Talk radio is very popular in Israel. Animated debates on every topic under the sun fill the airwaves every day. One station, Kol BaRama, a station with a large Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) listenership, has the practice of not allowing women to speak on air. They say this is to respect the feelings of all who tune in to hear them. We, at IRAC, have been saying for two years that it is simply illegal and immoral to silence a woman’s voice on publically funded airwaves. After months of debate, it seems Israel’s politicians are starting to agree with us, and not just about this one case, but also about gender segregation in general.

Our struggle against gender segregation and the exclusion of women has taken many forms. We have fought this phenomenon in the courts, and thanks to our Supreme Court victory, coercing women to sit in the back of public buses was declared illegal. We have fought segregation in the streets, in public transportation, public services, and in shared spaces, such as cemeteries and health clinics. Through our Freedom Rider program, our volunteer riders have helped desegregate thousands of individual bus rides. Finally, we fight segregation by lobbying the Knesset and government ministries.

We have worked hard for years to try to convince the government that this is a serious problem that needs their attention. It is fundamentally unjust to force women out of sight and to deny them access to public services simply because of one group’s extreme interpretation of modesty.

Last week, a report was published by a ministerial commission from the Justice Ministry that accepts nearly all of IRAC’s recommendations relating to gender segregation in public transportation, public services, and the public sphere. The report also includes important recommendations on improving enforcement methods against gender segregation. Israel’s Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, has said he will adopt the recommendations of the ministerial commission.

This is a great victory. Within six months, the practice of women faxing their questions to Kol BaRama to have them read on the air by a man will end and they must enable women’s voices to be heard without restriction. They will also be obligated to hire female broadcasters.  Female mourners will no longer be prevented from eulogizing their deceased loved ones and segregation will end at official ceremonies held under the auspices of the state (except for religious services).

To read a summary of the ministerial committee’s recommendations click here.

We are thrilled to see this kind of progress, but if we have learned anything about gender segregation it is that as soon as we turn our heads it returns and often worse than before. We will continue to work with the government to keep them aware of the problem and we will hold the Attorney General to his word that gender segregation in the public sphere must end.

In this week’s Torah portion, we are exposed to one of the Torah’s more troubling stories. Miriam, who has been a character around which the Israelites have gathered and rallied through the exodus from Egypt, speaks poorly of her brother Moses. As a result, Miriam is cursed with leprosy. While there are many problematic elements in this story, one of the key takeaways is that words – both in the Bible and today – have a lot of meaning.

Tomorrow, we as Jews have an opportunity to use our words to affect change. We will be holding a call-in day on immigration reform to tell our Senators that we demand reform to fix our broken system. We will encourage our Senators to support reform that includes:

• Family reunification policies that significantly reduce waiting times for separated families, who currently must wait many years to be reunited with loved ones, and that reunite all family-members including siblings, children, parents and spouses;
• Border protection policies that are consistent with American humanitarian values and effective against illegal migration, allowing the authorities to carry out the critical task of identifying and preventing entry into the United States of terrorists and dangerous criminals;
• A pathway to citizenship that creates opportunities for hard-working immigrants who are already contributing to this country to come out of the shadows, regularize their status upon satisfaction of reasonable criteria and, over time, pursue citizenship;
• Wage and workplace protections for those already living in America and contributing to our economy and for those who migrate here;
• Legal avenues for both high- and low-skilled professionals and their families who wish to migrate to the U.S. to enter our country and work in a safe, legal, and orderly manner that meets the needs of employers.

To get a reminder text about the call-in day, text “GESHER” to 877-877 or click here. And tomorrow, make sure to use your words to speak truth to power – call your Senators at 888-897-0174.

Back in September, we blogged about the scary prospects of 3D printed weapons. Fast forward eight months: the first fully printed weapon works, and its designs have been posted and can be downloaded for free over the Internet. Although the State Department moved quickly to shut down the host-site, the ready-to-print and fully functional design had been downloaded over 100,000 times.

