Latest at JRF.org

How do we stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and funding terror?
End America’s reliance on foreign oil.

Last week, JRF joined several other Jewish organizations in this New York Times ad urging the US government to pursue green energy sources, and end our dependence on foreign oil that can channel funds into the hands of terrorist regimes.

Along with the ad, this petition was included. The petition is to urge US Senators to make energy security policy and climate change national priorities.

This effort was led by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

JRF Supports Immigration Reform

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation continues to work with a coalition of Jewish and interfaith organizations towards comprehensive reform of the immigration system in the United States. Our key partner in this endeavor is HIAS (The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society).

A Faith Leaders’ Statement on Immigration
Supported by the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

As the leaders of different faith groups and denominations across the country, are gravely concerned with the current political and policy environment surrounding the issue of immigration. We are troubled by signs that our nation is turning away from reforming our nation’s immigration system and is instead pursuing enforcement policies which are ineffective and inhumane.

Enforcement raids, state and local anti-immigrant ordinances, and harmful rhetoric against immigrants are just a few of the signs that our nation is moving away from civil discourse and toward discord and division. As a result, immigrant families are being separated and immigrant and ethnic groups targeted, creating a climate of fear in all of our communities.

Now is the time to restart the debate on immigration reform and develop fair, balanced, and humane solutions to immigration. We offer the following principles to help guide our country in reaffirming our identity as a nation which welcomes immigrants and believes that the best of America is shown in how we treat those who come to our shores:

Anti-immigrant rhetoric has no place in public discourse and should not be used.
As a country, we value civil public discourse as the reasonable way to address our problems and arrive at solutions. Inflammatory statements and dehumanizing categorizations of any person or people, e.g. “illegals”, should be stricken in favor of factual and more accurate descriptions of the people adversely affected by our broken immigration system.

Elected officials should examine all aspects of our immigration system. Examining and reforming only one aspect of our immigration system—such as enforcement---will not meet the challenges we face. The legal immigration system, both employment and family-based, must also be reformed.

Reform of our laws should restore the rule of law and secure our borders. Current immigration law is severely flawed and thus must be corrected in order to re-establish the rule of law. As a sovereign nation has the right to secure its border, any reform should ensure that our country’s borders are secure from outside threats.

Reform of our laws must respect the human dignity of the person. The adoption of new laws must be measured by their ability to uphold basic human dignity. Any proposals which can lead to an abuse of human dignity and human rights must include safeguards to protect against such violations.

Reform of our laws must protect family unity. Proposals should ensure that families are kept together, to the greatest extent possible, and that children and youth, particularly, are afforded special protection. Too often our immigration laws lead to the disintegration of the family unit and the abandonment of children.

We commit ourselves to working with our own faith communities and others to foster constructive and respectful dialogue on this important national issue. As faith leaders, we will work to ensure that immigrants are treated with respect and dignity. We will speak out and educate our communities about the value of immigrants and the important contributions they make to our lives, while fostering a climate for constructive and civil dialogue on this important national issue.

We also urge our elected officials and all persons of good will to work together to find solutions which uphold the moral fabric of our nation, protect the dignity and human rights of all persons, and restore and maintain the rule of law.

As a nation of immigrants, we must remember our heritage and return to those values which have helped build our great nation—fairness, justice, opportunity, and compassion.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Political Update: http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/12/1003677/two-immigration-amendments-extended
New resources on Immigration for the Jewish holidays available at http://advocacy.hias.org/NetCommunity/religious_materials

See http://www.hias.org/progress for more information

Op-Ed by Rabbi Maurice Harris: http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?100430+abraham

http://www.jrf.org/external-affiliations

IN WAKE OF ROTEM/AYALON MEETINGS WITH JEWISH LEADERS IN NEW YORK
CONSERVATIVE, REFORM AND RECONSTRUCTIONIST MOVEMENTS
RELEASE STATEMENT CRITICAL OF THE CONVERSION BILL

Statement Reflects United Stance on Proposed Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
CONTACTS:
Conservative: Shira Dicker at 917.403.3989, shira.dicker@sd-media.com
Reform: Kate Bigam at 202.398.2800, kbigam@rac.org
Reconstructionist: Yael Ridberg at 917.287.4207, yridberg@yahoo.com or Carl Sheingold at 215.885.5601, csheingold@jrf.org
 
