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Lebanese Jews to rebuild
Beirut synagogue
BEIRUT (WJC)—
The Lebanese Jewish Community Council has begun with the rebuilding of Beirut’s dilapidated Magen Abraham synagogue, the country’s oldest and most important. It was badly damaged during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. Even after the fighting ended, the remaining Jews from the once 20,000-strong community did not have the money to repair or even maintain the building. The synagogue was built in 1926 in Beirut's main Jewish neighborhood of Wadi Abou Jmil. It sat on the battle lines dividing the city during the civil war. The damage meant the building was abandoned for the last 30 years, leaving the small Jewish community without a place of worship. Until the renovation began, the structure was filled with empty bottles, broken glass and shattered bricks from the roof.
An unnamed Jewish official told the news agency AP that the Community Council did not yet have the funds to complete the renovation. "So far, no donations have come from Jewish donors overseas," he was quoted as saying, adding that the money to begin restoring the synagogue's roof came from the Jewish Council's own budget. He said the renovation was estimated to cost US$ 1 to 1.5 million.
Sweden, current EU president, sent ambassador to inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
STOCKHOLM—The Swedish government, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has defended its decision to send its ambassador in Tehran to the swearing-in of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While most other EU countries were represented with lower-ranking diplomats at the special session of the Iranian parliament, Sweden was represented by Ambassador Magnus Wernstedt. “"We always have our ambassador on site in every possible ... country, regardless of the regime in question. As an observer, they are better when they are present than when they are absent," said Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
Britain's ambassador to Iran, Simon Gass, also attended the ceremony whereas the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and many parliamentarians boycotted it. In his inauguration speech, Ahmadinejad attacked Western countries for allegedly interfering in the Iranian elections. He said he did not care that the US, Britain, France and Germany had said they would not be congratulating him. "No one in Iran is waiting for your messages," he said to applause. "The Iranian nation neither values your scowls and threats, nor your smiles and greetings."
IDF reports Hamas has stolen
three U.N. ambulances
JERUSALEM—According to information by the Israel Defense Forces, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza has failed to report that three ambulances it received were stolen by Hamas gunmen. UNRWA denied the claim. Spokesman Chris Gunness told ‘Israel National News': "This story is completely untrue. With every flip and every flop and every drip and every drop of misinformation, the credibility of these unnamed sources is diminished to the point where it is astonishing that any journalist believes a syllable they say."
An IDF spokesman said: "When Israel deviates a little from procedures in Gaza, there is a massive world outcry, but when UNRWA, as an organization, doesn't even declare that Hamas is causing great damage in Gaza, the world doesn't even open its mouth."
In February, UNRWA suspended humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip after Hamas stole supplies it had transferred to the Palestinian territory. The agency resumed the deliveries days later though after Hamas acceded to its demand to return the 200 tons of goods, including blankets, flour and rice.
Hillary Clinton: Wearing hijab are personal decisions for Muslims
NAIROBI, KENYA (Press Release)--Following are excerpts from an interview U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave on Friday to Fatuma Sanbur of Radio IQRA FM:
QUESTION: And in your speech yesterday at the AGOA Forum (inaudible) education (inaudible) to help (inaudible) in the government. And as a Muslim woman (inaudible), especially the hijab. I’d like to know personally your stand on hijab.
SECRETARY CLINTON: I consider it a personal decision, and I have Muslim women friends who wear a hijab and who don’t. And I want women to make their own choices. I want women to be educated enough and feel confident enough that if it is their choice to wear a hijab, they wear it; if it is not their choice, they do not wear it.
Because I think that Muslim women, like all women, should have the right to make decisions that are important for themselves and their families. So in my country, there is – there are many opportunities for women to pursue their jobs regardless of whether or not they cover themselves.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) Barack Obama government initiative headed by George Mitchell. So I would like to know (inaudible) what have you achieved in Palestine in bringing the Palestinian people together (inaudible)?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we have tried to support the Palestinian Authority. I just announced last week $200,000 million to go to support them, because in the West Bank the Palestinian Authority is establishing security, they are encouraging businesses, they are encouraging education, and they are really making a very good showing of how they would run a state. And it’s something I want to support, so we are.
And George Mitchell is working with the Israelis, the Palestinians, and Arab groups in different countries to try to come together in, we hope, a few months at a comprehensive peace negotiation that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
JAFI offers volunteer program for Americans and Ethiopians
JERUSALEM (Press Release)—The Jewish Agency for Israel is announcing a volunteer day to be held for Americans visiting Israel on Thursday August 13. Participants will spend the day at an absorption center outside Jerusalem and hear stories of the modern-day exodus of newly arrived Ethiopian immigrants. During the day participants will work side by side Ethiopian immigrants to renovate an exhibition of tukols, authentic Ethiopian homes, make original Ethiopian arts and crafts and enjoy a traditional coffee-making ceremony.
