Category: Israel

Chaim Herzog: Irish-Born Jew

Image: President Chaim Herzog (in grey suit) and his wife Ora wish fellow Israelis a happy Sukkot in the sukkah at the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem, Oct 4, 1992. Photo by Sa’ar Ya’acov, some rights reserved under Creative Commons 3.0.

Chaim Herzog was born in Belfast, Ireland on Sept 17, 1918. He lived to become the sixth President of the State of Israel.

We tend not to think of overlap between the categories “Irish” and “Jewish” but in fact Ireland had Jewish presence as far back as the 12th century. When Britian expelled its Jews in 1290 they also had to leave Ireland, but there has been a continuous Jewish presence in the country from the 15th century to the present day.

Herzog was the son of Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac HaLevi Herzog and his wife Sarah Hillman Herzog. Rabbi Herzog served as the Chief Rabbi of Ireland.

Chaim Herzog made aliyah [immigrated to Israel] in 1935. He enlisted in the Haganah during the Arab Revolt, and in 1938 moved to England to study law. After completing his law studies, he volunteered for service in the British Army in WWII in 1942. He was an officer in the Normandy Invasion and saw the horrors of the Holocaust first hand as he was part of the force that liberated the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen.

In 1947, Herzog was released from the British Army and returned to Israel. He joined the Haganah’s intelligence unit and served as chief of security for the Jewish Agency. During the War of Independence he served as the intelligence and operations officer of the 7th regiment of the newly-formed Israel Defense Force (IDF) and took part in the battles to break through to Jerusalem including the bloody battle at Latrun.

Herzog served in many different roles in the government and military of Israel. Notably he served as Israel’s ambassador to the UN from 1975-78, when he made perhaps his most famous speech, denouncing the UN Resolution 3379, the infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution.

In 1981 he was elected to the Knesset and served there from 1981-1983, when he was elected by the Knesset to the Presidency. (For an explanation of Israeli government roles and terms, see Government of Israel: Vocabulary.) He was the first President of the State of Israel to make a state visit to Germany and the first to make a state visit to the United States.

Chaim Herzog retired after two terms as President and died in 1997. He is buried on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.

 

 

What is AIPAC?

I got this tweet yesterday, and I know it is a concern for a lot of Jews. However, in keeping with my tagline, “Basic Judaism spoken here,” let’s start with a basic question: What is AIPAC?

AIPAC (pronounced “A-pack”) stands for “American Israel Public Affairs Committee.” It is a lobbying organization that promotes pro-Israel policy to the Congress and the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. It has over 100,000 members in the U.S. According to its website, “The mission of AIPAC is to strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.” Membership in AIPAC is open to anyone regardless of religion, age, political party, or race.

AIPAC is not allied with any political party in the U.S. or in Israel. In the U.S., its annual policy conference invites speakers from both major political parties. It does not rate or endorse candidates for political office, and it is not a PAC (political action committee.) AIPAC members are encouraged to educate their elected officials about the importance of U.S.-Israel ties, and the national organization provides a network for accomplishing this work.

At this writing, AIPAC has confirmed the following speakers to its 2016 policy conference on March 20-22: Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton, Republican Candidate Donald Trump, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Member Robert Menendez, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Trump’s rhetoric and behavior has made him a controversial invitee. For more about the controversy, I recommend reading the Reform Movement response to the announcement that he will be a speaker.

AIPAC advocates support for the government in Israel elected by the voters of Israel.It is not involved in Israeli elections, nor does it endorse Israeli candidates or parties.

Critics of AIPAC see it as exerting undue influence on the Congress, and some extreme critics paint it as a group that actually “controls” Congress. It is a lobbying group like many others, made up of and supported by U.S. citizens who want to make sure that their viewpoint is represented in Washington. In that respect it is like the American Association of Retired Persons or the National Rifle Association. We may agree or disagree with the goals of a particular lobby, but under current rules, lobbying is what it takes to get the attention of the Congress.

To learn more about AIPAC, take a look at their website.

 

 

 

Government of Israel: Vocabulary

Image: The Israeli Flag, by PublicDomainPictures.

