Rabbis For Human Rights: The Annual Report 2012-2013

As
As many of our North
American friends
and supporters
already know, it was
announced in January 2013 that
RHR and RHR-NA were severing
their fiscal relationship, and that
RHR-NA would now be known as
“Tru’ah.” We are therefore taking
the opportunity to “reintroduce
ourselves” in this report, as well
as highlighting our achievements,
challenges, plans and goals.
The section for each department
begins with a summary of what
the department does and who
is involved. In these opening
remarks, I would like to summarize
the history and mandate of RHR. I
and other staff and board members
are making a special effort this year
to visit communities around the
world. Please contact us if you
are interested in inviting us. We
also make every effort to provide
presentations, text study and/
or tours to visiting groups and
individuals. Please contact us about
our own Jewish Leadership Human
Rights Tour October 1st – 8th, timed
so that you can be in the courtroom
with us for a crucial High Court
session on October 3rd.
RHR is “Israel’s rabbinic voice of
conscience.” In successes deemed
impossible, we have in very
concrete ways changed Israeli
policy, improving the lives of both
Israelis and Palestinians. An equally
important mandate is to expose our
fellow Israelis to an understanding
of Torah and our Israeli Declaration
of Independence that challenge
the nationalistic/particularistic
Opening Word-President and Senior Rabbi
Opening Word
Rabbi Rabbi Arik Arik Ascherman
understanding dominant in Israel
today both among religious and
secular Jews. In our work with
Palestinians, we help to break
down stereotypes and restore hope
in the possibility of a better future.
RHR was founded in 1988 by a
group of Orthodox, Reform and
Conservative rabbis, led by Rabbi
David Forman z”l. Today we are
approximately 120 Israeli rabbis,
also including Reconstructionist,
Renewal and Humanistic rabbis.
In the challenging days of the
First Intifada, Rabbi Forman wrote
an open letter to Israel’s Chief
Rabbinate, asking why the religious
establishment focused almost solely
on Shabbat observance and Kashrut.
As important as these things are, he
asked where were rabbis like Rabbi
Abraham Joshua Heschel addressing
the burning moral issues our society
faced from a religious Jewish
perspective. While not ignoring the
very real physical dangers that we
faced, he argued that these threats
could not be used as an excuse to
behave immorally ourselves. In
the words of Hillel the Elder, “If I
am not for myself, who will be for
me? If I am only for myself, what
am I? And if not now, when?” He
loved to remind us that, according
the Midrash, even justice must be
pursued through just means.
In those early days, we saw ourselves
primarily as a “Shofar,” who by our
very presence visiting the scene of a
human rights abuse sent the message
that this was an issue of the highest
Jewish, religious and moral concern.
However, in 1992 we won our first
precedent-setting High Court victory.
Appealing along with Muslim and
Christian religious leaders, the Court
ignored closed door testimony from
the security forces, and revoked
a curfew in Ramallah that was
preventing Christians from preparing
for Christmas.
Quickly we were endorsed in North
America by the rabbinic bodies
of the Reform and Conservative
movements, and in 1993 received
the Speaker of the Knesset’s Prize
for our contributions to Israeli
society. Rabbi Forman was invited
to deliver a keynote address at the
Nobel Institute conference parallel
to the awarding of the Nobel Peace
Prize to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon
Peres and Yasser Arafat. Through
the years, we have received
additional endorsements from the
Reconstructionist and Renewal
rabbinic bodies in North America,
as well as the Liberal Movement
in Great Britain, the prestigious
Niwano Peace Prize, and numerous
additional recognitions. While the
North American organization we
helped found in 2002 has now
become independent, we continue
to be grateful to British Friends of
RHR, Montreal Friends of RHR
(Soon to be called Canadian
Friends of RHR), Trees of Hope in
the San Francisco Bay Area, and
the thousands of rabbis and lay
people who organize, contribute
and advocate for our shared vision
of an Israel living up to our highest
Jewish values. We are grateful for
our broad interfaith support. What
unites us as people of faith can
transcend our differences.
In 1995, Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom and
I succeeded Rabbi Ehud Bandel
as co-directors. We developed
a grassroots component to our
work, succeeding in changing
national policy by having one foot
on the ground and the other in the
corridors of power.
In 1995, 95 percent of our work
concerned Palestinians. Based
on the Torah’s teaching that all
human beings are created in God’s
Image, RHR’s general assembly
resolved that we must always be
advocating for the human rights
of both Jews and non-Jews. Today,
the OT remains our largest single
commitment, but it now represents
less than 50 percent of our time
and resources. While we wish we
could put ourselves out of business
by ending human rights violations,
your increased support allowed
us to grow our educational and
internal Israeli socioeconomic
justice work without backtracking
on our commitment to Palestinian
human rights. When I began, the
entire budget was under $30,000.
Today our projected 2013 budget
is over $1,300,000.
RHR is not affiliated with any
political party. We have no position
on borders or final status solutions.
We state clearly that the Occupation
leads to human rights violations, but
leave it to others to determine just
what ending the Occupation will
look like. In terms of socioeconomic
justice inside Israel, we struggle
against the changes in our society
created by the move from a social
welfare economy towards a neoliberal
economy.
We achieve change through
direct field work, the Israeli legal
system, lobbying our Knesset and
government, public campaigns
and working with the international
community. As a last resort, we
have occasionally engaged in acts
of civil disobedience.
The following report will give
you a good picture of RHR’s
current project areas and future
plans. I reflected after leaving the
directorship in the capable hands of
Ayala Levy in 2010 that it is clearer
than ever that we are not “Rabbi
for Human Rights,” but “Rabbis
for Human Rights.” The fact is that,
while our organization is clearly a
rabbinic organization, our staff is
also interfaith. I was almost moved
to tears at a recent meeting with
an outside evaluator listening to
their passion, commitment and
dedication. There are certain things
that money cannot buy, and are
difficult to define, but they make
all the difference when the chips
are down and the call comes in
after hours.
Finally, I have been reflecting a great
deal lately about what is the essence
of Jewish-based human rights work.
Clearly our first goal is to create a
society which acts according to
our belief that all human beings are
created in God’s Image. We must
develop the “Spiritual vision” that
can see through all that divides
us, including real conflicts, and
sometimes justified anger and fear.
The breastplate the High Priest’s
wore when he entered the Holy
of Holies contained 12 different
stones representing the 12 tribes.
We must go even further. We
achieve holiness when there is a
place for all humanity in our hearts
because we recognize the essential
sameness that unites us in our
diversity. We must be aware of how
unequal power relationships lead
to human rights violations. Ibn Ezra
warns us that when we wrong the
widow, the orphan or the resident
alien, they are all too often voiceless
and powerless to protest. Rabbi
Samson Raphael Hirsch taught that,
even with the best of intentions,
it “Borders on criminality” when
those with property and power
take on the “White man’s burden”
of deciding how to be just towards
those who do not sit at the table.
Rather than saying that they are
powerless, some versions of Ibn
Ezra say that the widow, orphan
and alien have nobody to stand by
their side. We must be those who
stand by their side. But we must do
so as partners, empowering them
to find their own voice.
I look forward to better explaining
what I mean when I have the
opportunity to visit your community,
or to welcome you here in Israel.
B’Vrakha (In Blessing),
Arik
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