April 30, 2010 (New York, NY) -- Israeli Knesset Member David Rotem, author of a proposed bill dealing with conversion in Israel, met this week with leaders of the North American Jewish community to discuss the bill’s possible ramifications. Following a series of discussions with Rotem, the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements together issued the following statement:

We are appreciative of the substantial amount of time MK David Rotem devoted to meetings with us, individually and collectively, during his visit to the United States to discuss the legislation he has sponsored in the Knesset dealing with conversion and the Law of Return.  We also welcome Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Ayalon’s participation in many of our meetings.

It should, first, be emphasized that we deeply appreciate Mr. Rotem’s stated goal in advancing the legislation – to ameliorate the bottleneck in the conversion process that currently keeps as many as 350,000 thousand olim, or immigrants, from the former Soviet Union from converting to Judaism and thus becoming Israeli citizens.  The laudable goal of attempting to hasten the process of obtaining citizenship for these individuals – who currently serve in the Israeli army and contribute positively to Israeli society – is one that deserves widespread attention and support. Together, we thank MK Rotem for his efforts in addressing this crisis.

MK Rotem believes his proposed legislation would rapidly open the door to a faster conversion process.  We respectfully disagree. Not only would this legislation fail to achieve his forecasted result, the collateral damage to the 85% of world Jewry who are not Orthodox (and perhaps others who are) would be disastrous to the unity of the Jewish people in a number of ways.

The bill threatens to alter the Law of Return and consolidate conversion power into the hands of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, both of which could have devastating effects on the relationship between Israeli and Diaspora Jewry and thus on broader unity of the Jewish people. Such concentration of powers in favor of Ultra-Orthodox Jewry effectively negates the roles of the non-Orthodox movements both within Israel and abroad, sending the message that only the Orthodox have a place within our Homeland.

Specifically, the current formulations of Article 1 would legislate the role and status of the Chief Rabbinate in a way not previously written into law. Such legislation would turn back the clock on 20 years of hard-won accomplishments in the Israeli High Court and complicate future efforts to appeal to the Court, which has been the single mechanism to counter religious discrimination in Israel . 

This bill returns us to the destructive “who is a Jew” question, that has previously threatened to divide world Jewry, as it does today. To explicitly connect conversion to a single religious stream, while making no mention of other streams of Judaism, is by definition to compromise and jeopardize the Law of Return, as it places the decision for “who is a Jew” in the hands of one group. Such an action is inconsistent with the democratic ideals on which the State of Israel was founded and relies, and would detrimentally affect the worldwide Jewish community.

Further compounding our concern is the fact that the bill mentions no alternative method of conversion via non-Orthodox streams.  We – and more importantly, our Israeli colleagues and their lawyers – believe that this language, if adopted as written, would further marginalize and hamper the Masorti and Reform movements in Israel .  This would be a tragic consequence as we offer vibrant religious alternatives to a nation of Jews religiously alienated by the increasingly extreme positions of a minority religious establishment.  We firmly believe that any conversion legislation must explicitly address these concerns.

We are additionally troubled by language that provides that any person who entered Israel while ineligible to receive Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return will remain ineligible following conversion. Though MK Rotem says this language exists to outlaw the possibility of illegal immigrants undergoing conversion solely to obtain Israeli citizenship and remain in the country, the reality is that this deeply troubling clause differentiates between those who are born Jewish and those who choose to be Jewish, amending the Law of Return to exclude those who have made a conscious decision to join the Jewish community. For 2,000 years, Judaism has treated Jews-by-choice the same as Jews-by-birth.  We are taught "as soon as a convert emerges from the mikvah (ritual bath) she or he is Jewish for all purposes."  (Talmud, Yevamot 47b) We see no justification now for differentiating between groups of Jews or including an article with such severe ramifications in the framework of a law purportedly dealing with easing conversion procedures.

While we recognize the goals Mr. Rotem is working to achieve and deeply respect his efforts, we cannot lend our support to a bill that will have such devastating ramifications. This moment, when Israel faces a great many challenges, both at home and abroad, is no time to enact legislation that has the potential to divide the Jewish community or to alienate Diaspora Jewry.