Following the news from Israel can be very frustrating if you don’t know some basic facts about government there. Americans are sometimes particularly puzzled by these facts, since there are terms that sound similar but mean quite different things. Here is a list of basic vocabulary that may help; if you want to know more about any item, follow the links within it.

Knesset – (k-NES-set) The Knesset is the legislative branch of the Israeli government. Israel is a parliamentary democracy.  The Knesset is its house of elected representatives. Bills become law via a fixed process through committees of the Knesset and then a vote by the plenary session. Knesset means “Assembly.”

Prime Minister [Rosh Hamemshalah]  – The Prime Minister heads the executive branch, the Government of Israel. Elections for Prime Minister are held at the same time as elections for Knesset. After the elections, the Prime Minister has to form a government, that is, put together a coalition of parties that he will present along with a slate of Ministers to the Knesset. This coalition must contain a majority of the votes in the Knesset. The current Prime Minister is Benjamin Netanyahu.

President [Nasi] – The President is elected by a secret ballot of the Knesset for a term of five years. It is largely a ceremonial position; the President is the public face of Israel. The current President is Reuven Rivlin.

Supreme Court [Beit Mishpat Elyon]- The Supreme Court sits atop the judiciary of Israel. It hears criminal and civil appeals from lower courts, and appeals from individuals who believe they have been wronged by a state authority or office. The lower courts include district courts, military courts, labor courts, and religious courts. There are religious courts for each of the four main religions resident in Israel: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze.

Basic Laws – Israel is a young state that has come into being at a time of continuous turmoil and considerable difference among religious and secular parties. As a result, while its Declaration of Independence forms the basis for much of its law, Israelis have not written and signed a Constitution. Instead, the Knesset enacted a body of laws called the Basic Laws which are intended to form the basis for a Constitution.

Elections – National elections are held at least once every four years, more often if the Prime Minister’s coalition falls apart. Every party running for election offers a slate of candidates for Knesset; how many of those individuals will actually become Members of the Knesset (MK) depends on the percentage of the popular vote the party receives. The Jewish Virtual Library offers a list of the parties in the current government and those who have figured prominently in recent elections. This list is particularly useful because it gives links to specific information about each party.

That’s enough for one post. I’ll follow up with another with more terms in future.

To my readers who are Israeli citizens: If I have done a poor job of explaining something, or offered downright misinformation, please correct me via the Comments!

To my readers who are not Israeli citizens: Your questions in the comments will tell me what the next such post needs to cover!

 

Another View from Israel

Image: People gather in the central courtyard of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. Photo by deror_avi, CC BY-SA 3.0. 

I just read something so exciting, with such great links, that I feel the need to share it RIGHT NOW.

Rabbi Greninger
Rabbi Greninger

Rabbi Nikki Greninger is attending her first Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) Convention in Jerusalem right now. She wrote an account of her experiences in the first day of the conference. I love her account because she holds up so many interesting aspects of Israeli life and especially of Reform Israeli life.

Did you know…

…That the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Tamir Nir, is in the final stages of study for the Reform rabbinate?

…That Hebrew Union College is a co-sponsor of a interreligious program teaching pastoral counseling specifically for addressing conflict-related trauma? Jewish, Muslim, and Christian clergy train together to support and heal those in their care who have suffered trauma from terror and related violence – the very concept takes my breath away.

…That there’s a new form of dance called Gaga which originated in Israel but is spreading around the world that is not about either the ball game nor Lady Gaga?

So here’s the link to Rabbi Greninger’s blog. She’s writing it primarily to rabbis in the United States who aren’t in Jerusalem for the conference, but I think there’s plenty in there to interest people of good will who want to learn more about Israel and the Middle East. She highlights aspects of the Israeli scene we simply don’t hear about. So much of our knowledge about Israel is shaped by crisis and conflict: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the women’s rights conflict, the struggle for religious pluralism in Israel — but life in Israel is not just about conflict.

Read. I think you will find some of those links as exciting as did I.

Personal Note: I’m Sad.

Image of the Kotel by Antonina Reshef – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.

