replace
the
controversial second generation Computer Assisted
Passenger
Prescreening System (CAPPS II). CAPPS II was dropped just months
ago
due to unresolvable concerns about the program's effectiveness
and
implications for individual privacy.
http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.18.html.
4. A key Senate panel is considering a proposed
expansion of the USA Patriot Act, the controversial 2001 counter-terrorism
law. The new bill, called the "Tools to Fight Terrorism Act of 2004" (S. 2679),
includes many provisions of the draft "Patriot Act II" first brought to public
attention by the Center for Public Integrity.
http://www.aclu.org/info/info.cfm?ID=16470&c=248.
5. See Alternet for a review of the new Greenwald
film: Unconstitutional
Runaway Train: The True Story of the U.S. Patriot
Act
By Martha Lynn, AlterNet. Posted September 27, 2004.
See: http://jewishalliance.org/info_toc.htm.
6. Resources:
A list of several websites where
up-to-date materials can be tracked on civil liberties
issues. List includes
the ACLU, the Center for Public Integrity, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee,
The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; The National Coalition to
Repeal the Patriot Act; Free Expression Policy Project; and the Cato Institute
on civil liberties. see: http://jewishalliance.org/info/0000008f.htm.
On Voter Registration
Do you want to support
"get out the vote groups?
Two groups locally: Mass Vote and Dunk the
Vote
Mass Vote:
http://www.massvote.net/site/PageServer.
Dunk
the Vote: dunktvote@aol.com.
Freedom House,
14 Crawford Street, Roxbury
See: http://jewishalliance.org/info/0000008a.htm.
for
additional groups around the country
Call our JALSA office if you want to
help get voters out for these non-partisan groups
on election day.
Wednesday, October 13th, is the last day to register to vote in this year's presidential election.
Are You Really Registered to Vote?
Think you're
registered to vote? You may be wrong! Recently
MoveOn checked public voter
files in some key states, and
found up to 30% of MoveOn members were not
registered.
Although almost all of us think we are registered, there
are
lots of things that can happen in the process. Luckily,
there's a simple
solution to this problem: Register. Make sure
you're not turned away from the
voting booth on Nov. 2, by
registering now. It takes less than five
minutes.
http://www.yourvotematters.org/vote/index.cfm?ms=NLV001.
Voter Registration on Campus
Some students are
having difficulty in registering to vote in the states where they live.
The
Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowered the voting age to
18.
Voting is a federal right, and the rights of students to register to vote
where they attend
college is guaranteed by federal law in federal elections.
The U.S. Supreme Court
has expressly ruled that college communities must
allow students to register to vote there
(US v Symm) and the Federal Voting
Rights Act prohibits states from imposing
“durational residency
requirements.”
On Presidential Debates
This Thursday, we look
forward to hearing the first debate between the leading two presidential
candidates.
This past week, Bill Moyers on NOW reviewed the history of the
debates with experts in this area and we learned the way in which the Commission
on Presidential Debates helps protect both leading candidates from the really
hard questions.
http://www.pbs.org/now/.
On the War in Iraq
Readers have shared with us
the Kol Nidre Sermon of Boston Rabbi Ronne Friedman of Temple Israel. Rabbi
Friedman asks forgiveness for his original support of the war in Iraq and urges
his congregation to select roads ahead which may appear thornier and harder, but
are in the end, shorter because we recognize the difficult thorny path we must
follow that recognizes nuances and reflection, wisdom and humility, and the
management of the evil that is part of the human condition, within and without.
The full sermon may be found at http://jewishalliance.org/info/00000088.htm.
On Protesting the War
"Mourning the Warrior,
and Questioning the War"
September 22, 2004
By CHRIS HEDGES
New York
Times
Sue Niederer's war protest at a presentation by Laura
Bush
not only had her removed from the room,
but taken to jail in
handcuffs when she tried talking to reporters.
Charged with trespassing, she
was released soon afterward,
and prosecutors later dropped the charge.
Niederer's only son,
Second Lt. Seth J. Dvorin, 24, was killed in February
when a
roadside bomb exploded in an Iraqi town.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/nyregion/22profile.html?ex=1096879041&ei=1&en=c3461b6a73c0dc14.
On Genocide
Call for Immediate International
Action in Darfur and Chad
Nat Hentoff in Village Voice
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0439/hentoff.php.
The
Most Evil Crime
As black Africans are murdered and raped, most Americans are
indifferent September 24, 6:30 PM
"On my last visit to the Darfur area in
Sudan, in June, I found a man groaning under a tree. He had been shot in the
neck and jaw and left for dead in a pile of corpses. . . . Under the next tree I
found a 4-year-old orphan girl caring for her starving 1-year-old brother. And
under the tree next to that was a woman whose husband had been killed, along
with her 7- and 4-year-old sons, before she was gang-raped and mutilated.