Even as we expressed our concerns to Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon and MK Rotem, we also emphasized our steadfast love and commitment to the people and State of Israel. It is in this spirit of unity that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues in the Masorti and Reform movements in Israel and with one another. Indeed, it is our unconditional love for Israel as both a sovereign nation and a worldwide Jewish community that calls us to urge, in the strongest possible terms, upon MK Rotem, the Yisrael Beitenu party, and Prime Minister Netanyahu to withdraw this bill and introduce legislation that resolves the urgent problems of the Russian immigrants without compromising either the core democratic values of the State nor the Law of Return.

 
For information about this joint statement of the leadership of the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements to the Rotem Conversion Bill, please contact the following:
 
Conservative: Shira Dicker at 917.403.3989, shira.dicker@sd-media.com
Reform: Kate Bigam at 202.398.2800, kbigam@rac.org
Reconstructionist: Yael Ridberg at 917.287.4207, yridberg@yahoo.com or Carl Sheingold at 215.885.5601, csheingold@jrf.org

See additional JRF statement on Pluralism

Article from April 28, 2010 JTA: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/04/28/2394537/impact-of-proposed-israeli-conversion-law-under-debate 

Family Camp (August 18 - 22, 2010)
Camp isn't only for kids anymore! Parents, children, and other family members can now join us for five days of swimming, sports, arts, havaya (experiential education), singing, dancing, and all the best that Camp JRF has to offer. Click here to learn more.

Tikkun JRF (August 15 - 20, 2010)
Post b'nai mitzvah teens and their parent(s) can spend a week working together to make a difference by connecting to local communities and providing much needed support and building through a variety of tikkun olam (social action) community service projects such as building, home rehab and demolition, light carpentry, and more. Working side by side with one another, parents will model the caring and activist values they hold and teens will experience the power of their potential to make a difference in the larger world. Click here to learn more.

HaKotel L’Kulam — The Western Wall Should Be For All

A Statement in Support of the “Women of the Wall”

  
Social action based on Jewish ethics is a central part of Reconstructionist community activity. In Israel and North America, Reconstructionists actively support The Women at the Wall, who advocate equal worship rights for men and women in Israel.

The Reconstructionist Movement supports the efforts of the Women of the Wall.   

The Women of the Wall have held a monthly prayer group at the Western Wall (the Kotel) since 1988, in which Reconstructionist, Conservative, Reform and modern Orthodox women have participated. Today, the organization’s existence is being threatened by the Israeli government.

• The right of women to wear tallitot (prayer shawls) at the Wall 
• The right of women to read from the Torah at the Wall 
• The right of women to raise their voices in prayer at the Wall 
• The right of women to blow a shofar at the appropriate time and season at the Wall 

These women are not asking for an egalitarian section, they are seeking to pray as they see fit in the women’s section. As they stated in an open letter, “We do not hold egalitarian services…. Our rights can be realized in the women’s section at the Kotel ….” Ultimately, they were denied the right to pray as they wished within the women’s section by the Israeli Supreme Court.  Due to the court’s ruling, Israeli police have prevented the “Women of the Wall” from holding organized prayer groups in the Women’s section of the Kotel’s public plaza. 

In recent months, Israeli police have increased pressure on “Women of the Wall.” On Nov. 18, 2009, Nofrat Frenkel was arrested for wearing a tallit and carrying a Sefer Torah during worship services at the Wall. On January 5th, 2010, Anat Hoffman, “Women of the Wall” leader and Israel Religious Action Center Director, was detained and fingerprinted. The police informed her that her offense was the same as Frenkel’s -- wearing a tallit and holding a Sefer Torah at the Western Wall. Anat Hoffman is a major figure within Progressive Judaism. Her arrest is a direct attack on all non-Orthodox movements. These troubling events drive a wedge between the Orthodox and Progressive Jewish communities at a time when working for unity within Israel and enhancing the connection between North American and other non-Israeli Jewish communities and Israel should be a primary concern. To put it simply, the Western Wall has become a religious site controlled by the ultra-Orthodox. 

