By now probably every Jew in America knows that tomorrow night President Obama will host his 2nd annual White House Passover seder (and his third annual participation going back to the now legendary campaign seder during the PA primary).
If President Clinton was the 1st African-American President (to use his own communications hype), then it would seem that President Obama is firmly establishing himself as our 1st Jewish President (it helps that the 1st lady's cousin is a respected rabbi).
So what is it about Obama and Passover that feels just so damn authentic this year? Of course it all makes sense considering that Passover is the most American of Jewish days, America inherently embodies Passover values, and this President, like none in half a century, embodies both.
Last night's State of the Union speech was, to many, a powerful statement of vision about our country. To others, it fell short - failing to address critical issues.
After watching the speech with friends and allies from throughout the Jewish social justice movement, we asked these leaders to share their reactions.
We found the feedback and critique of our colleagues to be fascinating - but also useful in creating a fuller picture of the President's remarks. We hope that you'll agree.
Contributors:
- Rabbi Jonah Pesner, Just Congregations - Nancy Kaufman, JCRC Boston - Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, Jewish World Watch - Rabbi Steve Gutow, Jewish Council for Public Affairs - Elissa Barrett, Progressive Jewish Alliance - Rabbi David Saperstein, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism - Simon Greer, Jewish Funds for Justice
UPDATE: We've added four more interviews.
Contributors:
- Jane Ramsey, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
- Vic Rosenthal, Jewish Community Action
- Marilyn Sneiderman, B'nai Brith Youth Organization
- Nigel Savage, Hazon
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Last week marked the one year anniversary of the Obama Administration. I traveled to DC for the inaugural weekend, and stood in the cold with a million plus to watch history. So you can surmise that I'm a fan. Or a masochist (it really was cold that day).
While most people are focused on the failures of the past year, and the current bleak landscape facing the health care bill, I thought it might be worth seeing what has gone well this year. So, a list of five.
A week, or so, ago I talked with leaders from the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. They shared some startling statistics about joblessness and the impacts of the recession on Michigan's economy. I shared my experiences over the last few years as I've travelled home to Pontiac to visit family. The theme of our conversation came to be "it's bad now and it was bad before, too, it just gets worse."
Michigan has been in need of recovery for years and many of my peers and I couldn't wait any longer for the job situation to improve. We've earned our degrees and moved to other states. Those who have stayed benefit from affordable housing, something those of us in New York struggle to find, but a friend of mine, a Michigan law grad, has been struggling to find a job near home since well before he graduated this past May.
Needless to say, my stomach sank when I read in the Free Press that:
"Obama administration and state officials say it's too early to draw conclusions about the overall impact of the $787-billion nationwide program to stimulate the economy and generate jobs. They promise that job growth will follow as more funding arrives."
My question is: how long will the unemployed in Michigan have to wait?
In its response to the events of Honduras, the Obama Administration is acting like a CT (Coup-tease), whose commitment phobia and"joint military operations. " intimacy issues render it paralyzed and unable to engage in a healthy relationship with Latin America. The Administration flirts with the idea that the coup is really a coup, and it has coquettishly suspended
Ultimately, however, Obama has refrained from doing the deed, which would mean cutting off aid to Honduras until Zelaya is reinstated. Obama promised he wasn't like all the other guys, but he is repeating some of the behavior and habits displayed by former presidents.
3. We kinda sorta trained the coup leaders at the School of the Americas so it's like kinda awkward. Both Honduran coup leader Gen. Romeo Orlando Vásquez Velásquez and Air Force General and coup participant Luis Javier Prince Suazo attended the SOA in 1976 and 1984.
4. Condoning Zelaya's mustache would set a dangerous precedent, which would have a domino effect that could spread beyond LatinAmerica. The specter of facial hair already haunts the faces of Raul Castro and Lula. Can we really afford to lose another country to a mustached leader?
5. Obama thinks the new Honduran Chancellor, who described him as "That black boy who knows nothing about anything" is critiquing racism through satire.
6. We're nostalgic and going retro. It's been a while since the U.S. ignored and/or actively supported a coup in Latin America. Check out the 1950's timeless classic which started the craze "Guatemala" (1954), the 1960's hit "The Dominican Republic" (1965), the 1970's oldie but goodie "Chile" SEPTEMBER 11, 1973, and the 1980's series "Central America" 1980-1989.
7. It's still "too soon" to talk about anything but Michael Jackson.
8. Obama may want to use the "Zelaya option" (kidnapping a pajamas-clad national leader and flying him to another country) on Joe Biden.
9. As goes rumor goes, so goes the United States. The coup Leader Roberto "Michelin Man" Michelett is confident that there are indeed rumors of support from Taiwan and Israel. ``Israel and Taiwan have said they support us....I don't have an official declaration, but that is the rumor I've heard... It's an aspiration I have that all of the countries will be a friend of ours. I have the hope and faith in God that they will come.