The day is aimed at providing a unique opportunity to gain perspective on Israeli society and interact with other Israelis, which participants would not be otherwise exposed to. It also provides a an opportunity to see part of the vast work of the Jewish Agency in Israel, and better understand the experience of new immigrants from places far removed from Western society, adapting their unique traditions and heritage with life in modern Israel.
The day is open to anyone who registers. There will be bus services to and from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
For more information and to register ($10 for individuals, $25 for families, (including lunch)), visit the Jewish Agency website, or contact Boaz Meir, West Coast Regional Manager for the Jewish Agency at (949) 331-5490, boazme@jafi.org .
Ethiopian Jewish teens attend space camp in Turkey
REHOVOT, Israel (Press Release)--Three Ethiopian teens, part of the Jewish Agency’s Sparks of Science program, have been in Turkey this week at an international space camp run in partnership with NASA. The teens, who will start sophomore year in the fall, were sent at the initiative of the Jewish Agency and the Weizmann Institute and are part of an Israeli delegation of high school students.
The Jewish Agency’s Sparks of Science program provides academic enrichment for Ethiopian high school students with classes in science, technology, math and English at Israel’s top academic institutions, including the renown Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot; classes are taught by Weizmann faculty and tutoring session by students.
At the space camp, the three students, Ilan, Bat-El, and Sarit, will spend a week with high school students from around the world, doing science experiments, meeting astronauts and experiencing a simulated flight to the moon.
Wiesenthal Center says comparing symbols' purposes preposterous
LOS ANGELES (Press Release) -- The Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized those who have injected Adolf Hitler into the discussion of President Obama’s health care plan.
“It is preposterous to try and make a connection between the President’s health care logo and the Nazi Party symbol, the Reichsadler,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
"Americans have every right to be critical of the President’s health care plan but we demean ourselves and everything that America stands for when we compare either Democrats or
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Republicans to the Nazi Third Reich. Some of us may be too liberal and others too conservative, but none of us are Nazis,” Rabbi Hier concluded.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament.
FIRST AMENDMENT CASES
ACLU, representing Conservative rabbi, files suit against Georgia's law recognizing Orthodox kashrut
ATLANTA (Press Release)– The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Georgia on Thursday filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Kosher Food Labeling Act. By mandating that any food sold as kosher in the state of Georgia must meet the "Orthodox Hebrew religious rules and requirements," the challenged statute delegitimizes alternative interpretations of kosher adhered to in other Jewish communities.
The lawsuit was filed in Fulton County Superior Court on behalf of Shalom Lewis, rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Cobb County who, as a conservative Jew, is unable to fulfill his rabbinical duties to supervise food establishments because his theological interpretation of the kosher laws differs from that of Orthodox Judaism.
"I don't want to have to choose between abiding by state law and practicing my religion according to my beliefs," Lewis said. "It is unfortunate that non-Orthodox rabbis in Georgia must make the moral and ethical decision to risk legal prosecution in order to fulfill their rabbinical duties. The two should not be incompatible in America, where everyone's religious beliefs are to be respected."
One of the most vital services that Lewis provides to his congregants is serving as their mashgiach, the Hebrew term for a person who supervises any type of food service establishment – including restaurants and grocery stores – to ensure that food is acceptably kosher. But because Lewis cannot certify the preparation of food in accordance with Orthodox Hebrew requirements, he is prohibited by law from serving as the mashgiach of any kosher food operation – a reality that jeopardizes his ability to fulfill his calling as a duly ordained rabbi of the Jewish faith and impedes his religious freedom. If Lewis were to violate the state's kosher laws by supervising food establishments using a different interpretation of kosher than the law requires, the laws could be enforced against him, damaging his reputation and subjecting him, his congregation and others to criminal charges and fines.
"Having the state choose which rabbis are 'legitimate' and which are not puts many rabbis in a precarious position," said Debbie Seagraves, Executive Director of the ACLU of Georgia. "Congregations rely on their rabbis to provide the kind of religious guidance that this state law prohibits them from providing, unless they are Orthodox. The state of Georgia should not hold the power to define who is 'official' Jewish clergy. That is clearly a matter of faith, not the proper role of government."
According to the ACLU's lawsuit, the Kosher Food Labeling Act violates the religious liberty guarantees of both the U.S. and Georgia Constitutions by endorsing only "Orthodox Hebrew religious rules and requirements" and criminalizing the practices of the many people across the state who, while seeking kosher products, subscribe to interpretations of kosher that differ from those of Orthodox Jews.
"The challenged laws violate the fundamental pillars of religious liberty, endorsing one particular set of beliefs and impeding the free religious exercise of those who believe differently," said Daniel Mach, Litigation Director for the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. "The government should never take sides in theological debates."