Within the Reconstructionist movement, every Jew has the right to read from a Torah, blow a shofar, wear a tallit and pray with full voice. The Western Wall is a location that holds special significance to almost all Jews. Because it is a historical site and not a synagogue, the Reconstructionist Movement does not feel that the norms of the ultra-Orthodox should prevail at the Western Wall.  The Western Wall should be a place where all Jews can gather to pray. Currently, it is a haven for the ultra-Orthodox. The situation is worsening. It is time to take action.  

We urge the municipality of Jerusalem, the State of Israel and its ambassadors to the United States and Canada to realize the gravity of this issue and take immediate steps to promote religious pluralism, provide equitable treatment to non-Orthodox streams of Jewish life and end the harassment of women seeking to pray with dignity at the Western Wall, which for many is a uniquely holy place.  

On Friday, May 14 and Saturday, May 15, which is the Shabbat between Yom Yerushalayim and Shavuot, we urge members of our congregations and havurot to discuss this issue during Shabbat services. We hope that many of our members will then follow up by writing letters to Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, or its ambassador to Canada, Miriam Ziv, expressing the above sentiments. 

As Reconstructionist Jews, we hope for a pluralistic Israeli society that welcomes all Jews. As Anat Hoffman writes, “Israel has shown that she can protect herself from armies and terrorists. Protecting herself from religious extremism may be Israel’s biggest challenge—a challenge that cannot and must not be ignored by those who care about Israel’s soul.” By standing with the “Women of the Wall,” we affirm our unity as a single world-wide Jewish community, the abiding importance of the city of Jerusalem in our lives, our connection with our sisters and brothers in the Land of Israel, and our responsibility to care for Israel’s soul. 

For more information about the Women of the Wall, please visit http://jrf.org/Women-of-the-Wall

U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren
Embassy of Israel

3514 International Drive NW
Washington, DC 20008
E-mail: info@washington.mfa.gov.il

Canadian Ambassador Miriam Ziv

Embassy of Israel
50 O'Connor Street
Ottawa,Ontario K1P 6L2

E-mail: info@ottawa.mfa.gov.il

* Photos at top depict (left to right): 1. Men praying at the Wall; 2. The Women's Section at the Wall; 3. Pope Benedict XVI; 4. Hillary Clinton; 5. Nofrat Frenkel reading Torah; 6. Anat Hoffman and another woman in prayer shawls; and 7. Judith Kaplan Eisenstein, marking the 70th anniversary of her Bat Mitzvah ceremony.

 Additional Resources

Women of the Wall blog

Women of the Wall Leader Interrogated by Police

Anat Hoffman Meets with IRAC's U.S. Partners

RT article by Anna Bosewell- Levy

We are quoted here thanks to R. Jarah Greenfield

R. Rebecca Alpert's article

Israel resources and statements  

General Links:

 URJ's Women of the Wall page 

 A Joint statement by all branches of the Conservative Movement

 CCAR response

Beginning on the eve of the second day of Pesach, we are instructed by our tradition to count the days of the “Omer” until the fiftieth day, which is when the first barley crop would be harvested. It is also the Jewish holiday of Shavuot when, according to our tradition, the Jewish People received the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The counting of the Omer is a bridge between Pesach and Shavuot – between a moment of liberation and a moment of self-definition and direction at the beginning of our evolution as a religious civilization. It is an opportunity to deepen our study and close the gap between ideas and action for the tikkun (rebalancing, repair) of the challenges we face in our world.

Each week during JRF's annual Omer Learning Initiative, we highlight resources, teachings, and wisdom gleaned from the Reconstructionist movement and our organizational partners, on topics that cover the major social justice and spiritual activism areas JRF and our member congregations have been working on. In this way we have produced and collected a wide array of resources and have encouraged the sharing of best practices and concrete action for the renewal and repair of the individual, community and world we are part of.