—Nicholas D. Kristof The New York Times, September 11"
Hentoff: .....................Where are the demonstrations in the streets of American cities and towns? Where is the flood of calls, e-mails, and letters to the White House, and to individual members of Congress? John Kerry, at the National Baptist Convention in New Orleans, in a speech hardly mentioned in the media except notably by Stanley Crouch in the September 13 Daily News, "got a standing ovation by calling on President Bush to take leadership in 'the immediate deployment of an effective international force to disarm militia and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Darfur.' " But otherwise, the unremitting genocide of these black African Muslims by Arab Janjaweed Muslims and Khartoum is absent from the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns and from American conversations. .....
World Conference of Religions for Peace
http://jewishalliance.org/info/0000008c.htm.
4. Community Programs
GLAD needs hotline volunteers
Volunteers needed
for GLAD's Legal Information Hotline.
GLAD operates a free Legal Information
Hotline that provides service for anyone who needs information about their
rights involving LGBT/HIV issues or help in legally defending those rights. The
Hotline is staffed by volunteers Monday-Friday from 1:30-4:30 pm. Volunteers do
not need any prior legal experience. GLAD does an intensive training, but it
only happens twice a year--the next training begins on October 12.
Hotline training takes place on Tuesday October 12,
5:30-9:00pm; Thursday October 14, 5:30-9:00pm; Saturday October 16,
9:00am-5:00pm; and Tuesday October 19, 5:30-9:00pm. Volunteers are required to
attend all of these sessions.
Dinner will be provided during each of the
evening sessions as well as lunch on Saturday.
Once the training is
completed, the volunteer works one weekday afternoon per week.
GLAD asks for
a commitment of at least 6 months.
For further information,
Contact
Hotline Coordinator Bruce Bell
(617) 426-1350 or bbell@glad.org. or the website www.glad.org.
All sessions at GLAD, 30
Winter Street, suite 800, Boston.
Help for Haiti
Greater Boston Interfaith
Organization reminds us of the destruction in Haiti
Hurricane Jeanne has
claimed the lives of over 1000 people in the
Northwest of Haiti, with another
1000 missing and an estimated 250,000
people left homeless. Gonaives, Haiti's
third largest city, was
flooded by 10 feet of water and mud which has still
yet to fully
drain. The region is on the brink of a public health disaster
which
could claim even more lives.
The Boston area is host to a significant number of
immigrants from
Gonaives. Many members of GBIO congregations have already
identified
relatives who have died in this catastrophe, and many others have
yet
to receive any news of their family's whereabouts.
The Haitian community of Greater Boston has united to
launch a single
Boston-based relief effort. An account has been set up at
Citizens Bank
under the name "Hurricane Jean Relief Fund for Haiti" to
collect all
donations from the Haitian diaspora community in Massachusetts
and
funnel them towards major established relief organizations already
at
work in Gonaives such as the Red Cross of Haiti.
The Haitian community is hoping to raise at least $80,000
from
Haitian-Americans here in Boston, and they are looking to the
larger
community to match them. To give a sense of perspective of the
need,
the United States Government has so far committed
only $60,000 in
aid.
Please contact the GBIO office by responding to this
email if you or
your congregation is able to contribute to this relief
effort.
Deposits can be made into the "Hurricane Jean
Relief Fund for Haiti" at
any Citizens Bank branch in the area.
Contributions are tax
deductible. However, in order to receive a tax receipt,
you must send
your check via mail to the following address:
Hurricane Jeanne Relief Fund for Haiti
c/o Haitian
Multi-Service Center
12 Bicknell St.
Dorchester, MA 02121
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
presents
Reproductive Health in the Twenty-First Century
Thursday,
October 14, 4-6 pm, and
Friday, October 15, 8:30 AM-5:15
pm
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Theater, Agassiz House,
Radcliffe Yard. 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
The Radcliffe
Institute's third annual conference to focus on women, gender, and society will
tackle the broad array of issues raised by the term "reproductive health."
Panels of experts will discuss the global, ethical, and social implications of
medical and technological advances in the field.
Panels will cover such
topics as:
What Do We Mean By Reproductive Health in the Twenty-First
Century?
New Technologies and the Unsettling of the Natural
Who Reproduces
in the Twenty-First Century?
Transgenerational Health and Reproductive
Health
For further information and agendas as they develop,
please visit www.radcliffe.edu. .
