IN THIS  ISSUE: 

• IMPJ IS THERE FOR COMMUNITIES IN ISRAEL'S NORTH

• RUSSIAN RABBI PARTICIPATES IN JEWISH-MUSLIM INTERFAITH EFFORT

• WORK BY NOTED ISRAELI ARTIST ADORNS NEW PARIS SYNAGOGUE

• CORRECTION

• UPCOMING EVENTS

• ADDENDUM: LETTER TO FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MOVEMENT FOR PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM BY IMPJ ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR GUSTI YEHOSHUA-BRAVERMAN

IMPJ IS THERE FOR COMMUNITIES IN ISRAEL'S NORTH

The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism has extended a lifeline to those of its congregations located in areas hit by Hezbollah missiles or within range of the missiles. They are: Emet V’shalom in Nahariya, Yadid Nefesh in Karmiel, Ohel Avraham and Or Hadash in Haifa, Ma’alot Tivon in Kiryat Tivon, and the Progressive community at Har Halutz. With the missile strikes moving southward, they may have an impact on additional IMPJ congregations.

So far, two of the congregations have been directly affected by the attacks: The first fatal victim of a missile strike was the aunt of the prayer leader at Emet V’shalom, and one of the sailors killed in the attack on an Israeli naval vessel was affiliated with Yadid Nefesh. In Haifa, a missile landed near Congregation Ohel Avraham, and at Or Hadash, Rabbi Edgar Nof relates that few of the invited guests showed up for the four bar mitzvah ceremonies that took place this past Shabbat.

Prof. Abraham Melamed, the new chairman of the IMPJ, wrote the following to World Union chairman Steven N. Bauman, who had contacted him with words of encouragement: “I was in my office in Haifa University on the 14th floor while Haifa bay was bombed," says Melamed. "We were immediately sent to the shelter, and then I left [for] home, to Zichron Ya'akov, about 25 km south of Haifa. And then the university was closed for the duration. So we are home now, with relatives from Haifa who came to stay with us with two young kids, watch the news and wait for developments. Your support, moral and otherwise, is very important to us. We know we are not alone. Let there be peace.”

Gusti Braverman-Yehoshua, associate director of the IMPJ and director of its community development department, says that some of the northern congregations consist mainly of new immigrants. These people often lack cars and are not yet familiar with their surroundings – two characteristics that can leave one feeling totally helpless at a time like this.  She says a movement network has been established to assist congregation members wishing to leave the danger zones, with a bus being sent to take them to the homes of members of IMPJ congregations in safer areas. (On the second day of this service, a rocket fell just 100 meters from the bus.)

"There are so many touching stories," says Gusti, "like the family from Kiryat Shmonah for whom we found a host family. [They have] a 12-year-old who is recovering from open-heart surgery, and his 5-year-old sister is autistic. We know that, tomorrow, more people will be waiting for us to pick them up and find them a home [so that they can] regain peace of mind and soul." The IMPJ has also sent games and toys for youngsters in the bomb shelters, and is making available a list of members who are social workers.  (Please read the poignant letter from Gusti to friends of the IMPJ, below.)

Meanwhile, some 100 16-year-olds from RSY/Netzer, the youth movement of Britain’s Reform movement, showed solidarity this week by going ahead with their previously scheduled summer tour of Israel. They were accompanied on their flight by the head of the British Reform movement, Rabbi Tony Bayfield, and will be joined in Israel by some of the movement’s top lay leadership.  Movement member Julian Resnick, who currently resides in Israel, said, “These are very difficult days. [Yet] not only have the young people of RSY-Netzer and their parents made the brave and correct decision to stand with us at this time, but…Rabbi Bayfield and the [lay leaders] are setting an example for Jewish leadership. Thank you all." The RSY/Netzer youth join 600 youngsters from NFTY, the North American Federation of Temple Youth, as well as Reform and Progressive youth from other countries, who are already in Israel on summer programs.

