IN THIS  ISSUE:

• WORLD UNION LEADER MEETS WITH TOP RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS

• WORLD UNION PROVIDES INTERCULTURAL TRAINING TO SECURITY FORCES

• ISRAELI MOVEMENT MARKS 11^TH ANNIVERSARY OF RABIN ASSASSINATION

• CANADIAN SISTERS UNDERTAKE AMBITIOUS B'NOT MITZVAH PROJECT

• CORRECTION

• UPCOMING EVENTS

WORLD UNION LEADER MEETS WITH TOP RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Interfaith dialogue and religious extremism were the main topics of meetings held in Moscow last month by World Union president Rabbi Uri Regev with Mufti Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of the Russia Muftis Council, and Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, a senior official of the Russian Orthodox Church. Also present at the meetings were Alex Kagan, FSU director for the World Union, and Zinovy Kogan, a founding member of the Russian Progressive movement and a major force behind World Union-sponsored interfaith efforts.

In their meetings, the three religious leaders agreed on the need for grassroots interfaith activities. Both Mufti Gainutdin and Archbishop Chaplin responded enthusiastically to a pilot proposal for an interfaith seminar for young adults, an idea first raised last year at the World Union’s 32^nd International Convention in Moscow. The seminar, for 15 representatives from each faith, would include activities that promote mutual understanding and respect, as well as a joint social project - for example, the painting of a kindergarten in an economically deprived neighborhood. Staff from the World Union will soon begin working with their Muslim and Russian Orthodox counterparts to bring the seminar to fruition.

In their meeting, Regev and Gainutdin expressed mutual distress over the actions of Islamic extremists who distort the true meaning of Islam by openly calling for the annihilation of Israel and Jews. Both noted, however, that extreme elements unfortunately exist in all religions, and Regev stressed the importance of addressing religious extremism from within. Gainutdin added his regret over the press coverage accorded extremists, saying the media should focus more attention on the majority that advocates tolerance and equality.

Rabbi Uri Regev (l) presents Mufti Ravil Gainutdin with a gift from the World Union.

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WORLD UNION PROVIDES INTERCULTURAL TRAINING TO SECURITY FORCES

Mercaz Shimshon-Beit Shmuel, the World Union’s education and culture facility in Jerusalem, is helping to expose young members of Israel’s Border Guard to the intricacies of intercultural and interreligious diversity.

The Border Guard is the operational branch of the police and helps maintain order in areas that are often predominantly Arab. As these areas include holy sites, the work is highly sensitive and can have geo-political implications. Although many Border Guard members are non-Jews, such as Druze and Circassians, they are usually young conscripts with little, if any, understanding of other communities. And owing to their age, they often lack the patience that is essential to their work.

Enter Mercaz Shimshon-Beit Shmuel, which, together with the Border Guard’s education department, has tailored its Siyur Va’Siach (Tour and Dialogue) program to the specific needs of units based in Jerusalem. The one-day program features a walking tour of Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, followed by a group discussion back at Mercaz Shimshon-Beit Shmuel.

Some 2,500 Border Guard troops have participated to date. Feedback has been highly positive, and the Border Guard command now says it plans to send members based throughout the country to take part in the program.

In addition, the Israel Defense Forces recently granted Mercaz Shimshon-Beit Shmuel preferential status for the provision of educational programming for soldiers. “This is a significant development,” says Doron Yosha, coordinator of the facility’s tourism department. “We will play a critical role in shaping the views of those who today deal with sensitive issues that can have far-reaching implications, and who tomorrow will be leading members of society and teachers of the next generation.”

Border Patrol troops undergo World Union intercultural training.

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ISRAELI MOVEMENT MARKS 11^TH ANNIVERSARY OF RABIN ASSASSINATION

Progressive congregations throughout Israel held services and programs to mark 11 years since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist. The programs ranged from special Shabbat services to activities for children and youth, special study sessions, and ceremonies and programs in movement pre-schools.

Members of MARAM, the Union of Progressive Rabbis, refrained from officiating at weddings, bar mitzvahs and other public celebrations, and called for the Hebrew date of Rabin’s death to be turned into a nationwide day of fasting. In a statement it said the day should be one of “private and public reckoning," calling on the public to “internalize the lessons of this terrible assassination and the circumstances within which it took place [and] to recognize the dangers inherent in political and religious extremism, which is spreading in our communities. This day should awaken all of us from indifference and apathy to violence and sedition.”

The statement went on to say that MARAM “reaffirms the need to reject any and all attempts to compromise the democratic nature of the State of Israel in the name of Jewish tradition” and “declares that only in a truly democratic society, which respects and protects individual rights, can eternal Jewish values be actualized. Only by guarding and strengthening Israeli democracy for all its citizens can we guarantee the future of the Jewish people in its homeland,” the statement said.

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CANADIAN SISTERS UNDERTAKE AMBITIOUS B'NOT MITZVAH PROJECT

Madison and Shayna Slobin plan to mark their joint b'not mitzvah by contacting contemporaries around the globe who are to celebrate their own bar or bat mitzvah on the same Shabbat. The idea, say the girls, is to re-enact the census carried out in the desert following the exodus from Egypt, as portrayed in Bamidbar, the portion to be read when they are called to the Torah on May 19, 2007, at Temple Sholom in Vancouver, Canada.

"Our Torah portion describes what might be the very first census ever taken of the Jewish community," say Madison and Shayna in a recent letter. "In the same spirit, we want to take a census of our own distinct global community of Jewish teens: all the children around the world who are also having their bar/bat mitzvah on May 19, 2007. As part of the census, we hope to be able to connect with them so we could support each other and learn about each other and perhaps about some of the unique and different ways we plan on celebrating our b'nai mitzvah."

Madison and Shayna ask that rabbis and lay leaders around the world help facilitate their project by either replying with the names and e-mail addresses of congregants who will become bar or bat mitzvah next May 19, or by forwarding their request directly to the youth. The sisters can be reached at babette1@telus.net. WUPJnews plans to publish the girls' "findings" when they conclude their project.

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CORRECTION: Edward and Ilene Greene, longtime leaders of the Reform movement in North America, and Severyn Ashkenazy, a prominent businessman who divides his time between Warsaw and Los Angeles, were present last month at the installation of Rabbi Burt E. Schuman as spiritual leader of Beit Warszawa, Poland’s first post-war Progressive congregation (see WUPJnews #235). Also active in the World Union, the Greenes were representing the volunteer leadership of its International Assembly and North American Council. Ashkenazy is Beit Warszawa's main supporter and labored tirelessly in the search for a rabbi. WUPJnews regrets the omissions.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

• Register now for Connections 2007 – the 33rd International Convention of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, March 15-20, 2007, in Jerusalem

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