Since the tragedy at Sandy Hook, we have worked tirelessly to advance sensible laws to prevent gun violence. We continue to work hard to improve our system of background checks, and believe it is necessary to keep those who are dangerous, including violent criminals, from getting weapons. Even those who do not want to expand our system of background checks agree that background checks work in preventing many criminals from getting weapons (they just ignore the loopholes that make our current system fallible). As if we needed any greater loophole than already exists, add the printed weapon to the list.

If criminal access to weapons wasn’t already scary, consider the fact that plastic weapons can’t be detected by metal detectors.

Recognizing the grave threat of the printed weapon, the State Department told Defense Distributed (the non-profit set up by a Texas law student who designed the weapon) to take the blueprints off of their site.

However, the blueprints are now being recreated and shared all over the web.

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY) are working to create new legislation that would ban 3D printed weapons. So how will we effectively stop people from downloading the designs?

Image courtesy of Defense Distributed

This post is part of a weekly feature on RACblog. Check in at the end of the week for a roundup of stories in which the RAC has been featured!

Welcome to this week’s edition of “Featuring the RAC,” written from the offices of the Jerusalem Post’s 26^th most powerful Jew in the world! In all seriousness, we were immensely proud to see Rabbi Saperstein on JPost’s list, and equally proud of our friend Anat Hoffman who scored the #5 spot.

This week, Rabbi Saperstein also joined the Interfaith Alliance, National Council of Jewish Women, and other religious organizations calling for the inclusion of a ban on religious profiling in the immigration reform bill. Here at the RAC we’ve been hard at work advocating for comprehensive immigration reform more broadly, as well.

Rabbi Saperstein also voiced concern this week over the status of the Jewish population in Hungary by signing a letter with several other leaders of American Jewish organizations. The letter, addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry and Ambassador Michael Kozak, read in part: “Given the growth of hatred against Jews and other minorities (particularly the Roma) in Hungary, we urge you to keep the issue of intolerance and discrimination squarely on the US-Hungarian bilateral agenda…We also encourage you to raise the matter personally in your direct dealings with Hungarian officials.”

“Why, when we fasted, did You not see? When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?” (Isaiah 58:3). We know these questions as those of the Israelites in the book of Isaiah dismayed that God had not responded to their penance, but in light of today – the 100^th day of the hunger strike at the prison at Guantanamo Bay – these questions take on a new relevance. 102 of the 166 men currently detained in Guantanamo are participating in a hunger strike to challenge their treatment and their continued detention. The questions confront us today: do we not see? Do we pay no heed? And, perhaps more pressing, is this the fast that we desired?

The first detainees arrived at the U.S. Military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in early 2002. Since that time 779 men have been detained there, most without ever being charged with a crime. 86% of the detainees held at Guantanamo were turned over to U.S. forces in exchange for cash bounties; according to government data 92% were never al Qaeda fighters. 166 men remain there today, 86 have been cleared for transfer. 102 are hunger striking, 30 are being force-fed. While there has been outcry among Americans about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, it has never been strong or sustained enough to finally close the prison. Is this the fast that we desired?

Despite the successful transfer of over 500 detainees during the Bush administration, in recent years Congress has increasingly blocked attempts to transfer detainees and close the prison. One such obstacle, known as transfer restrictions, prohibits the government from transferring anyone from Guantanamo to the United States for trial. Another, known as certification requirements, dictates that any country that the U.S. might wish to transfer a prisoner to for trial must meet very strict requirements, making it incredibly difficult to transfer detainees to most countries in the world. These restrictions have been renewed every year for the last four years in the National Defense Authorization Act and may be proposed again in this year’s bill. Is this the fast that they desired?

However, despite these roadblocks the President could still do more to fulfill his promise, made during his first campaign and reaffirmed numerous times, to close Guantanamo. A number of advocacy groups have tried to increase pressure on the President to act, outlining two concrete actions he could take. One is to appoint a senior point person so that the Administration’s Guantanamo closure policy is directed by the White House. The other is to order the Secretary of Defense to start certifying for transfer detainees who have been cleared despite the added burden of the certification requirements. While he has given vocal support to Guantanamo’s closure, the President has yet to take these actions. Is this the fast that he desired?