Readers wishing to offer encouragement and support to members of the IMPJ congregations under siege can do so by contacting the Israeli movement's spokeswoman, Galit Eliassi, at galit@impj.org.il. To read more on the situation, go to www.urj.org/Israel or www.arza.org.

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RUSSIAN RABBI PARTICIPATES IN JEWISH-MUSLIM INTERFAITH EFFORT

Rabbi Alexander Lyskovoy of Moscow represented Russia’s Progressive movement at a Jewish-Muslim interfaith forum held last month at the city’s International Trade Center. Titled “Islam and Judaism: A Perspective of Dialogue and Cooperation,” the forum brought together religious leaders in what Lyskovoy says was an effort aimed just as much at the outside world as it was at Russia.

“All of the speakers mentioned that Jewish-Muslim relations in Russia [exemplify a] peaceful and constructive way of living together,” he said. “The discussions proved that finding a common language and ways for peaceful, friendly relationships, as well as cooperation between the two religious communities, [is] not as difficult as it seems.”

Lyskovoy says the participants issued a joint statement in which they expressed concern over rising anti-Semitic and anti-Islamist sentiment in Russia and around the world, and over the situation in the Middle East. “All of us - Russian Jews and Muslims - should make efforts to overcome factors that could destabilize our friendly and cooperative relationship,” he adds. “I am sure that our movement can make a significant contribution to the process of developing of this dialogue.”

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WORK BY NOTED ISRAELI ARTIST ADORNS NEW PARIS SYNAGOGUE

A. Yakin, an award-winning Israeli painter, illustrator and ketubah illuminator, recently completed a sweeping panorama of Jewish history and Israel for the new synagogue building of La Communauté Juive Libérale (Liberal Jewish Community) in Paris. Mounted on a series of folding doors, the panorama is more than eight feet high almost 30 feet long, and took almost three months to complete.

"Although it is common practice in the Western world to represent progress by moving from left to right,” says Hannah Yakin, the artist’s wife and spokeswoman, Yakin “took into account that Hebrew is read from right to left and…considered it appropriate to view the history of the Jews as going against the tide of other nations.” 

The panorama (see photo below) starts with Pesach, where Moses leads the children of Israel through the Red Sea, and continues through depictions of such holidays as Shavuot, Rosh Hashana, Succot and Purim. There are also scenes depicting more modern events in Jewish history, such as the Holocaust and Israel’s independence. The Israeli locales that are depicted include Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jaffa, and, on a fixed panel close to the middle, Jerusalem. “For better or worse,” says Hannah Yakin, “this is the rightful place of Jerusalem, under the scorching sun - which is her blessing and her curse simultaneously.”

Born in Jerusalem in 1924, Yakin won the international Adolphe Neuman Prize in 1961. Many of his works, as well as works by his wife, a Dutch-born illustrator and writer, can be found in the Israel Museum, the Musee d'Art Juif in Paris, and numerous museums in the Netherlands. The Yakins are members of Jerusalem’s Congregation Har-El, an affiliate of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism. To view their Web site, go to http://israelvisit.co.il/Yakin/.
 

The panorama by A. Yakin at the new Liberal Jewish Community Center in Paris

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CORRECTION

Alan Senitt z"l, the young British Reform movement member brutally murdered in Washington, D.C. (see WUPJnews #219), is survived by his parents, Jack and Karen, and by a brother, James, and sister, Emma.  The staff of WUPJnews regrets the omission.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

·  Join us in Jerusalem, March 15-20, 2007, for Connections 2007 – the 33rd International Convention of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Further details soon.

·  Special World Union Mission to South America, November 9-20. (Adobe Reader required for this download)

·  World Union International Humanitarian Awards Dinner honoring Betty B. Golomb and Rabbi Jonathan A. Stein in New York City, September 10, 2006

·  Shared Destiny –  the World Union International Award Celebration honoring Rabbi Roberto D. Graetz, Lorry Lokey and Joanne Harrington in San Mateo, California, October 8, 2006

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ADDENDUM

LETTER TO FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MOVEMENT FOR PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM BY IMPJ ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR GUSTI YEHOSHUA-BRAVERMAN

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your concern and support.