This
conference is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first come first
served basis. There is no registration for this event.
4th annual WOMEN'S CELEBRATION OF
SUKKOT
Monday: October 4, 5:00pm-8:00pm
Women's Studies Research
Center, 515 South Street, Brandeis Univ., Waltham, MA
cosponsored by
Mayyim Hayyim, Hadassah Brandeis Institute, Sh'ma
For further information,
call 781-736-8114 or Email: hbi@brandeis.edu.
Please join us for
study, song, movement and refreshments
Gathering 5:00 Program 5:30 Reception
6:00
Families welcome!
(directly across from the Brandeis/Roberts commuter
rail station) Waltham
http://www.brandeis.edu/directions.html.
Sukkah
will be adorned with art especially created for this celebration by winners of a
juried art competition: Sheila Dehner (New York), Jill Levien (Massachusetts),
Bette Ann Libby (Massachusetts), Claire Marcus (Pennsylvania), Flora Rosefsky
(Georgia).
Dennis Ross: Middle East at the
Crossroads
Monday: October 11, 7:30 p.m.
Temple Israel, 477
Longwood Avenue, Boston
Jewish Community Relations Council
For
reservations call Sheldon Goldberg 617-457-8645 or Email: sgoldberg@jcrcboston.org.
Ambassador
Dennis Ross, chief US negotiator of the Middle East peace process for more than
12 years, will give a community briefing. Ross will focus on his current book,
The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace, which
offers a comprehensive look at the peace process and his direct dealings with
the negotiating parties. After the talk, Ambassador Ross will be on hand to sign
copies of his book, which will be available for sale. This program is free and
open to the community. It is co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations
Council, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Temple Israel of Boston. RSVP is
required for this event.
And thou shalt
observe...the feast of ingathering at the turn of the
year.
[Exodus 34:22]
Giving Thanks to the Source:
An
Environmental Celebration of Sukkot
Oct 3, 7-9pm
Temple Beth Zion,
1566 Beacon Street, Brookline
Co-sponsored by The Coalition on the
Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) &
Temple Beth Zion
Featured
speaker:
Rabbi Ebn Leader, Co-Director, Hebrew College Bet Midrash
In
ancient times, Sukkot celebrated the closing of the agricultural year
and the
miracle of the fall harvest, when Israelites would make pilgrimage
to
Jerusalem to give thanks for the Earth's bounty.
Join us as we celebrate the
continuing miracle of the harvest and learn
what Jewish sages and modern
environmentalists have to teach us about
protecting it.
Seasonal fruits
and other harvest treats will be served
This event is free and open to the
public.
Suggested donation: a can of vegetarian and/or pareve
soup or
tomato sauce for Family Table
Temple Beth Zion is accessible by T: Green “C”
Line to Fairbanks
For more information call: Temple Beth Zion (617)
566-8171
Bone Marrow Drive
A bone marrow
drive will be held for Dennis Ozer of Needham on Sunday,
October 3rd at the
Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, 333 Nahanton
Drive, Newton, MA
02459 from 11:00-4:00 p.m. Dennis was diagnosed at the
beginning of August
2004 with Myelodysplasia and Acute Myelogenous Leukemia
and it is critical
that he find a life-saving marrow match. Since tissue
type is inherited, his
best chance of finding a genetically matched bone
marrow donor lies with
those of Eastern-European Jewish ethnic
ancestry. Donors will be entered into
the National Marrow Donor Program for
the benefit of patients worldwide who
are in need of unrelated donors to
offer them this precious gift of
life.
Dennis is married to Debra Goodman. They look forward to the bar
mitzvah of
their son in November. As we all know, "He who
saves one life,
it is as if he had saved the entire world."
For more information on marrow
donation, please visit
www.dennisozer.com.
or
www.dana-farber.org/how/donatebone/.
There are several ways in which you can
assist:
· Asking that the Rabbi or President of your congregation make an
announcement at Sukkot services.
· Sending an e mail distribution to your
congregation regarding the drive
· If you have a weekly handout or
newsletter, include an announcement of the drive in your communications with
your congregation
5. SUPPORT THE JEWISH ALLIANCE
The Jewish Alliance for Law
and Social Action----
dedicated to continuing a strong, progressive,
inter-generational voice
inspired by Jewish teachings and values for social
justice, civil rights, and civil liberties.
Membership is open to all who wish to work for progressive goals in the development of public policy. Join us!
Please keep us in mind as you give your New Year's charity, so that we can continue to make a difference.
Visit www.jewishalliance.org. and fill out the online donation form today!
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