For 28 years, a small group of Jewish women, the Women of the Wall (WoW), have insisted on their right to pray according to their own traditions at the Kotel, the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Every month on Rosh Chodesh they showed up at the crack of dawn and tried to hold services. The Kotel is managed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the official Orthodox arm of the government, currently controlled by Haredim.

The official rules at the Kotel, set by this office, were that it was to operate like a Haredi synagogue. Women’s voices were not to be heard, except for loud crying on Tisha B’Av. Men and women have separate areas and there must never be any mixing of the two. Strict dress codes are enforced. All prayer meets Haredi standards, which means that only men can pray aloud, and only men may handle a sefer Torah. The Women of the Wall, challenging these rules and petitioning the Israeli courts for limited exceptions to the rule, were met with 28 years of violence and abuse, yet they persisted.

This past week, the Israeli Government, along with the Reform and Conservative Movements in the United States announced a “breakthrough agreement” in which a separate portion of the Temple Mount area will be set up for egalitarian services and mixed groups for prayer. The “Robinson’s Arch” area is around the corner from the Kotel Plaza.

Talks to bring about this new agreement have been going on secretly for some time. Member of Knesset Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., was interviewed for an article in the Jerusalem Post in which he talked about his reasons for getting involved in the talks. He was deeply concerned about the escalating violence at the Kotel, and worried about the impact of the ongoing dispute on U.S.- Israel relations. As with almost anything else in Israel, nothing was simple.

So why I am not celebrating along with my fellow American Jews?

  1. Regarding the escalation of violence at the Kotel: whatever happened to the rule of law? The Supreme Court of Israel provided guidelines for the situation. Why were those who broke those guidelines and those who resorted to violence not arrested and prosecuted? I am furious that a group of people have been able to get their way (retain control of the historic Kotel) essentially by bullying. What’s the take-away lesson here? Throw enough feces, throw enough furniture, scream enough profanities, and you can have anything you want in the State of Israel?
  2. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem has condemned the agreement, since the new area, unlike the Kotel, is on ground claimed by the Waqf, the Islamic manager of the adjacent mosques. So we are going to make the Haredim less unhappy by stirring up trouble with the Waqf?
  3. Most of all, this new area does not address the intentions of the women who raised the question back in 1988 and who have pursued the issue ever since. They included a number of Orthodox women who do not want to pray in an egalitarian space. Putting them behind a mechitzah at the new spot will just underline their exile from the place they have sacrificed so much to occupy: the historic Kotel. Phyllis Chesler explains their point of view in her blog for the Times of Israel.

So I can’t celebrate this news. Perhaps the people who have negotiated it are much wiser than I and this really is the best course. What I notice, though, are the casualties and what feels to me like a rather casual attitude towards them.

I confess that my personal feelings about the Kotel are pretty cold. It seems to me that it has fostered a lot of sinat chinam [baseless hatred] among Jews since its liberation in 1967. I know that many feel it is the holiest place in Judaism because Jews have prayed there for so many centuries. But it is a wall built by a very nasty man, King Herod, who taxed the life out of Jews to remodel the Temple in a fruitless PR effort and a lot of ego. Moreover, those stones are merely a retaining wall, not a part of the Temple proper.

I supported the Women of the Wall because I thought they had a point: if we were going to claim that the Kotel belonged to all Jews, then dictating to women that they had to be quiet and that they could only pray one way there was not right. If this current arrangement is really the best we can do, it just makes me sad.

 

Have You Heard of ISRAaid?

Image: ISRAaid volunteers greet refugees landing on the Greek island of Lesvos. Photo by: IFTAH SAVIT/ ISRAAID

Among the many interesting speakers this past week at PARR, we heard from the Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles, David Siegel. I always enjoy the sessions with the Consul General, because not only do we hear from the current holder of that office, we also have a chance to ask questions.

In his address to us, he talked about the fact that the most desperate situation in the Middle East at this moment is Syria and “it is not going away.” Millions of people have been displaced by the complicated civil war there, and millions more are likely to be displaced in the future.

