100 Rabbis Urge Stronger U.S. Action on DarfurAs U.S. Prepares to Unveil New Sudan Policy,100 Rabbis Urge Stronger Steps on Darfurby Martin Barillas Monday, October 19, 2009
100 Rabbis Urge Stronger U.S. Action on Darfur
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies News Release: October 19, 2009 For more information, contact: rafaelmedoff@aol.com / 202-434-8994 As U.S. Prepares to Unveil New Sudan Policy, 100 Rabbis Urge Stronger Steps on Darfur WASHINGTON - As the Obama administration prepares to unveil its new policy toward Sudan, one hundred rabbis from around the country have sent a letter to President Obama, urging him to take stronger steps to counter the Darfur genocide. "President Obama last year called for 'real pressure on the Sudanese government' to stop the Darfur genocide, and we hope he will proceed accordingly, " said Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, in Washington, D.C., which organized the rabbis' letter. The rabbis urged President Obama to "impose the strongest possible sanctions on the Sudanese government" and "put pressure on Sudan's allies to stop propping up its genocidal regime." China, Russia, and the Arab League have provided the Sudanese government with crucial assistance. The rabbis' letter also urged the president to take "practical steps to implement the International Criminal Court's warrant for the arrest of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir." In recent months, Bashir has traveled openly to a number of Arab and African countries, yet there have been no attempts to arrest him. The Wyman Institute sponsors "Bashir Watch," a project that tracks President Bashir's travels and urges governments to treat Bashir as a pariah and cooperate in efforts to arrest him. The letter from the 100 rabbis noted that "The Jewish community's memories of the Holocaust provide a powerful reminder of the importance of taking strong action to stop genocide, and to punish the perpetrators of genocide." The signatories on the letter, representing a broad religious and political cross-section of the American Jewish community, include senior leaders of the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist movements, among them three past presidents of the Central Conference of American [Reform] Rabbis; a past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association; the chairman of this year's national convention of the Rabbinical Assembly [Conservative]; the director of Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future; and the executive director of the International Rabbinic Fellowship. The text of the letter, and the complete list of signatories, follows below. * * * The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies October 19, 2009 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, We were heartened by your statement last year that "There must be real pressure placed on the Sudanese government. We know from past experience that it will take a great deal to get them to do to the right thing." The Jewish community's memories of the Holocaust provide a powerful reminder of the importance of taking strong action to stop genocide, and to punish the perpetrators of genocide. We therefore hope that your policy with regard to Darfur will include the imposition of the strongest possible sanctions on the Sudanese government, pressure on Sudan's allies to stop propping up its genocidal regime, and practical steps to implement the International Criminal Court's warrant for the arrest of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. Cordially, Rabbi Peter S. Knobel Immediate Past President, Central Conference of American Rabbis Beth Emet the Free Synagogue - Evanston, IL Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff Past President, Central Conference of American Rabbis Vice President for Special Projects, Hebrew Union College Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Emanu-El - Westfield, NJ Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman Past President, Central Conference of American Rabbis and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion The Jewish Center of the Hamptons - East Hampton NY Rabbi Barbara Penzner Past President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Temple Hillel B'nai Torah - Boston, MA Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt Chairman, 2009 Rabbinical Assembly national convention Past President, Washington Board of Rabbis Congregation B'nai Tzedek - Potomac, MD Rabbi Alison P. Adler Congregation Mishkan Israel - Hamden, CT Rabbi Andy Bachman Congregation Beth Elohim - Brooklyn, NY Rabbi Lewis M. Barth Hebrew Union College - Los Angeles, CA Rabbi Brian Beal Templ Beth Torah - Upper Nyack, NY Rabbi Karen Bender Temple Judea - Tarzana, CA Rabbi James Bennett Congregation Shaare Emeth - St. Louis, MO Rabbi Shalom Z. Berger, Ed.D. The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education Bar-Ilan University Rabbi Kenneth Brander The David Mitzner Dean Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future Rabbi Dr. Jack J. Cohen Jerusalem, Israel Rabbi Phil Cohen American Hebrew Academy - Greensboro, NC Rabbi Susan S. Conforti Chaplain, VITAS Innovative Hospice - Irvine, CA Rabbi Leon Wiener Dow Binah Center for Jewish Identity and Hebrew Culture Rabbi Mark Dratch Yeshiva University Rabbi Ira Ebbin Beth Zion Congregation - Montreal, QUE Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein Congregation Beth Elohim - Brooklyn, NY