2010 Omer Initiative: Tikkun Hanefesh V'Olam - Growing the Soul: Self, Community and World (http://jrf.org/omer/2010)

2009 Omer Initiative: From Study to Action (http://jrf.org/omer/2009)

2008 Omer Initiative: From the Values and Spirit of Tikkun to Community Building (http://jrf.org/omer/2008)

2007 Omer Initiative: Environmental sustainability (http://jrf.org/omer/2007)

2006 Omer Initiative: Hunger and povery (http://jrf.org/omer/2006/intro)

2005 Omer Initiative: Pirke Avot (The Wisdom of Our Sages) (http://63.115.67.94/pirke-avot/index.html)

Omer Initiative Home Page: (http://jrf.org/omer/home)

We’re off to an exciting start with JRF’s online auction! More and more people are learning about the auction and visiting the site, and we appreciate all your help in spreading the word. We have decided to extend the auction so that more people will have a chance to see our great spread. The auction will now run through March 31, 2010 at 5:00 pm EST. 

Have you checked out our great auction items yet? We have books, beautiful jewelry, specialized services, vacation and travel packages, and much more! Here's your chance to snag some great deals while supporting JRF.

Click here to donate items for our next auction.

Thank you in advance for your support! We look forward to your online bids.

 Click here to shop JRF's online auction

Good luck!

For Passover, the JCPA along with MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, is once again offering a phenomenal mobilizing event through which JRF communities, congregations from every Jewish stream and local JCRCs can engage community members in meaningful anti-poverty advocacy: The Child Nutrition Seder
.

As well, in preparation for the reauthorization of the child nutrition and WIC programs in 2010, thousands of national, state and local organizations representing anti-hunger, religious, education, medical, nutrition, direct service, school food, pre-school and child care, unions, children, after school, industry, agriculture and a host of others will join in support of a "Statement of Principles" to guide our reauthorization efforts.

If you have any questions on the Child Nutrition Reauthorization and mobilizing your community around the legislation, or questions on implementing the Seder in your community and/or how to best partner with your local Jewish Community Relations Council, please contact Becky Eisen

The Seder will be an opportunity to:

• Educate the Jewish community and its partners about the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition in the US, its life-long impacts on children, and the solutions to address this growing problem;
• Enable the Jewish community to play a leading role in advocating for a strong Child Nutrition Reauthorization;
• Create a cadre of informed activists to supply a continuous stream of strong Jewish voices on the issue of domestic hunger;
• Strengthen relations between JCRCs, JRF communities and other Jewish organizations, as well as other local partners; and
• Mobilize towards the national goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015.

Background:

Psalm 82 calls on us to "Defend the poor and the orphan; deal justly with the poor and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy" (Psalm 82:3-4). In September of 2007, the American Jewish community responded to that call by participating in and promoting the Food Stamp Challenge in the week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, in order to raise the profile of hunger and poverty issues in the United States. Individuals took a pledge to subsist on the budget of the average food stamp recipient: $1 per meal per day ($21 for the week).

In September, 2008 the JCPA co-chaired and promoted Fighting Poverty with Faith - a week long interfaith initiative with 21 national partner organizations and nearly 100 participating communities, designed to elevate the issue of poverty in the 2008 elections. Through participation in these large national actions, communities that had not previously been involved in hunger and poverty issues began to advocate for effective poverty relief measures. Jewish communities and their partners became involved in the debate over national legislation concerning domestic hunger and poverty in a meaningful and united way.

In 2009- a year in which legislative decisions were be made that affect the provision of social services and poverty reduction programs for the initiative focused on the Child Nutrition Bill that was re-authorized.

Logistics and Resources:

We are urging JRF Communities to hold the Child Nutrition Seders around the nation during the week before and during Passover, March and April 2010. This week will culminate in a JCPA National Seder held in the Nation's capital and led by Rabbi Steve Gutow. The JCPA has secured the commitment of a number of Jewish denominational movements and youth groups to promote participation in these Seders to their local affiliates.

We recognize that putting together a Child Nutrition Seder is a big commitment. The JCPA has tried to anticipate the resources that you and your community will need to participate. In addition to the resources provided in this memo, we will be sending out sample op-eds and letters to the editor, legislative updates, and will arrange best practice sharing calls in the months to come in order to help facilitate your community's engagement.

The JCPA will also provide a Seder template in the coming weeks that can be adapted to the needs of the local groups with whom you are working. The template content will include Jewish texts on hunger, educational resources on the Child Nutrition Reauthorization, and action steps that can mobilize Seder participants.

