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6 communiTy news JTnews . www.JTnews.neT . friday, January 13, 2012 peace talks eMily k. alhadeff assistant editor, JTNews “Israel should not be allowed to speak on behalf of world Jewry,” said Omar Barghouti at St. Mark’s Cathedral on the evening of January 5. “It’s a colonial state, it’s an occupier; it cannot speak for the Jews.” The room erupted in applause. “The lobby is doing its best to bully or to entrap the church leaders into an endless, useless dialogue that leads to absolutely nothing.” The Palestinian activist and a founder of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, Kehilla | Our Community Saving Lives in Israel At the end of each year Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, compiles the statistics of ambulance runs, patients treated, and lives saved. But behind those numbers are the stories of individual Israelis. The man treated for rocket attack wounds, the woman in labor rushed to the hospital, and the child healed after a car accident all have MDA to thank for their expert and compassionate care. Chanukah is a holiday of celebrations and gifts, but it’s also a time to reflect on the past year and think about giving back. Getting involved with American Friends of Magen David Adom, MDA’s US fundraising organization, is an excellent way to support the Jewish community at home and in Israel. The organization’s Western Region holds events including galas, speakers, ambulance dedications, and more. In March 2012, AFMDA is holding a mission to Israel to see MDA’s work firsthand. To find out more about getting involved, contact Yossi Mentz, Western Regional Visit us at www.nyhs.net (206) 232-5272 �� Northwest’s College Preparatory Jewish High School Barghouti is the author of a new book, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. He was invited to speak by St. Mark’s Mideast Focus Ministry, the Episcopal Bishop’s Committee on Israel/Palestine, and 10 other Palestinian advocacy groups from around the Puget Sound. Barghouti’s talk, “BDS Israel: The Legacy of Dr. King and Mandela,” was followed by a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) workshop the following night. Director, at 800-323-2371 or ymentz@afmda.org. Thanks to AFMDA’s generous donors, the organization can ensure that MDA is ready to respond to every emergency in Israel - from heart attacks to terror attacks. Although MDA receives no governmentbudgeted funding, the MDA team is mandated by the Knesset to provide the entire nation’s pre-hospital emergency care, including disaster, ambulance and blood services. The MDA National Blood Services Center provides 100% of the blood needs of the Israel Defense Forces and 95% of the blood needs of Israel’s hospitals. AFMDA supporters built the MDA National Blood Services Center, continue to build or renovate many of MDA’s emergency medical stations, and supply MDA with a wide range of medical supplies, equipment and ambulances. Most of the 900 MDA ambulances and Mobile Intensive Care Units that are on call 24/7, logging ten million miles and caring for 600,000 patients annually, were donated by AFMDA. Gary S. Cohn, Regional Director Jack J. Kadesh, Regional Director Emeritus 415-398-7117 technion.sf@ats.org www.ats.org American Technion North Pacific Region on Facebook @gary4technion on Twitter Just before Christmas, after news of the Jan. 5–6 events reached leaders within the Jewish community, Wendy Rosen of the American Jewish Committee, Zach Carstensen of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, Rob Jacobs of Stand- WithUs Northwest, and Hilary Bernstein of the Anti-Defamation League implored Bishop Greg Rickel of the Diocese of Olympia, of which St. Mark’s is a congregation, to enter into “an ongoing dialogue to confer on areas of disagreement” with Yossi Mentz, Regional Director 6505 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 650 Los Angeles, CA • Tel: 323-655-4655 Toll Free: 800-323-2371 western@afmda.org Saving Lives in Israel Where Judaism and Joy are One 206-447-1967 www.campschechter.org Kol Haneshamah is an intimate congregation, open to people of different backgrounds and traditions. We meet twice a month at Alki UCC in West Seattle. 6115 SW Hinds St., Seattle 98116 E-mail: info@khnseattle.org Telephone: 206-935-1590 www.khnseattle.org Find out how you can be part of Kehilla Eastsiders Call Lynn at 206-774-2264 or E-mail her at LynnF@jtnews.net The premiere Reform Jewish camping experience in the Pacific Northwest! Join us for an exciting, immersive, and memorable summer of a lifetime! the Jewish community. “It felt to us like the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Rosen said. “Had it just been Omar, that would have been one thing...but it’s been one event after another.” Among those events include one in September that featured Israeli new historian Ilan Pappé of the University of Exeter in Britain and the author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, among other books critical of Israel. Prof. Mark Rosenblum, of The Anti-Defamation League is a leader in fighting prejudice and protecting civil rights for all. Contact us to connect your passion for social justice with your Jewish roots! Email: seattle@adl.org Phone: (206) 448-5349 Website: www.adl.org/pacific-northwest Centennial Convention Come With Us to Israel! October 15-18, 2012 Book before Dec. 31st for the best rate. ® PNW Region & Seattle Chapter Hadassah 425.467.9099 seattle@hadassah.org Discover, Experience, Embrace ISRAEL…the journey of a lifetime AlexAnder Muss HigH scHool in isrAel Judy Cohen, Director of Admissions jcohen@amhsi.org 206-829-9853 www.amhsi.org Seattleites Call Cameron at 206-774-2292 or E-mail her at CameronL@jtnews.net 206.323.8486 www.tdhs-nw.org 1511 East Pike St. Seattle, WA 98122 3850 156 th Ave. SE, Bellevue, WA 98006 Temple De Hirsch Sinai is the leading and oldest Reform congregation in the Pacific Northwest. With warmth and caring, we embrace all who enter through our doors. We invite you to share our past, and help shape our future.