Joining the ACLU of Georgia and the national ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief as co-counsel for Rabbi Lewis are attorneys at the Atlanta law firm King & Spalding LLP.
Buono, a Catholic previously employed at the Preserve, challenged the presence of a Christian cross, which was placed in the Preserve without permit or permission by the VFW. When courts ruled the cross display on federal land unconstitutional, Congress intervened and agreed to a land swap in order to "save the cross." Congress exchanged the land under the cross for some land on a ranch owned by a private party. The only documented use of the cross is for Easter services. When the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Congressional act unconstitutional, the government appealed to the Supreme Court.
The brief notes that the Foundation, the largest national association of freethinkers in the country, represents many veterans. About a third of its 42 lawsuits have dealt with religious symbols on government property, giving the Foundation a special interest in the case.
The Foundation maintains that war memorials designated by the government to honor veterans "should remain free from religious imagery." The brief adds: "The myth is false that 'there are no atheists in foxholes.' The Foundation's own membership includes veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and current military servicemen and women involved in the U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan." The Foundation counted WWI vets among its original membership back in the 1970s.
"Federal and state governments have consistently failed to recognize the contributions and sacrifices of 'atheists in foxholes' and the actions in this case continue to demonstrate government favoritism toward Christianity over all other faiths and religion over non-religion."
The brief documents the Atheists in Foxholes monument placed by the Foundation in Alabama, and its Atheist in Foxhole award. In an appendix, the Foundation recounts the experiences of several of its members who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. For example, Florida member Larry Townsend was a teenager living in Pearl Harbor when it was bombed in 1941, and joined the Marines: "I was heavily involved in the war from the first minute to the last. I have seen a number of foxholes and I have been an occupant of a few and know for sure that there was at least one atheist in one of them." Ken Dunn of California served six years in World War II, including some of the major Pacific battles such as Guadalcanal. During one battle, Ken's troops suffered 50% casualties. He observed, "deaths were without respect to religious views." Warren Allen Smith of New York , a veteran of Omaha Beach in 1944, insisted that his dog tags said "None," and discovered later that the late, great Arthur C. Clarke insisted on the same for his British dog tags.
"Sectarian symbols such as the Latin cross sanctioned by government as war memorials neglect the sacrifices of our non-Christian and non-believing veterans," the brief asserts.
"Congress' actions designating Sunrise Cross as a national memorial illustrate its failure to recognize America's increasingly large secular population and to accommodate the changing demographics of the United States," in which at least 15% of adults identify as nonreligious.
Congressional favoritism toward Christianity "insults and excludes all non-religious and all non-Christian American veterans who have fought and died for our country."
After noting that the Latin cross atop Sunrise Rock "is a purely sectarian symbol that cannot be viewed as anything other than the preeminent and exclusive symbol of Christianity," the brief then objects to the sham of a land transfer. "This case comes down to a simple truth: the most effective remedy for an unlawful display on public property is to remove the display."
The "friendly" brief specifically addresses two decisions by the Seventh Circuit appeals court in Foundation cases. In two instances, after the Foundation filed suit, governments chopped up bites of public land to sell back to the parties which had erected the religious monuments in the first place. "Such remedies do nothing more than provide an environment that is ripe for government manipulation," the brief contends.
"Supposed land sales create an incentive for governments and their actors–looking to dodge Establishment Clause violations while still promoting religion–to carve out and sell portions of valuable public land only to groups that it knows will maintain displays conveying inherently religious messages." The brief said land sales or transfers "give the government a huge loophole through which to escape constitutional violations." The land exchange was a "a cleverly devised subterfuge to disguise seventy years of flagrant constitutional violation."
Continues the brief:
"The attempt to 'patch up' an admitted violation of the Constitution with the shell game of land transfer produces an ugly kludge–an inelegant and overcomplicated solution to a simple problem. The obvious remedy, the constitutional solution, was for the VFW to move the cross to the nearby ranch owned by one of its members, not for Congress to swap federal land under the cross for land on the ranch."
The brief warned that if the Ninth Circuit were overruled, "it would set in motion dangerous precedent, which would open the door to countless sham divestitures of public property in order to aid religion (inevitably, the dominant religion)."
The brief was filed by Rich Bolton, with Boardman Law Firm, and by Rebecca Kratz, FFRF's staff attorney.
"We want to thank Rebecca and our summer legal clerk, Stephanie Schmitt, for their herculean efforts, dedication and enthusiasm in writing a brief that so eloquently represents the views and interests of our membership," said Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, Foundation Co-President. "Supreme Court rules now bar the inclusion of a nonattorney's name on the amicus brief itself, so we recognize and thank Stephanie here."
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