The Seder will focus on educating younger participants on the general state of hunger in America and older participants on legislation that helps to combat childhood hunger. It will follow a typical Seder format (though we do not expect local partners to provide a full meal), but the emphasis will be on how it is our responsibility as Jews to let all who are hungry come and eat. The Seder will end with children and parents making calls and writing letters to legislators in support of a strong Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill to put us on a path towards the reachable goal of ending child hunger by 2015. Specifically, the Jewish community will be joining with our other partners in the anti-hunger community to ask for $1 billion in new funding for Child Nutrition over the next 5 years. Participants will then discuss how they can remain informed and active on this issue and become a strong voice in their communities to end childhood hunger.

This program presents a unique opportunity to engage the parents of young and pre-teen children, who are often hard to reach because of scheduling conflicts and time constraints. By reaching out to parents through their children, the Child Nutrition Seder can be a particularly effective means by which to get these members of the Jewish community involved in a significant and ongoing way.

Though the Seder is a one-time event, it is meant to serve as a gateway to engage participants in more sustained anti-poverty advocacy. Part of the planning process will also be to develop structures and relationships through which future advocacy and activism can be more easily planned and more quickly implemented.

Child Nutrition Seder Resources.

What JRF Congregations can do now:

Though the Seder is not until the end of March/beginning of April, there are a number of things that you can do now to ensure a successful program.

1. Send out the call--start reaching out to potential local partners now, especially your local JCRC, to ensure robust participation in the Seder, and as JRF is now a member religious organization of the JCPA, deepen ties to the local CRCs.
2. Save the date--get the event on your community 's calendar and get it on the calendars of your local partner organizations.
3. Spread the word--start getting your community excited about the Seder. Make sure it is on their calendar and their organization's calendars so that they do not plan overlapping programming. Put a notice in yours newsletter or e-mail blasts highlighting the Seder.

On a National Level:

The JCPA, with JRF as a member organization, hosts a national Child Nutrition Seder in the nation's capitol during the same time that local JCRCs will be hosting their own Child Nutrition Seders and JRF congregations are encouraged to do so as well. The JCPA invites legislators to attend the Seder and ask for their cooperation and support in pursuing a Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act that provides adequate tools and funding to end childhood hunger by 2015. JCRCs and JRF congregations can invite local and state legislators, school principals, school board members, and other political figures to attend local Seders, urging them to weigh in with national legislators to make the same ask. This will show that the individual activism in each community is linked to a larger Jewish movement in support of Child Nutrition Reauthorization, and will allow for maximum publicity opportunities for the Child Nutrition Seder.

We are so excited to work with you to create a strong and united Jewish voice on the issue of child hunger in America. If you have any questions on implementing the Seder in your community or conducting outreach, please contact Becky Eisen at beisen@thejcpa.org.

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

http://www.jrf.org/hunger
http://www.jrf.org/omer2008-hunger
http://jrf.org/omer/2006/intro

With tremendous excitement, we are launching the Keruv/Outreach page on the JRF website; a center for collective wisdom and experience in models, programs and resources for best practices in creating welcoming Jewish congregational communities. We welcome you to visit  www.jrf.org/keruv-library, review the wealth of resources and models, and contribute your own.

The site is a product of two years of intensive, creative work connected to the JRF NY/NJ region's Kehillah Kedoshah: Every Voice Matters Keruv/Outreach project.

We are enormously grateful to UJA Federation of New York for funding this Keruv Project, to Dru Greenwood for her guidance and to Susan Leon of Bet Am Shalom Synagogue for her help in the development of the grant proposal; and to each of our Keruv pilot synagogue membership and outreach groups from: Bet Am Shalom Synagogue; Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore; Kehillath Shalom Synagogue; Congregation Mishkan Ha'am; The SAJ; and West End Synagogue. These groups and their members embarked on focused work to look carefully and strategically at their congregations, and change to welcome more Jews and their families. The excellent outreach work of these and so many more congregations is reflected on the site, and we sincerely thank them for their contributions.

Most of all, we acknowledge Rabbi Hannah Greenstein, the professional leader of the Keruv project, for bringing her engaging presence and outreach expertise to each step in this important initiative.   