10. Restoring democracy after a coup in a country where we have influence, power, and sway would be too easy. We prefer spending time, money and lives bringing democracy to countries that don't want it, through force and invasion.
Canciller de Facto de Honduras: Obama es un negrito que no sabe nada de nada
The economic stimulus has rightfully dominated news coverage since President Obama’s inauguration. It’s worth summarizing where the Jewish community stands on this issue that is topping the priority list of every think tank, advocacy group, lobby shop, labor union, business lobby, and news desk.
JTA carries a thorough article about where the Jewish world is lining up. To no surprise the JCPA, the RAC, the UJC and others are firmly supporting the bill.
Not only is it clear that the stimulus is sorely needed to avoid a deepening recession, but many Jewish charities are hoping to tap the economic stimulus money to stay afloat.
The Forward notes that “Jewish agencies such as nursing homes and community centers take in an estimated $10 billion each year from government sources — some 10 times the amount these agencies raise from the public. Most of the $10 billion is directed through state governments that are struggling mightily to stay afloat in the current economic downturn.”
Many such charities look to economic stimulus bill to lighten the pressure on states to cut their programs and save them in an otherwise adverse fundraising environment.
This piece by Rabbi Shai Held is making the rounds. Thought it was a powerful window into the personal impact of the inauguration on one of the Jewish community's most exciting thinkers.
I have said countless times before: the meaning of the Exodus is that anything is possible, that there is no status quo that cannot be overturned. Imagine a world in which you are a slave, and your father was a slave, and his mother before him, and so on for generations. And then, seemingly suddenly, God intervenes and you are no longer a slave. To be sure, the journey ahead will be long and arduous. Indeed, there will be moments when things seem so frightening and unsettling that you will even find yourself longing for the way things were before. But there is no returning to the way things were– not ultimately, anyway. The Exodus is a rupture, a break in history, a moment after which all things are new, a moment in and through which all things are possible.
I have a very personal confession to make: over the past couple of years, as my struggle with chronic illness has continued and in many ways intensified, I have found myself less able to talk about the Exodus in this way. Is there really no status quo that cannot be overturned? I have asked myself. What about the pain and fatigue that wrack your body each day? What about the degradations and devastations that pervade the globe and seemingly make a mockery of human dignity and of life’s meaningfulness? Perhaps all this talk of the Exodus as paradigmatic for human history was just loose talk, just so much Pollyanna nonsense. I have wondered, and lamented the depths to which life seems resistant to, indifferent to, the stories we tell and the narratives we strive to live by.
This morning I feel something I have not felt in quite a long time: I believe– but really believe– in the Exodus again. That which was utterly impossible, indeed unimaginable, will become a reality in just a few short minutes. The United States of America, the great beacon of freedom and democracy, has always been tainted by the monstrous legacy of slavery and the ways it denied that black men and women, too, were created in the image of God and were thus every bit as infinitely valuable as their white counterparts. Today these same United States will swear in its first black president, a black man who will occupy the very house that slaves built so long ago. The status quo has been overturned, repudiated, one might even say redeemed. (This, I hasten to add, remains true regardless of one’s political commitments or affiliations.)
We ought not be deceived. Just as the Israelites faced a long and torturous road to the Promised Land, so also do we Americans face a long and difficult road ahead (and on more fronts than I can begin to list). The Hasidic masters teach that each year we are obligated to re-live the Exodus, to tap into the liberatory energy that the Exodus represents, to reclaim and deepen our own freedom and dignity as God’s creatures. I cannot help but feel that the Exodus is being re-enacted and re-experienced in our day, today.
To be sure, many of the world’s problems will remain as intractable tomorrow as they seem today. On a personal note, my own battle with illness is not likely to disappear soon. I’m still not sure about every status quo being overturned– at least not before the Messiah comes and enacts a kind of cosmic Exodus for us all. But what I’ve learned this morning is that much of what we take as given and immutable is in fact neither. So I go back to what I have said and taught over and over again: to take Judaism seriously is to believe that the world as it is is not yet the world as it must be, and to know that we are implicated in the sacred task of closing the gap between them. May all of our faith in the possibility of redemption and transformation be renewed and revitalized by this extraordinary day.
“This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and delight in it.”
God bless all of you, and God bless the United States of America.
Bush delivered a parting gift to the anti-choice fringe. His administration just issued a rule that allows individual health care providers, who receive federal funding, to redefine abortion to include the most common forms of birth control -- and then refuse to provide these basic services. What the hell does that mean? It breaks down like this:
Birth control can be called abortion
Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists can deny women birth control and sexual health information
A few examples:
ER staff can deny rape victims information about emergency contraception (EC) to prevent a pregnancy from the rapist
Birth control counseling can be refused at family planning clinics
STD (including HIV & AIDS) testing and treatment can be denied at health care facilities
This is a devastatingly low blow to every one of us that relies on health care professionals for honest information and basic services. This rule flies in the face of the American values of privacy and freedom.
If Bush can do this to women, what can the next guys do to you?
Speak out; keep reading to find out how we can fight back…
