Author: Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

The 40th annual Earth Day is less than ten days away! Next week, millions of people around the world will come together on April 22 to celebrate the steps we’ve taken in the last 40 years to protect our environment, and evaluate our goals for the years to come. We will – if all goes according to plan – be re-energizing the fight to pass comprehensive climate legislation in the U.S. Senate this year, and anticipating the launch of a major new Jewish energy campaign.

There are many ways to make Earth Day matter. If you are in DC (or can hop on a free bus from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland or West Virginia), join us on the National Mall on April 25 at 11 A.M. for the Climate Rally. We’ll be hearing from leaders in the political, entertainment, and labor worlds on the importance of passing climate legislation for our environment and our economy, and enjoy music from the Roots and John Legend. The day kicks off with an interfaith climate vigil featuring leaders from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities discussing what the faith community is doing to bring about environmental justice.

Not in the DC metro area? No problem. You can find an Earth Day event near you, or plan your own with resources from the RAC and our partners at the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life. We’ve got guides to hosting an environmental Shabbat, programs on climate change, clean water and more, and action items on offshore drilling and clean air to incorporate into your event.

And no matter where you live you can do one simple thing (take public transportation more often, use less water, or start a recycling program at our office, synagogue, or school) to help the Earth Day Network generate “one billion acts of green” around the world. Through one billion small steps, and millions of people raising their voices for national and global action on climate change, we can make this Earth Day a milestone for the movement toward a more sustainable future.

So what will you do in the next ten days to make the 40th annual Earth Day a success? Let us know, and have an eventful Earth Day!

Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Upon announcing the agreement, Rabbi Saperstein welcomed this major step forward in advancing U.S. security and ridding the world of the threat of nuclear weapons.

The treaty decreases both sides’ deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, which represents a 30% reduction, among other important developments.

The U.S. and Russia signed the START treaty in the Czech Republic on the one year anniversary of a speech President Obama delivered in Prague on the subject of nuclear non-proliferation. This address included commitments to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons and made “a world without nuclear weapons” the goal of American nuclear policy.

Since that time, Vice President Biden affirmed this pledge in an address in Washington, D.C. (I was fortunate to have the chance to hear him give this speech!). This past week, the Obama Administration also issued what is known as a Nuclear Posture Review, a comprehensive strategy that will, for the first time, explicitly limit the conditions under which the United States would use a nuclear weapon.

Now that Presidents Obama and Medvedev have signed the new START agreement, the Senate must ratify the treaty by a two-thirds majority. Many Senators, included Senator Kerry, Senator Merkley, and Senator Lieberman have issued statements in response to the treaty.

You can use our action alert to write to your Senators, urging them to implement important weapons reductions and make our nation and world safer.

And stay tuned for more nuclear news this week – diplomats from nearly 50 countries are converging on D.C. for a nuclear summit, where they will likely discuss the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the threat of a nuclear Iran, and more.

As always, feel free to leave a comment or email me with questions.

A while back, I had an insight about Israelis and the Holocaust: most Israelis have a “Shoah moment” every day – a second in which they think about, mention, or refer to the Holocaust.

These might occur when confronted by the obvious triggers: the screech of trains, standing in line for food, waiting in tightly-packed corridors.

Or, they may be more subtle: hair of different colors left on a barbershop floor, children’s shoes all in a pile at a kindergarten. If a baby is born fair, it’s common to hear in maternity wards here, “this one would have been saved.”

I had my own moment recently while looking at an apartment. When the realtor showed me a nook next to the toilet for storing supplies, I thought first, “a child could hide in here.”

Such references need not always be dark.

Think about your spouse running to the supermarket for the second time that day. You say, “another twenty-five cans of tuna? What is this, the Holocaust?”

What does it mean that Israelis think of the Shoah everyday? It means we live in a country in which the Holocaust is not at all a dead subject, but one which continues to shape our lives and most private, even subconscious, thoughts.

But our memories of the Shoah, or our fleeting associations with the catastrophe, must transcend feelings of fear or thoughts of self-preservation. Our memory of the Holocaust should remind us to do good in the world – practice tolerance, show mercy, help the needy, open our hearts. So in honor of Yom HaShoah, here is a lesson in altruism – IRAC’s award-winning recipe on how to be a mensche (human being):

Take one verse from the Bible:
“And God created human beings in God’s image, in the image of God they were created, male and female God created them” (Genesis 1.27).

Add one “saying of our parents” (Pirkei Avot):
“Who is honored? One who honors others” (4.1).

Gently ladle in one portion from the Talmud:
“Whoever saves one life, it is as if they have saved an entire world” (Tractate Sanhedrin 37).