We look forward to the Keruv site growing to include your congregation's experiences and resources, as it becomes an increasingly rich source of inspiration and ideas for welcoming all Jews into our communities.

JRF WEST Mini Camp

Modeled on the successful program of Camp JRF, founded in the Midwest and now in its fourth summer on The Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman Campus in Pennsylvania's Pocono mountains, JRF WEST Mini Camp at Camp JCA Shalom will bring a taste of Camp JRF to Reconstructionist youth in the Western Region.

JRF WEST Mini Camp provides campers in grades 3-7 with strong connections to Reconstructionist Judaism and positive human values in a beautiful, fun, safe environment.

Campers will also live and learn the Values of Spiritual Peoplehood, a cornerstone of our Reconstructionist community.

Below please find the 2010 Registration form for JRF WEST Mini Camp.

Now’s your chance to snag some great bargains and support a worthy cause. The first ever online auction of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation is now open! Up on the auction block are jewelry, books, vacation packages, professional services, and much more! Check it out.

Looking for other ways to help make our online auction a huge success?
Donate items to our auction.
Refer friends to our auction so they can place bids too.

Aid for Chile in the aftermath of Saturday, February 27th's tremendous earthquake.

NEW YORK, NY, February 28, 2010—In the wake of today’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the world’s largest Jewish humanitarian assistance organization, announced that it will collect funds for relief efforts, said JDC CEO Steven Schwager. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, http://www.jdc.org/templates/media-center-template.aspx?id=4116

JRF is also a member of the executive council of the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief, which has opened a Jewish national coaltion donation fund at https://www.jdc.org/donation/donate.aspx?type=JCDR

Report on Jewish community in Chile: http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/1147275/jewish/Shabbat-Earthquake-Devastates-Chile.htm

Americares is sending medical supplies: http://www.americares.org/newsroom/news/help-chile-earthquake-quake-relief-aid.html

Operation USA, http://www.opusa.org or 800-678-7255, is collecting money online, as well as corporate shipments of medical supplies. Checks may be sent to Operation USA, 3617 Hayden Ave., Culver City, CA 90232. Or text REBUILD to 50555 to donate $10.

Masorti Olami Chile Earthquake Relief Fund for destroyed synagogue http://www.masortiworld.org/molami/update23

Please join us for the New York/New Jersey Region's Evening of Celebration Monday March 8th, 2010 at the landmark Eldridge Street Synagogue on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Reserve your spot or contribute now.

This year, for Passover, the Reconstructionist Press is offering special discounts on all A Night of Questions items through the holiday.

Soft Cover - This popular haggadah is being reprinted and will be available to ship in early March. We are offering each book at $18.00 when you purchase 10 or more, so that your seder can be well-stocked. To take advantage of this discount, click here to go to the JRF bookstore and use the discount code "nqbulk" when at checkout.

Limited Edition 10th Anniversary Hard Cover - We are offering a great discount on this limited edition. The regular price is $72.00, but you can buy it now for $27.00! This is a great gift, a wonderful edition to keep. This was printed in 5769 / 2009 to celebrate the Reconstructionist haggadah's 10th anniversary and includes a new section, "The Seder as a Spiritual Practice" by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld. Click here to order!

Music from A Night of Questions: CD by Shabbat Unplugged - This wonderful collection of music inspired by the haggadah is $22.00. Right now it is on sale for $9.99! Click here to order!

All of these discounts are for a limited time only, so take advantage now!

www.jrfbookstore.org

Please join us for the New York/New Jersey Region's Evening of Celebration Monday March 8th, 2010 at the landmark Eldridge Street Synagogue on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Reserve your spot or contribute now.

Mordecai Kaplan's masterpiece continues to captivate readers three quarters of a century after its initial publication. Judaism as a Civilization is garnering national attention in part due to a January 28 piece by Diane Cole in the Wall Street Journal, titled Invented the Bat Mitzvah, Rejected a Supernatural God. Cole delivers a succinct recap of Kaplan's life and challenges, and explains why Judaism as a Civilization remains relevant today.