I decided to take a few minutes and to share with you, my friends, some of my thoughts, feelings and information about what is going on here.

18 and a half years ago, Niv, my eldest son, was born.

I remember my first Memorial Day with him. He was a few months old, and I was standing while the siren was loudly sounding, crying for friends and a cousin who were killed during their military service. At the same time, I was praying to G-d with all my heart that this baby would not have to face any wars. At the end of this month, Niv will start his military service. Like many of his friends, he wants to be a fighter, to do his best to protect our beautiful and wounded country. It doesn't take much imagination to know how we, Yoram and I, feel.

Another personal story. Two days ago, my daughter Einav, eight and a half and terrified, was trying to understand if the missiles could possibly get to Mevasseret Zion, where we live. All of a sudden she said, "I wish Prime Minister Rabin were alive." I didn't understand. She was born after he was assassinated. How was it that she mentioned his name in connection with her concerns? Her answer was that if he were alive, he would make peace. He did in the past.

It shocked me the way she said it. Yes, from birth our kids are brought up with a deep desire for peace. Unfortunately, with all this desire and the acts we have undertaken, such as the withdrawals from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, it seems it's never enough for them, mostly the fundamentalist Muslims. They want it all.

We will never give up on our dream to live here peacefully. We need to pray for a strong Israel on one hand, and that the moderate people on the other side of the border will win.

How is life in Israel now?

In the north, people are living in bomb shelters or in "protected/safe" areas in their own apartments.

In Tel Aviv, if you didn't know that a war was going on only two hours away, you would never guess!! Probably it is this that keeps us so normal - and keeps us here!!! The Tel Aviv Promenade has been full of people; everything has been open and busy. So are things in Jerusalem. This is what keeps us sane and able to cope with a never-ending war.

Confusing? I know!!! Our life is a story of dichotomies: the need to remember our sadness and the desire to live a normal happy life. You, who have visited here, know the beauty of this country.

I continue to be in contact with [two of] our congregations in the north: Nahariya and Karmiel. Both have a high population of new immigrants from Argentina without any relatives here. Yesterday we found, for four families, hosting families in our Zichron Ya’akov congregation. Today we provided a bus for families that asked us to help them leave Nahariya. Sad news is that the woman killed [there] Thursday morning was the aunt of the young shaliach tzibur (prayer reader – ed.), and one of the soldiers killed on the boat is connected to the congregation in Karmiel.

From my conversations with the chairpersons of both congregations, and with the rabbi, many people, mostly from Nahariya, left the city for the weekend. It will be challenging if this continues much longer, and people will have to find a solution (again, most are new immigrants who fear they’ll lose their jobs). I offered to find, for them or for their children, hosting families or, alternatively, to host them at our Havaya summer camp.

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I'm updating this brief after the attack on Haifa, where eight people were killed and many were injured. We have about 15 kids from Haifa participating in our summer camp. They were terrified to find out what was going on back home. Imagine what a delicate situation this is.

Our amazing youth staff coped with this in a very sensible way. They are doing their best to calm the kids and provide them with a relaxing and enjoyable program. It's a challenging task - believe me!!! Probably it is G-d's finger that all this is happening while the kids are away from the "route of the missiles" - although I should mention that we decided, after much deliberation, to keep the location of the summer camp in Ashkelon, near another area under attack. This time by Hamas….

Last night I addressed all our communities to ask them to open their homes and host families from the north. The response has been heartwarming. This is Israel at its best. Everyone opens his or her heart/hands/pockets/homes.

We are busy coordinating everyone’s needs and making sure no one will remain without an answer or solution.

We have gone through difficult times in the past and we shall overcome this time as well.

I want to thank you personally for your concern and the sympathy you show.

Please keep us in your prayers for peace of mind, soul and body.

I hope to update you soon with better news.

Thank you for being a friend.

Sincerely yours,

Gusti Yehoshua-Braverman

Associate Director, IMPJ

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