Top with one modern voice:
“When human dignity is exiled, hope is exiled” (Proverbs of Benjamin).

Pour the mix into your mind and soul: it is done when a stranger’s dignity is as precious as your own.

Yesterday, President Obama issued a powerful statement as people in North America, Israel, and around the world observed Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Noting that this year marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, the President stated that “we must recommit ourselves to honoring the memories of all the victims and ensuring that they remain a part of our collective memory.”

President Obama also spoke strongly about the continual imperative to address anti-Semitism and genocide today. An excerpt of his statement can be found below, and more resources on Yom Hashoah and Holocaust education are available from the URJ’s holiday resource page.

“On my visit to Buchenwald last year – and during my visit to Yad Vashem in 2008 – I bore witness to the horrors of anti-Semitism and the capacity for evil represented by the Nazis’ campaign to annihilate the Jewish people and so many others. But even at places like Buchenwald, the dignity and courage of those who endured the horrors of the Holocaust remind us of humanity’s capacity for decency and compassion.

“The memories of the victims serve as a constant reminder to honor their legacy by renewing our commitment to prevent genocide, and to confront anti-Semitism and prejudice in all of its forms. We must never tolerate the hateful stereotypes and prejudice against the Jewish people that tragically continues to this day. We must work, instead, on behalf of a world of justice and peace, in which all nations and peoples value the humanity that we share, and the dignity inherent in every human being.”

This morning, Justice John Paul Stevens announced that he will be retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term. He sent a simple letter, with today’s date, to President Obama:

My dear Mr. President:

Having concluded that it would be in the best interests of the Court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court’s next Term, I shall retire from regular active service as an Associate Justice, under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 371(b), effective the next day after the Court rises for the summer recess this year.

Most respectfully yours,

Justice Stevens

Justice Stevens has served on the court since 1975, through four decades, 7 Presidents, and countless changes in the American social and political landscape. In this time, he has had a major impact on federal jurisprudence, crafting thoughtful opinions and guiding the Court’s liberal voting bloc. His wisdom, temperament, and leadership will certainly be missed.

Said Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee,

“Justice Stevens’ unique and enduring perspective is irreplaceable; his stalwart adherence to the rule of law is unparalleled. The federal judiciary, and indeed the entire nation, will miss his principled jurisprudence. While it is with a heavy heart, I wish him the best in his retirement.”

We look forward learning whom President Obama will nominate to fill the vacant seat. A seat on the Supreme Court gives its occupant nearly unparalleled influence over every aspect of American life. And as a lifetime appointee, a Justice’s power lasts throughout his or her potentially decades-long term, and beyond. For both of those reasons, every American has a responsibility to let their Senators know how they feel about the nominee. We at the RAC are also excited to learn about the nominee and help the Senate fulfill its Constitutional and historic role of “advise and consent.”

Even as federal efforts to reform our transportation system remain stalled, cities are taking steps to become healthier, more livable, and more sustainable communities through transit reform. The latest victory comes from St. Louis, Missouri, where citizens voted – by an impressive 24% margin – in favor of a ballot Proposition designed to improve public transit infrastructure.

Proposition A will raise sales tax by a half-cent to fund projects that maintain and eventually expand the city’s bus and light rail system. As a college student in St. Louis, I saw the positive impact of expanding light rail and bus service for our community and for our city, and am encouraged by the vote for funding to keep recent improvements in place.

Any vote for public transit is worth noting in a country that consumes
25% of the world’s oil, using millions of barrels each day.
Reducing our energy use by supporting public transit expansion is not
only good for our air quality but for our security as well. Adequate
transit funding ensures that millions of people can get to work and
school each day while drastically reducing our environmental impact and
dependence on foreign oil.

Alongside the recent announcement of improved federal efficiency
standards for automobiles, moves like the pro-transit vote in St. Louis
show the path to a smarter energy future. And while we may not get
federal transportation reauthorization for some time, making our cities
healthier and more livable by improving transit on the local level sure
is a good start!

Want to know how to save $1.5 billion? It’s easy, just fill out and mail back your census form! The government estimates the above sum will be needed to cover the cost of following up with unresponsive households, so how about one-upping the Census Bureau and leaving those hard-earned tax dollars for other worthwhile projects?

To make this offer even more enticing, the Census Bureau has developed a tool that will tantalize the technojunkie and provoke the procrastinator. Prepare to be distracted, fellow citizens; the Take 10 interactive Census Participation Map has arrived! All you have to do is type in your zip code and you can see the percentage of households in your area (down to the street!) who have submitted their census.

