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IN THIS
ISSUE:
IMPJ AFFILIATE RECOGNIZED BY INTERNATIONAL ECOLOGICAL
NETWORK
The Global Ecovillage
Network, a worldwide confederation of individuals and organizations
dedicated to promoting sound ecological living (http://gen.ecovillage.org/),
has conferred upon Kibbutz Lotan its 2006 Award for Ecovillage
Excellence. The award recognizes Lotan for its work in promoting
sustainability through ecological building, waste management and
environmental education, as well as for building bridges among various
ethnic groups in Israel.
Affiliated with the Israel
Movement for Progressive Judaism, Lotan was founded in 1983 by graduates
of Reform and Progressive youth movements in Israel and abroad. Since
1995 it has emphasized ecological sustainability, starting with a waste
management program, an organic vegetable garden and a building program
that utilizes alternative materials.
Today, Lotan’s Center for
Creative Ecology – which is rooted in tikkun olam, the Jewish
concept for repairing and transforming the world – includes an
ecological theme park, a migratory bird reserve, nature trails, and an
ecological education center that combines “hands-on, experiential
environmental education with Jewish values.” The Center conducts
seminars, workshops and courses of varying length for people of all ages
from Israel and abroad. In 2000 it won the Israeli Environmental
Ministry’s Shield award for its work in environmental education.
Lotan’s environmental
education activities have included sustainability workshops for Israeli,
Palestinian and Jordanian youth in partnership with Friends of the Earth
Middle East, the construction of a hay-bale-brick medical clinic in the
unrecognized Bedouin village Wadi el-Na’am in partnership with the
Bustan for Peace organization, and a successful 10-week permaculture and
ecovillage design course called “Green Apprenticeship,” which continues
to attract participants from around the world. For further details on
these activities, go to
www.kibbutzlotan.com.
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PROGRESSIVE FAMILY MEMBER TO BE ISRAEL’S NEXT
AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA
Anna Azari, wife of Rabbi
Meir Azari of Tel Aviv’s Congregation Beit Daniel, has been appointed
Israel’s ambassador to Russia. She takes up her post in November.
Born in Lithuania, Azari
immigrated to Israel with her parents in 1972 and has been a member of
the country’s Foreign Service since 1983. She was first secretary in
Israel’s embassy in Moscow in 1995-1997, and in 1999-2003 served in the
combined posting of ambassador to Ukraine and Moldova. The local media
in those countries consistently called her one of the finest members of
the foreign diplomatic corps. On her return to Israel, she headed the
Foreign Ministry’s Eurasia Department and was instrumental in developing
ties with republics in central Asia (in particular, Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan).
As with her prior postings
abroad, her husband, Rabbi Azari, will remain in Tel Aviv, where he has
been instrumental in expanding Progressive Judaism to Jaffa with the
building of Mishkenot Daniel, a new culture/education center and
guesthouse slated to open in November (see WUPJnews
#216).
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YOUNG PROGRESSIVE LEADERS HOLD REGIONAL CONFERENCE
IN LATIN AMERICA
TAMAR, the international
movement for young adult Progressive Jews, held a groundbreaking seminar
July 28-30 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, signaling a major expansion for the
movement into Latin America. Some 90 university students and young
adults attended the seminar, coming from Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador
and Panama, as well as from Spain, Italy and the U.S. (Additional
applicants were turned away for lack of space.)
According to Tamara
Schagas, the TAMAR professional who led the planning for the seminar,
the participants “are or can become leaders in their cities - committed,
progressive, Zionist young adults who are eager to play an important
role in their communities and for our people.”
The delegates spent the
weekend learning about Progressive Judaism and TAMAR, and about the
challenges of being Jewish in today’s world. They listened to speakers
on a variety of subjects ranging from Bible to current events, including
the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. They also learned about the
importance of young leadership and its role in Jewish continuity.
Schagas says the next
steps in consolidating TAMAR’s gains in Latin America are to “strengthen
the connection” with local leaders, support local activities and
programs, and establish communications in both Spanish and Portuguese
through a planned Web site and newsletter. She adds that TAMAR will also
be a presence at November’s Conference of the Jewish Communities in
Latin America, a groundbreaking four-day gathering in Punta del Este,
Uruguay, to be held jointly by the World Union and the Conservative
movement.
The seminar in Porto
Allegre was funded in part by the World Union’s Yad B’Yad Task Force for
Latin America. Assisting Schagas in planning the seminar were Gaby
Gitelman and Lucas "Pato" Lejderman in Porto Allegre, and many other
local activists.
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MOVEMENT
IN SOUTH AFRICA MARKS 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST CONGREGATION
South Africa’s Progressive
Jewish community recently held four days of celebrations to mark 70
years since the founding in 1936 of its first Progressive congregation,
Johannesburg’s Temple Israel. The weekend celebrations began with the
biennial conference of the South African Union for Temple Sisterhoods (SAUTS)
and ended with the biennial conference of the South African Union for
Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ).
In between were special
Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat morning services at Temple Israel, and a
gala dinner. The Kabbalat Shabbat service recognized the congregation’s
place in the history of the SAUPJ. The Shabbat morning service honored
congregation members, past and present, including Dr. Willy Grusiner,
Temple Israel’s and South African Progressive Jewry’s first bar mitzvah
celebrant (July, 1936), who was called to the Torah once again at age
83. Special guests at the service included Israeli ambassador Ilan
Baruch, former South African chief justice Arthur Chaskalson, who in
1994 was appointed by then-president Nelson Mandela as the first
president of South Africa’s Constitutional Court, and Jocelyn Hellig, of
the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.
Rabbis Uri Regev and Joel
Oseran, World Union president and vice president for international
development, respectively, sent a letter of greetings to the
congregation. “When Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler was sent to Johannesburg by
the World Union back in 1933 to establish Progressive Judaism in
southern Africa,” they wrote, “few then would have dared to dream of the
accomplishments which he and our movement would achieve over the
following decades. The construction of Temple Israel…in 1936 paved the
way for remarkable success and expansion of our movement. So many owe
their introduction to Progressive Judaism to this very temple and to its
towering rabbinic leader, Moses Chaim [Weiler].”
A special brochure, which
includes a brief history of Temple Israel and Progressive Judaism in
South Africa, is available from Darryl Egnal at
darryl@creativeheart.co.za.
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CONDOLENCES
The leadership and staff of the World Union note the passing of Marcel
Greilsammer at the blessed age of 104. Greilsammer was the distinguished
leader of Progressive Judaism in France and a major leader in the World
Union’s European Region in the post-war era, until making aliyah
in 1980. All of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren live
in Israel. Condolences may be sent to Mrs. Denise Greilsammer, 16
Nehemia St., Haifa 32294, Israel.
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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.
-
World Union’s
International Humanitarian Awards Dinner honoring Betty B. Golomb
and Rabbi Jonathan A. Stein in New York City, September 10, 2006
-
Rabbinical ordination at
Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam, Germany, September 14, 2006 –
the first ordination of liberal rabbis on German soil since 1942
-
Shared Destiny – the World Union’s International Humanitarian
Awards Celebration honoring Rabbi Roberto D. Graetz, Lorry Lokey and
Joanne Harrington in San Mateo, California, October 8, 2006
-
Special World Union
Mission to South America, November 9-20. (Adobe Reader required
for this download)
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