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IN
THIS ISSUE:
FSU RABBIS MEET IN JERUSALEM FOR STRATEGY AND SUSTENANCE
Members of the
recently-established Rabbinic Council of the Former Soviet Union (see
WUPJnews #176) met in Jerusalem last month for a seminar titled,
“Rabbinic Enrichment and Strategic Planning.” All six are Progressive
rabbis living and working in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus on behalf of
the World Union. According to its chairman, Rabbi Michael Farbman of
St. Petersburg, the council is helping to “shape the future of our
movement in the FSU and assist the World Union in determining its next
steps in that part of the world.” The rabbinic seminar included study
sessions and discussions of issues facing Progressive Jews in the FSU.
However, its primary focus was on the organizational needs of the
Rabbinic Council, and the professional needs of its members. Says
Farbman, “One of the difficulties of our job is that, whenever we get
together, it’s always in the context of other things - biennials,
pre-holiday seminars, etc. Here we came together for ourselves. We
need sustenance.” In addition to Farbman, the participants in the
Jerusalem seminar included Rabbi Nelly Shulman and Rabbi Sasha Lyskovoy
of Moscow, Rabbi Alex Dukhovny of Kyiv, Rabbi Grisha Abramovich of
Minsk, and Rabbi Misha Kapustin of Kharkov, Ukraine. The seminar was
led by Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Rabbi David Wilfond and Rabbi Alona Lisitsa,
all on the staff of the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion. It was funded by the Schusterman Family
Foundation, which also brought in Yoni Gordis, an organizational
consultant who worked with the rabbis to help solidify the foundations
of the Rabbinic Council. There are now plans to hold a seminar of this
type for the FSU rabbinate each year in Jerusalem.
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NEWS REPORT HIGHLIGHTS BELARUS WOMEN SCRIBES
The Jewish
Telegraphic Agency news service recently published an article on women
scribes in Minsk who help create unique mezuzot now obtainable through
the World Union (see WUPJnews #174). Titled “Man’s World No More: In
Minsk, Women’s Group Writes Mezuzahs,” the JTA article tells how Rita
Ginsburg, a member of Minsk's Progressive congregation, turned a desire
to adorn her doorposts with the ritual amulets into something of a holy
cottage industry with a monthly output of 25 klafim - the sheets
of inscribed parchment that are placed inside mezuzot. To read the
article, click on the following (registration required):
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=16247&intcategoryid=5.
To obtain one of these beautiful and truly meaningful mezuzot, contact
the World Union's Jerusalem office at
wupjis@wupj.org.il. All income will be used for Progressive Jewish
activities and programs in the FSU.
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UJCL HOLDS ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN GUADALAJARA
The Union of Jewish
Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean (UJCL) held its ninth
annual conference January 26-29 in Guadalajara, Mexico. The theme was
“Tikkun Olam: The Role of Small Communities in the 21st Century.” UJCL
members and guests came from Argentina, Aruba, Costa Rica, Cuba, El
Salvador, Honduras, Israel, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Suriname, the US
and Venezuela. The weekend program included a keynote speech by
Dr. Daniel Fainstein, dean of Mexico’s Hebraic University,
as well as panel discussions on such topics as strengthening community
life and combating anti-Semitism. Workshops focused on such areas as
fundraising methods and Jewish policy in small communities. There were
also plenary sessions on regional issues, as well as Sabbath services
and study. Among the guests was Jerry Tanenbaum, who chairs the World
Union’s Yad B’Yad Task Force on Latin America. Tanenbaum provided the
conference with an overview of global Progressive Judaism in 2006, and
briefed members of the UJCL Board of Directors. The World Union has
been providing the region with assistance since the UJCL was established
a decade ago. Other guests included Ambassador Daniel Gazit of the
Latin America and Caribbean division of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and
Arieh Abir, the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization
representative to Latin America.
As they have during past annual conferences, the organizers held a
separate gathering for the region’s youth groups. The final event at
the general conference was an inter-generational encounter between the
adults and youth that addressed the future of the UJCL. Finally, it was
decided that next year's annual conference will take place in Costa
Rica.
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IRAC’S EFFORTS LEAD TO INDICTMENT OF SENIOR RABBI
Three and a half
years after issuing its first complaint, the Israel Religious Action
Center has secured the indictment of the chief rabbi of the northern
town of Safed for racial incitement. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, son of
former chief rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu and a member of Israel’s Chief
Rabbinate Council, has on numerous occasions made hateful comments
regarding the country’s Arab minority. He once called for the removal
of all Arab students from a college in Safed. Now that Eliyahu has been
indicted, IRAC has asked the country’s justice minister to suspend him
from his state-appointed positions, as civil servants are forbidden from
making statements of a political nature.
"Rabbi Eliyahu must be immediately suspended,” says attorney Einat
Horowitz, director of IRAC’s legal department. “We are dealing with
severe incidents and a severe felony that involves moral turpitude."
IRAC first complained about Eliyahu to Israel’s attorney general in
August, 2002, and recently petitioned the Supreme Court over what it
called the attorney general’s “foot-dragging.” The decision to finally
indict Eliyahu, says an IRAC statement, “reinforces the State of
Israel’s democratic character and returns a sense of dignity to a
Judaism that Rabbi Eliyahu and his supporters had hijacked and
distorted.”
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