To be honest, I’m a little disappointed with my own “team”, which currently shows only a 56% response rate! What’s up with that, neighbors?! I have no doubt you all lead busy lives, but in the process of living these last few weeks, you must have been reminded a dozen times about your census by television, magazine, newspaper, vehicle or billboard advertisements, or even possibly a massive blow-up census like the one that stood in front of Union Station last month (and has since traveled to Phoenix and Chicago). $300 million are being spent to both amuse us and remind us of our vital role in shaping the portrait of America. Every stroke matters in this masterpiece and we’re still seeing way too much canvas!

Despite the DC crowd being a little lax on their census-data, I must give a shout out to the folks in Livonia City, Michigan who already have an 81% return rate – making them the highest ranked census-return population in a city of 50,000 or more. On average, states are hovering between 50-70% right now, which isn’t terrible. Still, next month, the Census Bureau will dispatch tens of thousands of census takers and what could have cost the Bureau a $0.42 stamp per household, will now be a $57 follow-up visit – a pretty drastic increase.

The Take 10 map is an entertaining tool, but it also comes with responsibility. By providing detailed information about the response rates of our communities, the Census Bureau is demanding of us to be census advocates among our neighbors. If your numbers this year are lower than the 2000 census (those statistics are also provided by the map) then there’s still work to be done. Speak to your friends and family to make sure they’ve sent in their forms. It’s not too late to cost a stamp rather than a steak dinner. $1.5 billion is on the line; let’s not spend it all in one place.

What hope there might have been for those who saw Sudan’s upcoming parliamentary elections – the first in that country since 1986 – as a step in the right direction is quickly fading away as the brutality of current President Omar al-Bashir is once again rearing its ugly head. A few weeks before the announcement that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the leading opposition party to al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP), pulled its Presidential candidate from the race, along with several other parties who plan on boycotting all levels of the elections, the Carter Center – currently the only elections monitoring mission in the country – issued a statement cautioning that the election “remains at risk on multiple fronts including the ability of candidates to campaign freely.”

The Carter Center’s prediction appears to be accurate, and most advocacy groups agree. Indeed, Save Darfur is “urging the United States government and the international community not to legitimize Sudan’s presidential election,” calling the election a “flawed and unfair process from the start.” The International Crisis Group is even stronger with its words, stating that the NCP “manipulated the census results and voter registration, drafted the election laws in its favor, gerrymandered electoral districts, co-opted traditional leaders and bought tribal loyalties,” and assuring that “whoever wins will likely lack legitimacy.”

All the more tragic is that, as the ICG notes, while the NCP “has done this all over Sudan,” they have been especially militant about it in Darfur, “where it has had freedom and means to carry out its strategy, since that is the only region still under emergency rule.” The people of Darfur – including 2.7 displaced, many in refugee camps would have had everything to gain from a free and fair election, but once again they have been violently excluded from participating in their country’s decision-making process.

So, as Mia Farrow writes in this op-ed, it is important that the international community “acknowledge the deeply corrupt voting process that will reinstate President Omar al-Bashir,” and declare that he “rule without a genuine democratic mandate.” The State Department has suggested that it would support a brief delay of the elections if it helped conditions, but their proposed postponement of one month would give little time to reverse all of the alarming trends observed until this point (it has since announced that it would back the current schedule). It is up to the international community to make peace in Darfur, and not an illegitimate power grab, the number one priority of the government of Sudan.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a report today entitled “Efforts to Nullify Health Reform Likely to Fail, But Could Interfere with Law’s Implementation,” which serves as a relevant update to Friday’s Focus on the Court post about legal challenges to health insurance reform. CBPP reports that it is indeed constitutional for Congress to impose an individual mandate that Americans purchase health insurance, though challenges to this requirement could not only weaken public support for the new law but impede smooth implementation of its benefits. For some questions and answers regarding the mandate and other requirements, especially of small businesses, be sure to check out this article on the New York Times blog.

There are thirteen human beings in space right now, four of whom are women. 

The technological hurdles of launching thirteen humans into the cold and hostility of space notwithstanding, I cannot help but reflect on the enormous social challenges that have been overcome in order for four of them to be women. From Valentina Tereshkova, who 47 years ago became the first woman in space, to Peggy Whitson, current NASA chief astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station, women are participating in space exploration. This serves as a powerful reminder of the progress women have made in the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, and the other nations which have sent women into space as well as the opportunity space presents as a burgeoning frontier. Yes, perhaps this is precisely the sort of “distraction” Jessica Valenti believes is pulling our attention from the ongoing “epidemic of sexism” in the United States. But let’s think about what this might mean to different people. 