The consul talked about ways that Israelis have been involved in assisting refugeees, and alluded to volunteer opportunities for American Jews, as well. I asked him for more specifics, and here is what I learned:

One way that Israelis have been involved in providing aid to the suffering people of Syria is by staffing refugee operations in Europe through the non-profit, non-governmental organization ISRAaid. From the ISRAaid website: “our teams of professional medics, search & rescue squads, post-trauma experts and community mobilizers, have been first on the front lines of nearly every major humanitarian response in the 21st century” – and that includes the current Syrian refugee crisis.

One way to support ISRAaid is by donation. But if you are a professional (any of the professions mentioned in the paragraph above) you might also consider volunteering with them.

For information about current  ISRAaid projects, you can check out their facebook page. For a sense of what they did in the last year, here’s a video:

 

Lehrhaus Judaica Online Courses, 2016

Lehrhaus Judaica offers eight online courses over the next several months. (Full disclosure: I teach two of the eight classes.) The classes are taught using Adobe Connect, a platform which allows a learner with a computer and a reliable Internet connection to participate in class without a lot of special software.

All times listed are Pacific (US) time.

Here are the offerings, with links. For more info, or to register for a class, click on the class link:

Prelude to Rabin with Riva Gambert – Thursdays, Jan 28 – Feb 25 7-8:30pm ($70) – In this 20th anniversary year of Rabin’s assassination, we will take a look at four milestones in the nation’s history. (1) Socio-political climate that led to modern political Zionism (2) The post WWI French and British mandate system ((3) Palestinian Jewry’s response to WWOO and (4) American political landscape following the war that shaped President Truman’s recognition of the State of Israel in May 1948.

Lost Goddess: The Life and Death of the Divine Feminine in the Biblical World with Jehon Grist, PhD – Thursdays, March 17-April 21, 7-8:30pm, ($50). Like it or not, most of us consciously or unconsciously think of God as “He.” But scanning through the ancient religious lives of Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Hittites, Canaanites and also Israelites, we see a generous number of goddesses. Who were they and what can we learn about them?

Israel and Texts with Rabbi Ruth Adar – Sundays, Jan. 10 – Mar 6, 3:30-5pm, ($90) The land of Israel has been central to Jewish history, both ancient and modern. This class will examine the history ancient Israel, the beginnings of rabbinic Judaism, and the modern return to the land. With that history as a backdrop, we will learn about the great texts of Judaism, including the synagogue service. This class may be taken by itself, or as part of the Introduction to the Jewish Experience series.

Traditions of Judaism with Rabbi Ruth Adar – Sundays, April 3 – June 5, 3:30-5pm, ($90) There have been many different expressions of Judaism since the days of the Second Temple. In this class we will study the varieties of Judaism: Ashkenazi Judaism, Sephardic Judaism, and the modern streams of Judaism. We will also look at some of the elements that make American Judaism distinctive. The class will also explore the phenomenon of antisemitism from ancient times to today. This class may be taken by itself, or as part of the Introduction to the Jewish Experience series.

Prayerbook/Biblical Hebrew with Jehon Grist, PhD – Sundays January 24 – March 20, ($95, $90 seniors and students)

Bible Circle: The Text in its World with Jehon Grist, PhD – Tuesdays, Feb 23 – Mar 15, 7-8:30pm ($35)  Since childhood, we’ve all visited some of the great Bible stories, but we’ve also sometimes scratched our heads, not really understanding everything they have to say.

To fully explore the story, you need to go full circle and discover the Biblical world from which it came. That’s what this course will do. We’ll study selected texts, covering everything from the basic story line, to the meaning of obscure words and phrases (all in English translation), to the fascinating differences found in other ancient versions of the Bible.

But we’ll also visit the places and cultures that thrived when these stories were composed, from Biblical villages and the Jerusalem temple to Egyptian palaces and more. Richly illustrated with hundreds of images and numerous video clips, we will time-travel through four selected Bible texts, bringing them and their world to life.

 

How Can We Talk About Israel?

A reader asked, “How do you talk to non-Jews about an Israel that’s less than perfect?”

I live in the capital-L Liberal San Francisco Bay Area, just a few miles south of the University of California, Berkeley. I get the question on a regular basis: “How can you support Israel, and call yourself a decent person?”

