Excerpts from the Weekly Update: April 25, 2007
AJC Expert Keynotes Interfaith Gathering in India
Rabbi David Rosen, AJC's international director of interreligious affairs, addressed a major gathering of religious leaders at the South Asia Interfaith Harmony Conclave in India. He spoke on the critical role of religious leaders in advancing interfaith harmony. Rosen said, "One of the most distressing realities that confronts the peace-loving person of faith is the fact that religion itself has so often and continues to be so easily abused to exacerbate destructive fear and hostility," said Rosen, pictured with Priya Tandon, AJC's representative in Mumbai. http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/ROSEN_S PEECH_042007.PDF?tr=y&auid=2611645
Project Interchange Brings Turkish Journalists to Israel
A group of leading Turkish journalists and editors met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and other top Israeli officials on a Project Interchange education seminar in Israel. The delegation also met with the Turkish Ambassador to Israel, Israeli journalists, and business leaders advocating stronger ties between Israel and Turkey. Barry Jacobs, AJC's director of strategic affairs, staffed the seminar. This was the fourth Project Interchange mission from Turkey.
Appalling Denigration of Reform Jews
AJC reacted with outrage to two incidents involving defamation of Reform Jews in Israel. In a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, AJC urged intervention on behalf of a Reform rabbi, Micky Boyden, whose participation in a Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) ceremony was canceled by a local council under pressure from some in the Orthodox community who challenged the choice of a Reform rabbi to chant the memorial prayer. Boyden lost a son in battle in Lebanon in 1993. "Particularly at this time of year, between Yom HaShoah and Yom Haatzmaut, when Jews should be affirming what unites us, there are those who, tragically, would seek to divide us," wrote AJC. A few days earlier, former Sephardi Israeli Chief Rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu asserted that many Jews perished in the Holocaust because they were associated with Reform Judaism. "The Nazi death camps were 'equal opportunity' murdering machines," said David Harris. "All Jews, irrespective of their beliefs, stood on the selection ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today, all Jews must stand together in our affirmation of mutual respect for one another and common bonds."
Listen to Rabbi David Ellenson Discuss Reform Jewry
Now at www.ajc.org, listen to a fascinating conversation between Steven Bayme, AJC's director of Contemporary Jewish Life, and Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Ellenson shares his views on the challenges Reform Jews face in Israel and the U.S.
Webcasting from AJC
For the first time AJC will be webcasting live from the Annual Meeting. Sessions to view via your computers include the opening plenary on May 1 with Klaus Schwab, chairman of the World Economic Forum, and Ana Palacio, former Foreign Minster of Spain; a discussion on the future of the Jewish people on May 3 with Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic, Ruth Wisse, professor of Yiddish Literature at Harvard University, and Yossi Beilin, chairman of the Meretz-Yahad Party; the Annual Dinner on May 3 (see above); and the May 4 plenary session on "Winning the War of Ideas" with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Indiana University Professor Alvin Rosenfeld, and McGill University Professor Gil Troy. Please watch the AJC website for more details next week, and share this news about viewing the AJC Annual Meeting live via the internet. The link to access the webcast will be http://www.ajc.org/webcast
Transatlantic Institute Launches New Website
The Transatlantic Institute, AJC's Brussels affiliate, has launched its new website at www.transatlanticinstitute.org. The website includes films and briefings on current affairs, recent publications from the Institute and profiles of the Institute's staff, including TAI Executive Director Emanuele Ottolenghi.
AJC Meets Ethiopian Foreign Minister
An AJC delegation met in Washington, D.C., with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin. The discussion focused on recent political developments in Ethiopia, the current crisis in Somalia, U.S.-Ethiopian and Israeli-Ethiopian relations, Ethiopia's stance regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
ORDER NOW - AJC's Impact Explored in New Book
Let Us Prove Strong, Marianne Sanua's comprehensive history of AJC from 1945-2006, has just been published. Sanua explores AJC's groundbreaking efforts in promoting human rights, fighting anti-Semitism, fostering Jewish identity, supporting the American civil rights movement, and engaging in pro-Israel advocacy and international diplomacy. The book is being released as AJC caps a yearlong Centennial celebration at the 101st Annual Meeting. It is available to AJC members at a special discount price of $35.
Ari M. Gordon Assistant Director Department of Interreligious Affairs American Jewish Committee 165 E56th St. New York, NY 10022 (212) 891-6768 (212) 751-4000 x266 www.ajc.org www.engagingamerica.org