While the seemingly endless health insurance reform debate ostensibly ended last Tuesday when President Obama signed reform legislation into law, opponents of the new law immediately initiated a campaign to repeal the legislation. The debate will not be disappearing any time soon, as the law will undergo a variety of political and legal challenges before the majority of its provisions are fully implemented in 2014.

The crux of the legal case against the health reform law is the
individual mandate, requiring nearly every American to buy insurance.
Opponents claim the mandate is a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.
The key question is whether the commerce clause allows Congress to
require individuals to purchase a product, in this case, health
insurance. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the mandate raises “very serious constitutional questions.”

Top legal officials from fourteen states have filed lawsuits challenging the legislation on that basis. More than 250 people rallied in Alabama on Tuesday as well, calling for amendments to their state constitution to supersede the federal requirement. Virginia already has such a law: Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli filed a separate suit that attacked health reforms, arguing that the law’s requirement that most Americans buy health coverage conflicted with an existing state law that exempts Virginia residents from federal fines to be imposed for not owning health insurance.

Florida’s attorney general, Bill McCollum, is leading the larger effort. In an interview with PBS, McCollum stated that “the freedoms of Americans, and particularly in my state of Florida, were impaired by this bill. And it forces people to do something in the sense of buying a health care policy, or pay a penalty, a tax or a fine, that simply, the Constitution doesn’t allow Congress to do.” The suit asks the trial court to declare that the federal government is violating the sovereignty of the states and to bar federal agencies from enforcing the new law.

When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare program into law 45 years ago, it faced strong opposition from the states, in some cases because it required racial integration of publicly funded hospitals. As PBS notes, those challenges failed, and numerous analyses in the past week state that these lawsuits will fare no better. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, stated “For many decades, the Supreme Court has recognized Congress’s authority, under the Commerce Clause, to regulate activities relating to interstate commerce. My advice from counsel is that we will win these – we will win these lawsuits.”

There has of course been defense of the reform law and pushback from within some state governments. Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm thinks opposition is drawn from lack of knowledge and understanding of what is in the complicated bill. In Louisiana, state representative Cedric Richmond is wary of taking away new health benefits or funding a long legal battle when state budgets are already tight: “Why don’t we let our Louisiana citizens start to benefit from this legislation?”

The bottom line? Health insurance reform is now law. Putting the plan into action will still be no easy task even though most legal experts agree that McCollum and the other state officials’ arguments are unlikely to prevail in the courts. Ultimately more than 30 million more Americans will have health insurance coverage, and insurance will be more accessible and more affordable nationwide. Decades of failed attempts at reform testify to the difficulty of this task; this law is a victory for the American people.

It’s a “good news, bad news” week for our energy future. Today EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the finalized (and historic) “clean car standards” that have been in the works since President Obama took office. The new standards will raise the fuel economy of our nation’s automobile fleet and, for the first time ever, set federal standards for global warming pollution from our cars. The announcement is the culmination of years of work and will help clean our air, reduce our climate impact, and save consumers money at the pump by cutting oil consumption.

However, the President also announced a new energy plan yesterday that includes expanding offshore oil drilling to thousands of miles of our nation’s coastline. While the plan does protect the Bristol Bay, a fragile Alaskan ecosystem, it opens the Atlantic Coast from Delaware to Florida, and vast regions of the Gulf Coast, to dangerous new oil drilling practices. While reducing oil imports is critical to our energy security, simply switching from foreign to domestic oil will not give us the energy and environmental security that we need.

It’s time to develop clean energy and increase the efficiency of our cars and homes, and not be distracted by non-solutions like offshore drilling. Read the full statement on this week’s energy developments from Rabbi Saperstein here, and take a stand against offshore drilling here.

Not even two weeks ago, more than two hundred thousand people descended on the National Mall to demand comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). If those numbers didn’t wow you, now a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) finds widespread support among religious groups (including mainline Protestants, Catholics, and white evangelicals) for comprehensive immigration reform. Dr. Robert P. Jones, the CEO of PRRI, asserts that American voters, by a 2-1 margin, support CIR and that more than 8-in-10 Americans believe strongly that immigration reform legislation should be guided by values of protecting dignity, keeping families together, promoting national security and ensuring fairness to taxpayers.

The findings of the survey are encouraging as voters wait for progress on a CIR bill in the Senate. Just two weeks ago, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) published an op-ed in the Washington Post outlining the four principles of the immigration reform bill they are co-authoring, which include employment verification, increased border security, programs for temporary workers, and a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants. President Obama hailed the op-ed as, “a promising, bipartisan framework” and pledged to work with the Senators to pass a bill this year.