In many ways I’m a typical resident of the “East Bay” – my politics are liberal. I didn’t start out that way, but various life experiences have made me into a definite social democrat.

I’m also a fervent Zionist, by which I mean that I believe there needs to be a place on the planet where Jews are in charge of our own fate. I think that because there’s a massive pile of evidence that when other people have power over us, especially if there is an established religion, they’ll treat us very badly. In the 20th century, nearly all the Jews of Europe were wiped out, and there are still people saying that that would have been a good thing.

So, the questioners ask, how do I resolve supporting Israel and being a decent person? Like a rabbi, I answer the question with a question: “Are you an American?” Usually the answer is yes, so I ask another question: “Do you approve of everything about America?” That brings a sputtering “No!” And then I can say, “Me, either,” which gives us some common ground.

I do not carry an Israeli passport, but I support Israel. Do I approve of everything about Israel? Heck no, any more than I approve of everything about America. Some things I disapprove of are common to both places!

I’m not going to give out a laundry list of things I would change about Israel any more than I would give a Russian newspaper a rundown of what I would change about America. However, I’ve got my list, and when I’m in a situation to act effectively upon it, I act. Right at the moment, there are so many people hating on Israel – saying that it has no right to exist whatsoever – that I prefer not to provide my words as ammunition for that chorus.

What bothers me most  is the attitude that Israel has no right to exist. I want to say, pray tell, where should the millions of Jews who live there go, if they are not to live in Israel? They were born there. It is their home. A few have been there since long before Zionism: that group was called The Old Yishuv. They’d been in Israel for a long, long time.

Note that I’m not talking about some kind of Biblical deed to the land. I base my understanding on the fact that the majority of Israelis today are the children of Jews who settled in the one place where they were allowed to go, in a place that as a group they had regarded as “home” for millennia. Others came by choice, most of them (admittedly not all) during periods when that choice was legal. Then, in 1948, the United Nations set an arbitrary line down what had been the British Mandate of Palestine and said, Jews on one side, Arabs on the other. The Jews promptly declared a state on their side of the land, and the next day armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq invaded, intent on killing the Jews. Too few people cared about the Palestinian inhabitants of the land and that was tragic.  I admit that they were badly treated – by ALL parties.

I would like to see peace with justice for all, which means that no side will get everything they want. Especially it means that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians will suddenly disappear from the face of the earth, or fall into the sea, or otherwise just get out of the way. I don’t want an apartheid State of Israel, and I don’t want a Palestinian State that will bomb Israel forever with impunity.

What I want is for both sides to figure out a way to coexist. And maybe that isn’t possible, but I am unwilling to give up on it yet. I know for a fact that there are Israelis who want it, and Palestinians who want it, too.

What I know for certain is that there is no simple solution, and that anyone who uses the word “simple” in relationship to this problem is sadly misinformed or deluded.

In the meantime, I have millions of Jewish cousins in Israel. To me, that’s one thing being a Jew means:  that all the Jews in the world are my cousins.  I am going to worry about them, and be loyal to them, because we have this kinship. If I am upset with them, I’ll tell them privately, but I won’t hand the haters weapons to throw at them.

This may be more of an answer than my reader really wanted. It might be that all you need to do is ask the person you’re talking with, do they love everything about the country of which they are a citizen?  I guarantee you that there’s something they don’t like. Part of loving something – or someONE, for that matter – is knowing that they aren’t perfect. Either that, or you don’t know them well enough yet.

I would just caution you against trying to find agreement by listing all the things you don’t like about Israel. It will not persuade them. If they are antisemites, it will be ammunition. If, on the other hand, they are troubled by some of the choices Israel’s governments have made, a reminder that all governments fall short of the ideal may help them understand.

Media and the Middle East

Where do you get your news about the Middle East?

It’s an important question. Most of the media reporting on Israel and the Middle East have a definite anti-Israel slant. Even very respectable news organizations have been sloppy or downright biased in their reporting.

