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Imagine more than 5000 Reform Jews, gathered in one place, studying, worshipping, networking, socializing, and celebrating the joy and vibrancy of our movement.
Together with Rabbi Schindler, Cantor Bernard, Larry Farber, Donna Foster, Jonathan Howard, Jeff Passe, Ginny Rosenberg, and Sheila Peltzer, all representing our congregation, I was privileged in early December to travel to Boston, Massachusetts for the Biennial Convention, the 66th General Assembly of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
This remarkable gathering provided each of us with numerous opportunities for learning, information gathering, study, worship and connecting. We brought home a wealth of ideas and recommendations that will inform our congregational direction in the months and years to come. We look forward to working with the board, committees, and staff of the Temple as we work to implement many of these ideas.
One evening during the convention, we were treated to a beautiful and inspiring tribute in memory of Rabbi Alexander Schindler. The UAHC staff created an impressive video collage of Rabbi Schindler's impact on our movement, which was followed by an uplifting dialogue between Rabbi Judy Schindler and Al Vorspan, former Vice President of the UAHC and a dear friend of the Schindler family. Peter Yarrow added his musical tribute, and we all left with tears in our eyes, smiles on our faces, and hearts full of warm remembrance.
One of the highlights of the Biennial Convention is always the address of the President on Shabbat morning.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the UAHC, shared his vision and his proposed initiatives for the coming years. With profound insight, he addressed many concerns, including the fight against terrorism, the struggle for peace in Israel, the need to build upon our Reform Jewish educational programs and religious schools, the shortage of Jewish professionals, and numerous other concerns. While he enthusiastically supported and encouraged Jewish day school education, particularly through the growing network of Reform Jewish day schools, and other pluralistic, liberal Jewish day schools, he also shared powerful words in support of public education. He challenged Reform Jews to take seriously our obligation to support the public education system in our nation, and he strongly argued against private school vouchers. In his words:
"I am embarrassed and ashamed when I hear such arguments coming from Jews. The public schools were the ladder that we used to climb from poverty to affluence in American life, and how dare we deny it to others. And I tremble for our nation when I hear the constant drumbeat of attack on our public school system. The public schools take the poor and the handicapped, the abused and the foster children, the Christian and the Muslim, the Roman Catholic and the Jew. They do more of God's work in a day than most institutions do in a lifetime. If our public schools are broken, then let's fix them, but let's not destroy them in the name of a highfalutin principle that is often nothing more than naked self-interest dressed up as caring.
And this too: supporters of vouchers would have us believe that Jews have nothing to fear from a more flexible definition of the First Amendment. Oh, really? What makes America the freest and most stable society in which we Jews have ever lived is a Constitution that is our shelter and sanctuary. It is no accident that the period of dramatic flourishing of American Jewry was marked by great strides in church-state separation. This fundamental American principle made Joe Lieberman possible, and ten Jewish senators and twenty-seven Jewish representatives. And don't tell me that these gains are not being placed at risk. When mainstream groups began supporting the use of taxpayer money to fund religious schools through student vouchers, it was no great leap to propose that federal money also be spent to increase the social services that religious groups provide. The voucher proposal gave us the faith-based initiatives proposal, and we can only imagine what will be next.
This is not a theoretical issue. Next year the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of school vouchers, and there is an even chance that it will approve them in some form. If that happens, voucher proposals will be presented to state legislatures throughout the country. I propose to this Biennial Assembly that we make known here and now our opposition to school vouchers and proclaim our intention to fight them. I propose that we declare once again our support for public education as the last bastion of true democracy. I urge that we proclaim what all of us know but some of us have forgotten: that the First Amendment is the cornerstone of our security and freedom, and we will never take its liberties for granted.
Let no one misunderstand me. I am an enthusiastic supporter of day schools. They are vital to Jewish religious life, will produce many of our leaders, and are entitled to a fair share of community resources. But we must not ask the government to do for our community what our community is unwilling to do for itself.”
You can read at length about Rabbi Yoffie's proposed initiatives on the web at:
http://www.uahc.org/boston/portal/
Please take time to look at this UAHC website and review some of the highlights of the Biennial and of our movement. You may also wish to bookmark our Temple Beth El website at www.beth-el.com to stay connected with what is happening at Temple. This new year begins with tremendous enthusiasm and energy for all of us at Temple and for all of us who are part of the Reform movement. We are proud of all that we are and all that we shall become!
James M. Bennett
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