So, where’s this bill? Campaign season looms ahead and CIR is a tough issue to take on at any point in the election cycle, so why the dawdling? Apparently, Schumer and Graham want to ensure a firm base of bipartisan support when they introduce the legislation so they’ve been seeking out second Democrat and Republican lead co-sponsors to introduce the bill with them. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has agreed to take on this role, but the Republican spot is yet to be filled. Republican Senators currently being courted for this position are Sen. Cornyn (TX), Sen. Hatch (UT), Sen. LeMieux (FL) and Sen. Brown (MA).

Truth be told, there are many other Republican Senators like Sen. Snowe and Sen. Collins in Maine, Sen. Voinovich in Ohio, Sen. Lugar in Indiana, Sen. Murkowski in Alaska and Sen. Gregg in New Hampshire who have expressed support for comprehensive immigration reform. If Schumer and Graham are looking for a second Republican co-sponsor to get the ball rolling, then it’s our job as constituents of these Senators to call and write their offices urging their leadership and involvement on this issue.

The PRRI poll indicates that nearly 9-in-10 voters, (86%!) favor a CIR policy that establishes a path to legalization for the undocumented and that a majority of voters (56%) believe our immigration system is completely or mostly broken. Most surprising of all, 47% voters – almost half – say that immigration is very important to them. There are an estimated 12 million people living in the shadows of our society and 4 million individuals loitering in the visa backlogs waiting to reunite here with their loved ones. If the statistics are true, if almost half the population feels this issue is crucial and needs to be addressed, then let’s stop resting on our laurels waiting for Congress to move!

In August 1963, an unexpectedly large crowd of 250,000 people attended the civil rights March on Washington — during which Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech — to support President Kennedy’s Civil Rights Act, which passed the following year. 47 years later, an unanticipated 200,000 people turned out for the March for America in favor of comprehensive immigration reform.

These numbers are significant. The numbers on the Mall and the numbers in the survey indicate that people want change. History shows us that when we raise our voices repeatedly and with fervor, we can elicit movement from our elected officials. Now is the time for us to make noise. We laid the groundwork by doing the research and gathering for the rally. Now it’s up to us as individuals to write, email, fax, call and visit our Members of Congress non-stop until we achieve comprehensive immigration reform.

This year, as I sit at a Passover seder and listen to the Magid, the telling, I will remember that I was a slave in the land of Egypt. I will remember the desperation and hopelessness of a life without autonomy, the humiliation of back-breaking, unending work, the mind-numbing knowledge that my children would be no better off than I.

I will remember that Moses once said “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” I will remember Moses’ fear, his disbelief, that the superpower of the Egyptians could not be conquered by one person simply refusing to bend.

I will also remember that despite his trepidation, when God called “Moses! Moses!” Moses said, “Here I am.” Moses heeded the call of conscience and of the divine will and stood as a shield before the children of Israel, refusing to bend or compromise until Pharaoh let our people go.

I will remember all these things and I will remember that today, there are more people living in slavery than ever before in human history. I will think of the insidious forms slavery takes in the modern world, from debt bondage to forced prostitution and I will think of human trafficking, the modern slave trade. I will think of those who are dehumanized and made to live a wrenching, debasing existence with little hope for a better life for themselves or their children or their children’s children. I will remember that there are slaves in Guinea, Russia, Israel, India and here in the land of the free, in the United States.

I will sometimes ask myself “who am I, that I can improve the lives of these people all over the world?” I will hope that whenever I feel my conscience gently but inexorably tugging at my attention and calling my name, I can say “here I am” and do what I must to ensure that no other human being lived the life I lived when I was a slave in Egypt.

This year, at my seder, I will read a story from the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which presents the issue of modern slavery in broad terms as well as in the stories of individual men, women and children who have lived it. You can do the same, or watch  “Top Ten Facts About the “S” Word” from FreeTheSlaves.org with your family (may be troubling to very young viewers):

And take action with the organization Free the Slaves, with Atzum, an Israeli organization which works to combat human trafficking, or with our alert for legislation meant to raise awareness of human trafficking.

Please contact me at 202.387.2800 with questions, and Chag Sameach. Next year, may we be closer to a world in which all are free.

After a year of international negotiations, today President Obama announced that the United States and Russia have negotiated and agreed upon a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, for short. The treaty, which must be ratified by the U.S. Senate and Russia’s legislature, would replace a 19-year-old agreement in which both countries agreed to reduce their arsenals of thousands of long-range nuclear weapons. Among other significant shifts in the nuclear policy of both the U.S. and Russia, this new pact between the two nations will reduce the number of strategic nuclear warheads each country is permitted to deploy by 30 percent.