The passage from Isaiah ends with a list of concrete, material actions that our fasts should motivate us to do. Will the hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay be enough to mobilize us as citizens and motivate our leaders to finally take steps to end this dark chapter in American history?  To mark the 100^th day of the hunger strike the National Religious Campaign Against Torture – of which the Union for Reform Judaism is a founding member – is sponsoring a “Weekend of Action.”  Check out their resource page for suggestions on how to make this goal a reality.

Image Courtesy of Spencer Platt, Getty Images

Earlier this month, RJV hosted its annual Advocacy Day in Albany and with our voices raised as one, we spoke on behalf of New York State’s vibrant Reform Jewish community urging state legislators to support the Women’s Equality Agenda and implement fair election reform.  Our actions were noted by legislators, staff and the local press:

• Capitol Confidential (Times Union): Reform Jewish group pushes for women’s agenda
• Capital Tonight (YNN): Here and Now, May 6^th

Just one day after RJV was meeting with legislators about the need for fair election reform, the state Assembly passed a public financing bill by a wide margin (88-50). The measure would implement a 6-to-1 public fund matching program similar to the one in New York City. The bill now proceeds to the Senate. If you are a New York resident, you can see how your member of the Assembly voted here and take a moment to send an email to your Senator urging them to support public funding of elections now!

All New Yorkers can also continue to take action on the Women’s Equality Agenda and encourage legislators to support the 10-point plan, especially the provisions intended to safeguard women’s reproductive health decisions and ensure pay equality.

Take a look at some of our pictures from the day and check out our new website here to learn more about RJV’s work on the Women’s Equality Agenda and fair elections.

The list is in and, according to the Jerusalem Post, our own Anat Hoffman is the 5^th most influential Jew in the world. Hoffman, the Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), trails only MK Yair Lapid, Jack Lew, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. She comes in above Jon Stewart (#7), Rep. Debbi Wasserman Schultz (#10) and Justice Elana Kagan (#12), just to name a few.

And, of course, our own Rabbi Saperstein is ranked as #26.

Hoffman’s high ranking is in part a result of her leadership in Women of the Wall, which has made remarkable strides over the past year advancing pluralism and women’s rights at the Kotel. Just this past week, Women of the Wall made headlines when thousands of Haredi Jews violently protested the group’s Rosh Kodesh service by launching rocks, spit and verbal abuse.

Unlike at previous services, for the first time in over two decades the police protected the Women of the Wall and arrested some of the perpetrators who threatened them. Such a dramatic turn in official treatment stems from a recent court ruling defending the right of women to pray at the Kotel.

The battle over women’s rights at the Kotel has now spread to the Knesset, where Naftali Bennet and Tzipi Livni are publically sparring. Countering recent court decisions, Benner seeks to regulate prayer at the Kotel and to limit the Women of the Wall’s practice. Livni has expressed her opposition to any such limitations, which require her approval.

While the status of the Western Wall now dominates Israeli media (so much so that Women of the Wall is even a subject heading on Haartetz), its newfound fame is symptomatic of greater religious tensions in Israel. As the battles over religious pluralism, women’s rights and the rights of the non-Orthodox are on-going in Israel, we are proud to have Anat Hoffman at the helm.

At the beginning of 2012 I wrote on RACblog: “As we move into the 2012 election year, the war on women has become more extreme and effective.” Not only did this prove to be true (it’s hard to forget the offensive rhetoric spewed by so many candidates across the country in 2012 elections), but states have continued to pass laws since then, which have stripped women of their right to choose when, how and if to have a family, or have created socioeconomically-based barriers that restrict access to reproductive health services.

That’s why Morgan Meneses-Sheets’s piece in Truthout (the program manager for Reproductive Health Technologies Project – a strong partner with the RAC on our reproductive justice initiatives) really struck a chord with me.