For instance, a week ago the New York Times printed an article that cast considerable doubt that the Temple had ever stood on the Temple Mount. It noted that this is a “politically loaded question.” Then it proceeded to present the information in a politically slanted way. For a look at the problems with the original article, I recommend The New York Times Goes Truther on the Temple Mount in Tablet Magazine.

Last year the Atlantic printed an article by AP reporter Matti Friedman, What the Media Gets Wrong about Israel. In it he talks about the reasons for the reporting, and why “the pipeline of information from Israel is not just rusty and leaking, but intentionally plugged.” In another example, he notes that “the construction of 100 apartments in a Jewish settlement is always news; the smuggling of 100 rockets into Gaza by Hamas is, with rare exceptions, not news at all.”

So where do I get my news about Israel? Here are some (free) outlets that I follow:

The Times of Israel – A Jerusalem-based English language online newspaper. The founding editor is UK-born Israeli journalist David Horowitz.

The Mideast Reporter – Here’s how they describe themselves: “an independent nonprofit news organization with an ambitious purpose: to improve the standards of journalism on the Israeli-Palestinian and other Middle East conflicts, and a variety of related topics. Among them are Iran; the financing of global terrorism; Islamic extremism; and the boycott-Israel movement. We will accomplish our mission by producing groundbreaking investigative journalism on significant subjects that do not receive adequate attention, and by critiquing articles and broadcast segments that fail to meet professional standards.

The Jerusalem Post – The venerable JPost is a bit more political than the Times of Israel or the Mideast Reporter.  It has a distinct right-wing bent. However, for quick information about what’s happening, particularly in a crisis, it offers solid and local information.

Al Jazeera America – Just from the name and the logo, it’s clear that this is not an Israeli organization. My reason for choosing them as my non-Israeli source for news is that I know and trust John Michael Seigenthaler, their American news anchor. Al Jazeera America (as distinct from Al Jazeera) does its reporting with journalistic ethics.  I care about hearing both sides of every story – I just insist that the telling come from a place of journalism, not jingoism.

I also subscribe to Haaretz.com, but it is behind a paywall. If you are serious about following Israeli news, you should consider a subscription.

Where do you get your news about the Middle East? How do you decide whom to trust?

CCAR Statement on the Situation in Israel

This is an official statement from the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) on the situation in Israel.

The CCAR is the professional association of Reform rabbis in North America.

CCAR Deplores Terrorism, Denounces Abbas

Wednesday, October 7, 2015
The Central Conference of American Rabbis grieves the deaths of Naama and Eitam Henkin, brutally murdered in the sight of their four children; and of Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Banita, savagely stabbed to death in Jerusalem. All four were victims of Palestinian terrorists, with the Henkins’ murderers identified by Israel as members of Hamas and with Islamic Jihad claiming responsibility for its terrorist’s work in Jerusalem.

Terrorism will not bring the Palestinian people closer to the realization of their legitimate national aspirations.

Making matters worse, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has renounced existing agreements with Israel, leaving even West Bank security arrangements in question. In an Orwellian turn, Abbas then denounced Israeli security forces for killing the Islamic Jihad terrorist, even though he was killed by the force necessary to stop his rampage.

While responsibility for these deaths lies in the hands of terrorists, we are also appalled by some of the response coming from Israel’s Jewish community. We condemn right wing extremists who are inciting a violent response against Palestinians, terrorists and otherwise. Also, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a plan to accelerate demolitions of terrorists’ families’ homes and to increase extra-judicial detentions of terrorism suspects. These plans are cause for concern. As a democracy and civilized society, respectful of the rule of law, Israel must vigorously protect its citizens from terrorism while ensuring due process and civil rights for all who live under its rule.

Now is the time for terrorism to end. Now is the time for responsible Palestinian leadership. Now is the time for a strong, responsible Israeli response to terror, one that respects human rights and due process. Now is the time for renewed negotiations, leading to a two-state solution, with a Palestinian State and Israel living side by side at peace.

As rabbis, we continue to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem;” and we refuse to abandon hope, even at this dark hour.

Rabbi Denise L. Eger           Rabbi Steven A. Fox
President                            Chief Executive

Central Conference of American Rabbis