Rabbi Saperstein hailed the new treaty, declaring it “a major constructive step forward in the goals of advancing U.S. security and moving toward ridding the world of the threat of nuclear weapons.” The full statement is available here and below. For more information about the Reform Movement’s long history of work on arms control and nuclear non-proliferation, check out our advocacy resources on arms control and Iran, and feel free to contact me.

“Today, we welcome the agreement of new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between the United States and Russia. It represents a major constructive step forward in the goals of advancing U.S. security and moving toward ridding the world of the threat of nuclear weapons.

“President Obama has made curbing nuclear proliferation a signature issue, and we commend the Administration for taking the lead on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference to be held this May, with the aim of strengthening that treaty to meet future challenges. For the U.S. and Russia to take such a dramatic step creates political momentum for a global response that follows their lead.

“We are encouraged by the prioritization of obtaining Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nations from conducting explosive nuclear tests and helps prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to countries that do not yet have technology to develop them. The greatest nuclear threat is the potential of these weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or nations that seek to use them to impose their will on others.

“In particular, we remain alarmed by Iran’s belligerence and unwillingness to engage openly with the international community on nuclear issues. The danger posed by a nuclear Iran is amplified by the possibility of its providing such capabilities to unstable states and terrorist groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran’s nuclear program threatens Israel’s security, United States and Canadian interests, and the stability of the Middle East. When the superpowers lead the way in reducing reliance on nuclear weapons as the primary source of political and military power, it strengthens their efforts to press other nations to follow their example and to work together toward effective non-proliferation.

“Our concern about nuclear proliferation is rooted in Jewish rules of just warfare, which eschew weapons that would kill indiscriminately or create long-term damage to the environment. These ethics have inspired decades of Reform Movement activism against nuclear weapons proliferation. We look with hope to a strengthened START agreement and a global future free from nuclear weapons, asserting that nuclear non-proliferation will continue to be a major priority for the Reform Jewish Movement.”

Why has obesity in the U.S. doubled in the last 25 years, and how will solving this epidemic build democracy? Those are the questions that Dr. Marion Nestle grappled with at Georgetown University this week and, contrary to popular belief, the answer isn’t that Americans are less active than twenty years ago. Rather, Dr. Nestle argues that changes in the way we produce and distribute food have led Americans to consume hundreds more calories a day, despite constant messaging about choosing “healthy food products.” And she argues that the solution is not just changing personal choices but changing our food system, starting in each of our communities.

As Dr. Nestle (NYU professor and renowned nutrition expert) sees it, the problem isn’t a lack of individual responsibility but a “food environment,” driven by politics and economics, that encourages ubiquitous eating, bigger portions, and more junk food. While this may make for a profitable food industry, it also adds up to billions spent every year treating disease, subsidizing factory farms, and cleaning up air and water pollution.

As the food industry struggles to make a profit despite increased competition and skyrocketing food supplies, the industry (like any business) needs to sell more and more of its product. Consumers are confused, overwhelmed, and short on time, so we turn to foods that claim to do everything from boost immunity to aid childhood mental development; we shop for processed food-like products and look for the biggest bang for our buck, instead of making healthy and informed decisions.

So how can we do better? For starters, by eating real food, and then by voting with our forks. Choosing fruits and vegetables over processed food is a great step, but it is only when we demand that the food industry label its products accurately and that the FDA verify nutritional claims on food packaging that we will get food that we know is safe and healthy for us and our children.

But avoiding processed and unhealthy foods won’t guarantee good food for all. We need policies to encourage improved access to fresh and healthy foods in schools and underserved neighborhoods, more stringent regulation on marketing to children, and changes in our agricultural subsidy system to support healthy foods, not just corn-based processed food-like products. Such changes will not only make for healthier individuals, but healthier communities and a healthier planet as well.

The more I learn about our food system – and the emerging alternatives – the more I agree with Dr. Nestle and her colleagues like Will Allen of Growing Power and Alice Waters in California: growing the new food movement is about growing democracy. It’s about empowering all people to have a voice in how their food is produced, make healthy decisions, and have access to safe and healthy food as a basic resource. It’s about building community, educating kids, and democratizing good health.

That’s why synagogues are planting gardens and starting CSAs, and why celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s TED project aims to teach every American child about healthy eating habits. It’s why First Lady Obama has made childhood obesity and healthy eating her major initiative, and why she is calling on schools, parents, and grocery manufacturers to “Step it Up.” When we all take steps together, forks in hand, we can begin to build a more democratic and more just food system. And that’s food politics!