friday, January 13, 2012 . www.JTnews.neT . JTnews communiTy news 7 Queens College in New York, who shared the stage with Pappé and considers himself liberal and pro-Israel, criticized St. Mark’s for hosting an unbalanced discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On more than one occasion, St. Mark’s has also hosted Reverend Naim Ateek, a Palestinian liberation theologian who has compared the Palestinians to Christ and Israelis to Romans. According to the letter to Bishop Rickel, “Mr. Barghouti’s activism frequently shifts to the vitriolic describing Israel and the Jewish people as committing ‘gradual ethnic cleansing to Judaize their space;’ ‘apartheid;’ ‘common Nazi practices;’ and a ‘slow genocide.’” “We were at the end of our rope,” Rosen said. On Jan. 6, Rickel met with Rabbi Daniel Weiner of Temple De Hirsch Sinai to set the dialogue in motion. Weiner, who has worked with Rickel in the past on maintaining good relations with the Jewish community, wrote immediately following their meeting that “the group at St. Mark’s that has spear-headed these programs, and some within the Diocese, I believe do not The Keller Family Lecture Series and Temple De Hirsch Sinai proudly presents DEBORAH E. LIPSTADT �� th Avenue, Seattle Share our past. Shape our future. x Pour a cup of coffee.* * If you don’t like coffee, maybe try tea or cocoa. Join us as Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, renowned Holocaust historian and scholar, speaks about her new book, The Man in the Glass Booth: Perspectives on the Eichmann Trial 50 Years Later, plus other topical headlines, at the annual Keller Family Lecture Series. A light reception will follow the lecture. Open to the public � 206.323.8486 www.tdhs-nw.org. Point is, get comfy, and we’ll bring our Jewish community right to you. constitute a monolithic reflection of the views of the Diocese any more than any Jewish group reflects the entirety of Jewish Seattle on Israel.” Rickel, in an email, said, “I remain open and hopeful for dialogue.” But Rosen remains skeptical. “I’m concerned that the leadership of St. Mark’s may not be as interested” in that dialogue as much as Rickel and the Jewish community are, she said. “I don’t see any evidence that they want to move this relationship to a positive place,” she said. “My frustration is that I feel St. Mark’s — they talk the talk but they don’t walk the walk. They verbally extend the olive branch.” The church’s assistant bishop, Cabell Tennis, moderated Barghouti’s talk. Tennis, who calls himself “anti-Israeli government,” was involved with the South African divestiture movement and like other BDS activists he connects the two situations. “At least in the Middle East the Anglicans are Palestinians, so we are connected to our fellow church folks,” he said. “More and more BDS movements are cropping Pour another cup of coffee.* friend us on facebook @ /jtnews & jew-ish to get in on the conversation. Do you really like us? Like, FB like us? up mainly because it’s been so frustrating to get any real movement.” The U.S. Congress, he told JTNews, is not just supportive of Israel, but it is owned by Israel through big dollars from the Christian right and organizations like AIPAC. “It’s kind of like the gun lobby,” he said. During his talk, Barghouti repeatedly emphasized non-violent struggle and taking the moral high ground. He encouraged the Episcopalian and Presbyterian movements to grow their support of BDS. “If you cannot help us in the struggle, do your part to end complicity,” he said at the end of the talk. “This is what Martin Luther King would have done.” Barghouti received a standing ovation. According to Tennis, the Anglican Church does not have immediate plans to ideologically divest from Israel; however, “We have a resolution going through the Episcopal Church that doesn’t say we support BDS, but Steadfast Hope, which includes looking at BDS.” (Steadfast Hope is a guide for peace and reconciliation produced by the Presbyterian Church.) Weiner noted that while Rickel cannot control the ideologies of individual church leaders, he said, “I think it’s very problematic. If the church as a whole — if their vestry decides to [adopt BDS measures] it would be disturbing and problematic.” Jewish leaders say that if the church continues to move in a pro-BDS direction, both the Christian and the Jewish communities will suffer. “You can’t say a dialogue isn’t useful when a dialogue hasn’t occurred,” said Carstensen of the Jewish Federation. “It alienates Jews. It alienates mainstream Christians.” Both groups have a lot in common, he added, especially in the realm of humanitarian work. “Tikkun olam and Christian social teaching are not far apart at all. If the Episcopal Church divests fully, then you shut the door on those opportunities where we have a lot of common ground.” “The most important thing,” Weiner said, is “there is a silent, albeit apathetic, majority that doesn’t know or care that these [BDS activities] are being done in their name. If they knew more about it they would not be happy about it. That’s what I’m going to leverage.” live laugh love Saturday evening, March 10 through Sunday, March 11 A 24-hour women’s retreat—just for you! Make time for yourself! Renew and refresh yourself and find out about the new face of Hadassah. Join your Hadassah sisters at a lovely venue in the Puget Sound area. We’ll drink a little wine, tell a few stories, stretch our minds and maybe even our muscles, and enjoy the company of women. Bring a friend and make new ones. You don’t need to be a member to attend, but if you are, look for an in invite coming in the mail soon. For more info or to register contact the Seattle Chapter Hadassah Office at 425.467.9099 or email NewHadassah@gmail.com We’re always finding things out. So, as soon as we know something for the latest chirp, check in with @jew_ish for jtnews & jewishdotcom for jew-ish.com. you should know, too, we’ll tweet you!
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