Before you read on, keep in mind how wholly our reproductive rights advocacy efforts are informed by our Jewish values. While it often feels as though the Religious Right has a monopoly on the faith-based perspective on reproductive rights, this doesn’t need to be the case. In the Mishnah we read, “If a woman’s labor becomes life threatening, the one to be born is dismembered in her abdomen…for her life comes before the life of the fetus.” From this and other Talmudic passages we learn that, while all life is sacred, the life of a mother has more value than the life of an unborn fetus. Additionally, when considering the health of the mother, we consider her physical, spiritual and emotional health – her body and her nefesh (soul). Abortion is a deeply personal issue, and the decision of when life begins is often a religious one.

Check out Morgan’s piece here, or read it below:

Pregnancy, Politics, and the Policing of Women’s Bodies

Standing in line at a DC coffee shop, I wonder if I will get a dirty look. I’m pregnant and I remember a friend who told me that she was once scolded by a fellow customer for having caffeine while pregnant. Another friend, a doctor and an avid runner, was pulled aside while running and asked if her doctor knew she was doing that. Still, bothersome moments like these barely scratch the surface of a grave truth in this country – women’s bodies are under constant control.

While pregnant, I have been amazed by the unsolicited advice that I get on a weekly basis about what to eat and not eat, how much sleep to get, whether or not to have sex, if I should carry my toddler who loves to say “up up, Mommy” and asks me to “twirl, twirl.” But I am lucky. I have not been drug tested in order to utilize a safety net program, nor have I been randomly drug tested while still in recovery in the maternity ward. I have not been jailed because I was in pain and used medication, nor have I been locked in a psychiatric ward because I refused treatment for gestational diabetes.

While the rights and dignity of pregnant women are further eroded, forced sterilization and laws that cap the number of children a woman can have if she uses public assistance continue a shameful history in this country of dictating who gets to add to their family. Indeed, lawmakers play a dangerous game when they think they should decide whether a woman becomes a parent, instead of ensuring that every woman can make her own decision based on what is best for her and her family. This is especially true when it comes to the decision to seek an abortion.

In recent years, hundreds of laws were introduced with the goal of making it harder and more expensive to get an abortion or closing clinics to shut off availability of care. Many of these restrictions make the news (hello, North Dakota) and cause a big uproar among advocates (think Virginia’s mandatory ultrasound law) and rightly so, but there are efforts that are just as widespread, but simply do not get the same attention – legislation that effectively withholds abortion care altogether.

Those politicians who don’t want abortion to be legal at all push bans that deny health care coverage of abortion in order to make it unaffordable. At the federal level, politicians have cut off care for women who use Medicaid or Medicare, as well as Medicare beneficiaries, federal employees and their dependents, Peace Corps volunteers, service members and their families, Native American women utilizing Indian Health Services, and women in federal prisons.

It is just as bad at the state level, where bills limiting insurance coverage have been advanced and enacted for years. Right now, 20 states deny abortion coverage for plans that will be offered through the state health insurance exchanges that will be launched in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act, including eight that ban coverage in all private insurance plans offered in that state. Eighteen states withhold abortion coverage in insurance plans for public employees. Thirty-five states deny women coverage through their state Medicaid program.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story about how women are impacted by these attacks on affordable care. The fact is that these policies create unjust obstacles for women, especially low-income women, immigrant women and women of color, many of whom already face significant barriers to receiving high-quality care.

Even with all the talk about recession, sometimes it’s hard to get our heads around the fact that there are people working so hard to make ends meet, they really, truly can’t pull together money for an extra medical expense on their own. I know that I don’t want to live in a country or a state where a woman who needs an abortion has to face these kinds of obstacles in order to get the health care she needs.

I’m also not comfortable deciding for someone else whether she should be a parent or not. It is simply not our place to step into the personal lives and decisions of women and their families. And it is certainly not the place of our elected officials. The laws and policies that act to limit and legislate women’s lives are intrusive, but they are also insulting and dangerous. They punish women and push an agenda that is not in line with our values as a country.

Instead of judging women and limiting their reproductive health decisions, we should commit to improving health care for pregnant women and improving every woman’s ability to make the best decisions for her circumstances. That means we need laws and cultural conversations that respect pregnant women, make it easier for all women to raise their families in a safe and healthy environment, and provide health coverage for a full range of pregnancy-related care, including prenatal care, maternity care and abortion.