Students in our nation’s public schools have a long history of leading the efforts to identify, expand, and secure fundamental rights and liberties. In the latest chapter of this glorious tradition, Constance McMillen filed suit (with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union) against her Mississippi public school when officials there refused to allow her to wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend to the Junior/Senior prom.

Constance is a senior at Itwamba Agricultural High School and has been looking forward to attending the prom for years. Like many other students, she hoped to attend the prom with her partner, but her school has a policy that states that “guests” of individuals must be of the opposite sex.

The school claims that the policy was established to prevent friends from buying tickets together solely to benefit from the reduced rate (tickets are $35 per person, but it only costs $10 to bring a guest). However, when Constance requested to bring someone of the same sex as a date, the school refused to allow it. They also refused to allow her to wear a tuxedo. And, when Constance threatened a First Amendment suit against the school, they decided to cancel the prom altogether, rather than accommodate her requests.

The law suit, Constance McMillan v. Itawamba County School District was heard in the federal court in Northern District of Mississippi. On Monday March 22nd, Judge Glen H. Davidson issued a preliminary ruling that the school did, in fact, violate Constance’s First Amendment right to freedom of expression. The ruling stated, “The record shows Constance has been openly gay since eighth grade and she intended to communicate a message by wearing a tuxedo and to express her identity through attending prom with a same-sex date. The Court finds this expression and communication of her viewpoint is the type of speech that falls squarely within the purview of the First Amendment.”

The Judge did not, however, require the school to reinstate the prom, which was scheduled to take place on April 2nd, 2010. He felt that the “private” prom that parents and community groups had planned to replace the cancelled event served the needs of the Constance and of the community.

This case is a perfect example both of how students can make a difference and how the judges who sit on our bench can codify the values that we hold dear. The judges who sit on the federal bench make decisions that have real-life impacts on individuals across the country–even decisions as personal and minute as who can be our date to prom.

It’s not often that a politician admits he or she made a mistake, but recently, none other than former President Bill Clinton did just that. For what did he recant? As the Washington Post reports, he apologized “for championing policies that destroyed Haiti’s rice production. Clinton in the mid-1990s encouraged the impoverished country to dramatically cut tariffs on imported U.S. rice.” As a result, local agriculture was destroyed and impoverished counties, who had formerly relied on rice production, were left unable to feed themselves. “It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas,” Clinton said, “but it has not worked. It was a mistake.”

Presidents Clinton and Bush – partners in the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund – arrived in Haiti this week to survey damage done by the earthquake and meet with leaders in the community. President Clinton’s apology came in advance of the March 31st Haiti donors conference at the United Nations, in which Haiti is asking for $722 million for agriculture, out of an overall request of $11.5 billion. The Post notes that “51 percent of the food consumed in the country is imported, including 80 percent of all rice eaten” – in other words, Haiti’s agricultural infrastructure is nearly non-existent. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Haiti “has become dependent on imports and food aid for 75 percent of its needs.”

Haiti received some good financial news recently as the Inter-American Development Bank agreed to release Haiti of $479 million in debt. That amounts to nearly 40% of the impoverished nation’s outstanding debt. Perhaps, many argue, it is time to invest in agricultural development, as opposed to simply flooding the market with cheap grain. Indeed, of the $722 million requested by Haiti for agriculture, only $31 million is marked for repairing fields – the rest is, as the Post reports, “for future projects restoring Haiti’s dangerous and damaged watersheds, improving irrigation and infrastructure, and training farmers and providing them with better support.”

As the New York Times points out, “Haiti’s farmers need relatively little in the way of inputs to dramatically boost production, they say. Simple, steady irrigation, a small tractor, and small quantities of fertilizers can dramatically increase yields.” What Haitian farms need most, however, is workers – ironic, given the 80% (that’s right: 80%) unemployment rate in rural Haiti before the earthquake. Unfortunately, while well-intentioned, most international aid groups are still focused on providing food aid. If we are to provide the highest level of tzedakah for Haiti, however, we must help Haiti grow its own food so that it, in turn, can help its own citizens help themselves.

Watching the final hours of debate over the health insurance reform bill on Sunday evening was both exhilarating and exhausting. The votes were clearly in hand to finally pass this important and necessary legislation and the proceedings had the aura of theater of the absurd. But each member was entitled to have his or her say at the podium and justify their vote to constituents.