Rabbi Joshua Feigelson Fiedler Hillel at Northwestern University Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman Congregation Emek Beracha - Palo Alto, CA Rabbi David Forman Founding Chair, Rabbis for Human Rights Rabbi Aaron Frank Lower School Principal, Beth Tfilloh Community Day School - Baltimore, MD Rabbi Mark Friedman Jewish Family Services - Ottawa, ON Rabbi Ronne Friedman Temple Israel - Boston, MA Rabbi Zev Friedman Dean, Rambam Mesivta - Lawrence, NY Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, D. Min., DD Congregation Beth Israel - West Hartford, CT Rabbi Joyce Galaski Congregation Ahavas Achim - Westfield, MA Rabbi David Gelfand Temple Israel - New York, NY Rabbi Dr. Gershon C. Gewirtz Young Israel Synagogue - Brookline, MA Rabbi David M. Glickman Congregation Shearith Israel - Dallas, TX Rabbi Alan Goldman Faculty, RavSiach- Melitz Rabbi Lisa Grushcow Congregation Rodeph Sholom - New York, NY Rabi Sidney M. Helbraun Temple Beth-El - Northbrook, IL Rabbi Jason Herman Executive Director, International Rabbinic Fellowship West Side Jewish Center - New York, NY Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz Temple Sholom - Greenwich, CT Rabbi Steven L. Jacobs Temple Emanu-El - Tuscaloosa, AL Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan B'nai Israel - Albany, GA Rabbi Stephen Karol Temple Isaiah - Stony Brook, NY Rabbi Paul Kipnes Congregation Or Ami - Calabasas, CA Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner Temple Emanu-El - Closter, NJ Rabbi David Klatzker Temple Ner Tamid - Peabody, MA Rabbi Yitzchak Kolakowski Nachalei Emunah Institute Richmond, VA Rabbi Stephanie Kolin Temple Israel - Boston, MA Rabbi Levi D. Lauer Founding Executive Director, ATZUM-Justice Works Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein Temple Sinai - Amherst, NY Rabbi Seth M. Limmer Congregation B'nai Yisrael - Armonk, NY Rabbi Dennis Linson Temple Judea - Laguna Hills, CA Rabbi Greg Litcofsky Temple Shir Tikva - Wayland, MA Rabbi Alan E. Litwak Temple Sinai - North Miami Beach, FL Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman Senior Scholar, Temple Israel - Boston MA Rabbi Avis D. Miller President, Open Dor Foundation Rabbi Jason Miller Congregation T'chiyah - Oak Park, MI Rabbi Stephen F. Moch Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands Rabbi David Oler Congregation Beth Or - Deerfield, IL Rabbi Eric Polokoff B'nai Israel - Southbury, CT Rabbi Sanford Ragins Leo Baeck Temple - Los Angeles, CA Rabbi Adam Rosenthal Peninsula Sina Congregation - Foster City, CA Rabbi Sara Sapadin Temple Israel of the City of New York Rabbi Mordechai Y. Scher Beit Midrash Kol BeRamah - Santa Fe, NM Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger Community Kollel - Dallas, TX Michael Schudrich Chief Rabbi - Jewish Community of Poland Rabbi Joel R. Schwartzman Congregation B'nai Chaim - Morrison, CO Rabbi Sanford Seltzer Interreligious Center on Public Life Rabbi Eric J. Siroka Temple Beth-El - South Bend, IN Rabbi Daniel A. Septimus Temple De Hirsch Sinai - Seattle, WA Rabbi Yerachmiel Shapiro Congregation Beth Shalom - Red Bank, NJ Rabbi Suzanne Singer Temple Beth El - Riverside, CA Rabbi Hesch Sommer, D.Min. Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Beth Tikvah - Madison, CT Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz Cong. Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem - Cote St. Luc, QUE Rabbi Keith Stern Temple beth Avodah - Newton, MA Rabbi Harvey M. Tattelbaum Senior Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Shaaray Tefila - New York, NY Rabbi Lawrence Teitelman Young Israel of New Hyde Park, NY Rabbi Dr. Jeremiah Unterman Past Director, Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools & Yeshiva High Schools Rabbi Chaim Wasserman Emeritus, Young Israel of Passaic - Clifton, NJ President, Council of Young Israels Rabbi Mayer Waxman Director of Synagogue Services, Orthodox Union Rabbi Elchanan J. Weinbach Head of School, Shalhevet High School - Los Angeles, CA Rabbi Elie Weinstock Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun - New York, NY Rabbi Jeffrey Wildstein Temple Beth David - Westwood, MA Rabbi David Wise Hollis Hills Jewish Center - Flushing, NY Rabbi Irvin M. Wise Adath Israel Congregation - Cincinnati, OH Rabbi Elaine Zecher Temple Israel - Boston, MA Rabbi Irwin A. Zeplowitz The Community Synagogue - Port Washington, NY Rabbi Henry A. Zoob Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Beth David - Westwood, MA (Institutions listed for identification purposes only.) * * * ABOUT THE WYMAN INSTITUTE: The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, located in Washington, D.C., is a research and education institute focusing on America’s response to the Holocaust. It is named in honor of the eminent historian and author of the 1984 best-seller The Abandonment of the Jews, the most important and influential book concerning the U.S. response to the Nazi genocide. The Institute’s Advisory Committee includes Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, Members of Congress, and other luminaries. The Institute’s Academic Council includes more than fifty leading professors of the Holocaust, American history, and Jewish history. The Institute’s Arts & Letters Council, chaired by Cynthia Ozick, includes prominent artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers. (A complete list is available upon request.) General |
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