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation is proud to have partnered with the Jewish Publication Society to reprint the book that inspired the birth of the Reconstructionist movement. Many consider this work to have contributed more than any other to the shaping of contemporary North American Judaism. JRF is grateful to Mel Scult, Kaplan's principal biographer, for providing this edition with a new introduction. This edition is dedicated to one of Kaplan's closest and most influential disciples, Rabbi Jack Cohen, in celebration of his 90th birthday.

You can order the book from the Reconstructionist Press's online bookstore: here. Affiliate members receive 20% off after checkout. You can also order copies from JPS.

Plan to join us on Sunday, March 21, 2010 for the Chesapeake Annual Celebration in support of Reconstructionist Judaism, our congregations and JRF. This year we will be holding the Chesapeake JRF Annual Celebration at Oseh Shalom Congregation in Laurel, MD.

Visit our online form to place your tribute and reservations.

This is the 18th Anniversary of Oseh Shalom's current building and we are very excited to help them celebrate this special year! The Annual Celebration will take place from 4:00-7:00 p.m. including entertainment and a light dinner.

At our Annual Celebration this year, we are very pleased to be presenting three special awards.  We will be presenting the Yehudit Award for Creativity and Leadership to Linda C. Jum, who has been instrumental in making Camp JRF and other youth programming what it is today in the Reconstructionist movement. While Linda is not affiliated with a Chesapeake JRF congregation, her constant support of JRF's work warrants her recognition nationally. Linda has been a part of every Chesapeake function since I have been regional director. The Linda C. Jum Fund for Creative Youth Initiatives is being set up to honor her for all her hard work. We hope you choose to make a donation to this fund.

We are thrilled to be able to honor Bob Barkin, from Adat Shalom with the Tzadik Award for all his work for the movement. Bob is currently President of the Reconstructionist Movement.

We will also be honoring Sheila Feldman from Adat Shalom with the Shevach Award (Praise) for her 12 years of service to Adat Shalom. Sheila is currently their Executive Director. Sheila will be the first member of our region to receive the Shevach Award. Shevach is an acronym for Shalom Bayit Hashuv- (the importance of peace in the house (community)).

In addtion to our special honors we will be honoring members of our congregation and Havurot with the Moreh Derekh Judith and Ira Eisenstein Service Award for leadership in their communities. We are very pleased to be honoring Pauline Pivowar and Rose Fishman from Oseh Shalom, Alan Pomerantz from Columbia Jewish Congregation, Robin Kantor and Marcie Levenstein from Beit Tikvah, Tim Bartol and Steven Sharpe from Adat Shalom, Nadine Wobus from Mishkan Torah and the entire Reconstructionist Havurah of Greater Washington.

Please mark your calendars for this special event.  Plan to participate and honor some or all of our honorees by placing greetings and ads in our Tribute Journal.  This year in order to promote a more green community, we will be printing a copy of the Tribute Journal for each honoree, and distributing the journal to anyone who participates via e-mail the week after the Annual Celebration.  When you send in your response, please make sure to include your e-mail address so that you can receive a copy of the journal.

Mayyim Hayyim (http://www.mayyimhayyim.org/) Community Mikveh and Education Center is hosting the international Mikveh Conference, “Gathering the Waters” in Boston, October 10-12, 2010. JRF is a partner for this event, and we encourage you to attend this exciting program.

The conference will provide an in-depth exploration of the contemporary mikveh in theory and practice. Internationally renowned scholars, clergy, and educators will teach about immersion as a powerful tool for spiritual renewal, marking life transitions, and observing mitzvot.  

Panels and workshops will provide skill development in the following areas:
* Honoring Conversion and Affirmation
* Exploring Contemporary Understanding of Niddah (Monthly Immersion)
* Marking Life Transitions with Ritual Immersion
* Facilitating Mikveh Guide (Attendant) Training
* Teaching About Mikveh for Students of All Ages
* Creating or Enhancing a Mikveh in Your Community

Read an article in a previous issue of RT: http://www.jrf.org/files/Fall-Vol14-1.pdf

Get more information at: http://www.mayyimhayyim.org/Resources/Conference-2010

Contact Amy Chartock, National Programs Director at amyc@mayyimhayyim.org or 617-244-1836 x 203