Women who are deciding whether and when to become parents or add to their families do not need political interference or judgment. They need the support of loved ones and the information and services to manage and protect their health and the health of their families.

Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

As a Boy Scout I lived the Scout Oath.  Every Tuesday night from around age 11 until around age 18, scout meetings opened with its recitation.  Every time I was up for a rank advancement, I was asked to explain what it meant.  When I became an Eagle Scout, I was taught that I would forever be a “marked man;” that everywhere I went, I would be judged by whether I upheld the Scout Oath and lived my life according to its words.  Notwithstanding the slight hyperbole of my Eagle Scout ceremony, when I tell people I’m an Eagle Scout, they do look at me differently.  The meanings of those looks though have changed over the years.

I honestly don’t know if any of the boys I was in scouting with or the men who led us were gay.  I’m not even sure that it ever crossed my mind to ask.  As far as I was concerned, the Boy Scouts was about learning valuable outdoor and camping skills while becoming a leader of my peers.  As I rose through the ranks from Tenderfoot to Eagle and in leadership from patrol member to Senior Patrol Leader, my confidence grew and my leadership skills sharpened.  So too did my understanding of helping other people and being morally straight.

Scouting sharpened my Jewish values.   As a Jew in a troop sponsored by a Methodist Church, I was always conscience of being religiously “other.”  Not that I ever experienced anti-Semitism – far from it!  My fellow scouts and leaders were always curious about Judaism.  I was the go-to person for everything Jewish.  Great practice, by the way, for being a rabbi!

We all know why those looks I mentioned before have changed.  Scouting has come to be defined not about growing as a man, but about excluding gay boys and men.  As a rabbi, as a religious leader, and as an Eagle Scout, that stand is totally and completely antagonistic to my beliefs – beliefs reinforced davka by the Boy Scouts.  To be clear, being morally straight has nothing to do with being sexually straight!

We are taught in the Bible that all humans, men and women, are created “in the image of God” [Genesis 1:27].  Boy Scouts, through the Scout Law, are taught to be reverent towards God and to honor our religious traditions.  We are taught to help other people.  We are taught to fight injustice by being brave and loyal, even in times of difficulty.  Thus, my experiences as a Boy Scout, my position as a rabbi and my life as a Jew compel me to stand with my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and urge, no demand, that the Boy Scouts change their policy.  Thankfully I’m not alone in my feelings.  Over 500 rabbis and cantors, across denominational lines, have already signed-on to a “Jewish Clergy Letter to the Boy Scouts.” Many of these clergy are former Boy Scouts and Eagle Scouts.  We look forward to a day when an openly gay scoutmaster presents an Eagle badge to an openly gay scout and no one notices.

A Scout is:
Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful,
Friendly, Courteous, Kind,
Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty,
Brave, Clean, Reverent

Rabbi Eric B. Stark, an Eagle Scout and the former director of the URJ Greater New York Council, lives in Chevy Chase, MD.  He was an Assistant Scoutmaster in college.

Aside from receiving the Torah, Shavuot is also a grain harvest. In the age of booming urban sprawl, processed foods and industrial sized sodas, it is easy to forget that many of the important philosophies on tzedakah and sustainability are rooted (pun intended) in agricultural rituals. When harvesting a field, we are taught to leave whatever falls to the ground and the corners of our fields for the poor and the stranger (Leviticus 19:9-11). Even in our times of plenty, the fruits of our labor should be shared with those who are less fortunate. This tradition, while perhaps removed from the realities of 21^st century life, should remind us that as we take in the rewards our hard work has produced we should also give to those who are less fortunate. Money may not grow on trees, rendering the “leave the corners” command a little murkier to follow, but we should still make the effort to live by the spirit of our teachings.

Generosity in our harvesting and planting should not end with the sharing of the corners of a field. Every seven years, during the shmita year, we must allow our fields to rest. They are given a year without being used to produce food. Just as we are commanded to take the seventh day to rest, we must also allow our fields to rest and recuperate as well. As we celebrate this Shavuot, let us reflect on what it means to harvest in this era and how we can give back to our communities and our world.

Image courtesy of David Angel.