What I found deeply disappointing, and even upsetting, was the lack of respect many Members seemed to have for the very process and institution in which they participate. The last speaker in opposition to the bill, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), repeatedly used the refrain “Hell, no!” in his remarks . As Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) spoke in support of the bill, Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) disrupted the proceedings by yelling “baby killer”   (Neugebauer claims he was referring to the bill, rather than his colleague). Earlier this year, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) claimed that the Republican Party’s health care plan called for Americans to “die quickly.”  All this comes in the wake of the infamous “You lie!” incident that turned Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) into a folk hero to some after heckling the President of the United States. Multiple members of Congress have been shouted at, spat on, and threatened by opponents of health reform. But if Members of Congress themselves don’t display respect for the lawmaking process and institution, how can we expect Americans to feel it either?

I shouldn’t be surprised by the vitriol. Tearing down the very institutions candidates seek to join is a tried and true recipe for electoral success – and from our earliest days as a nation, campaigns have been filled with personal attacks and salacious smears. (During the 1826 presidential campaign, for example, Andrew Jackson was dubbed a “jackass” by his critics. Some credit this incident for the ongoing association of the Democratic Party with the donkey .)

But whether it’s old news or a new phenomenon, it doesn’t serve anyone’s interests to denigrate public servants and public service. Elected officials, like people in every profession, can be exceptionally good at their jobs or exceptionally bad at them, and usually they fall somewhere in between. But what incentive is there for “the best and the brightest” to pursue a public service job with long hours, lots of travel, comparatively mediocre pay, and little respect when it also comes with a side order of hateful, personal attacks?

I’m not a Pollyanna – there are more than a few members of Congress whose viewpoints I find deplorable. But at the end of the day, agree or disagree, we should be able to do so with respect for the institutions of democracy and for the commitment to public service any elected official demonstrates.

March 21, 2010 was historic. Much needed health insurance reform was finally passed after a century-long struggle to provide coverage to all Americans. Cheers! 200,000 people — twice the expected turnout — gathered on the National Mall to demand comprehensive immigration reform under the banner of the March for America. Yahoo! I ate enough bagels at a pre-March brunch to power a small sport utility vehicle. Wowsa! Yes, March 21st shall be exalted!

As I sit at my desk trying to process the incredible events of this weekend, my thoughts return to the moment when my fellow immigration advocates and I were momentarily canopied by a gigantic, crowd-surfing American flag. I was profoundly moved by the symbolism of thousands of hands reaching out to grab this floating baldachin. Both a refuge from the sun and the emblem of hope for millions across the world who look to our country as a beacon of freedom and opportunity, this organically flowing red, white and blue canopy was the hallmark for me of the March for America.

This past Sunday, the Jewish community gathered together under the banner of the We Were Strangers, Too Jewish Campaign for Immigration Reform. We made posters declaring our solidarity with immigrants (“I stand with immigrants for we were ALL immigrants”) and the urgency for reform (“If not now, When?”), we attached signs to our backs listing the diverse origins of our ancestors, we studied Torah, and we carbo-loaded on bagels galore!

Marching from the Hillel International offices in Chinatown to the rally site on the National Mall, we were stopped repeatedly by Latino groups who thanked us for our commitment to reform. I was struck by the expressions of surprise and delight on the faces of those reading my “Jews United for Immigration Reform” poster. I felt proud to remind others of our community’s unwavering commitment to hospitality and justice for the stranger.

Once we arrived at the rally, our group was happily subsumed in a crowd of thousands, chanting “Sí se puede! Sí se puede!” The energy in the air was electric; I could barely keep my feet on the ground. With each new leader (Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Benjamin T. Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP, Arlene Holt Baker, Vice President, AFL-CIO) or group of leaders (the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, community organizers from around the country) who took the stage to honor our immigrant history and demand reform, our impassioned group of Jewish advocates raised our posters higher and cheered louder. There we stood, at the heart of democracy, pulsing for justice. Our voices, seamlessly harmonizing in a bilingual chorus for change, mattered.

As I watched President Obama sign the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law this morning, I was reminded of Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s (D-NY) buoyant call for reform at the rally. “Health care today,” she asserted, “comprehensive immigration reform tomorrow!” Health insurance reform has been an exhausting fight, but we succeeded, and now 30 million more Americans will live without the fear that illness will result in their financial demise. Let this triumph be a lesson to us; let it teach us that passion, patience and persistence can lead to progress. May this hard-won battle endow us with the momentum and courage to pursue and achieve comprehensive immigration reform that protects our families, supports our workers and safeguards our nation.

According to Rep. Velazquez and millions of immigration reform proponents throughout the country, tomorrow is today. President Obama has delivered on his promise of health insurance reform and it’s time for immigration to move from the National Mall to the halls of Congress. I’ve got a full tank of bagel power for this ride, who’s with me?