Rabbis For Human Rights/There is no place like home

Happy are they who maintain justice, and do righteousness at all times."Tehillim / Psalms 106 I

woke up early this morning to go to the WorldPride convocation on Human rights. This morning’s key note address was by the New Israel Fund where they addressed their platforms as you will see below. Following the speech, which did the job but was very general, there were buses to take people to different projects based on their core areas.

Founded in 1979, the New Israel Fund advances civil rights and social justice for all Israelis, and believes the only secure Israel is a just Israel. An international partnership of Israelis, Americans, Canadians and Europeans, NIF pioneered the funding of Israel's social change organizations and advocacy groups, and is widely credited with transforming the social justice and human rights communities in Israel. With grants and technical assistance to hundreds of nonprofits, NIF is in the vanguard of fighting for social change in Israel.

NIF grantees work in three core areas:

Civil and Human Rights : Flagship NIF grantees such as B'Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel have won court battles on issues ranging from the prohibition of torture in civilian interrogations to changes in the route of the separation fence to respect humanitarian concerns. Other grantees work on issues ranging from evenhanded urban planning and land sales to women's and minority rights.

Social and Economic Justice: As a nation with many disadvantaged minority groups, from citizen Arabs to Ethiopians to Mizrachim, Israel has a special responsibility to observe its founders' vision and values of "freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel." Racism, injustice and extremism defile Jewish values and threaten Israel's long-term security.

Religious Pluralism and Tolerance : NIF has long been a principal supporter of a pluralistic and tolerant Israeli culture that includes diverse approaches to Judaism and Jewish identity. NIF grantees are in the forefront of the struggle for civil marriage and other life-cycle events, recognition of non-Orthodox conversions and the equal and unbiased allocation of government resources.

I chose an option not on the list with my two other pilgrims Dawn and Leanne. We went to the offices of Rabbis for Human Rights with 20 other queer folk.

Rabbis for Human Rights is the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights. They promote justice and freedom, while campaigning against discrimination and inhumane conduct.

There we listened to Conservative Rabbi and Israeli citizen Idit Lev speak about the several projects including monitoring Israel’s new program ending welfare. She was very inspiring and a real hero in the civil rights struggle for Israeli citizens. After we did some text study, we piled on a minibus and headed to East Jerusalem with founder Arik Asherman to the neighborhood of Issawiya, adjacent to the Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus. There we spoke about the housing demolitions that happen in E. Jerusalem.

I had read in B’tzelem an Israeli Human Rights organization that the demolitions in EJ are usually not due to terrorist activity, but just due to not having proper permits for building. Rabbi Arik Ascherman who accompanied us explained why so many homes (almost the entire neighborhood) are built without permits. He explained how there are no master city plans for E Jerusalem that have been finalized. In 2000, the city of Jerusalem agreed to finalize plans so that it will demonstrate what can be built where. Essentially no building permits are being issued to people of Arab descent. Though the housing needs are great. Though there is not enough speace here, it seemed to be a challenging mix of deliberate discrimination (in order to keep the Arab population lower than the Jewish population) and inefficient bureaucracy.

We passed by many demolished homes. However, the hit homes really hit home when we met with the Dari family in there new home. Rabbi Ascherman and Ahmed Dari explained about the destruction of their first homes. Arik described the wailing and his attempt to block the bulldozers until he was arrested. They described the trauma that the family faced especially the children, bed wetting, insomnia, panic attacks, PTSD. RHR built them their new house with a delegation of N. American Rabbis but now it is listed to be demolished again. Many people in the group cried as they heard the story and the difficulty to get by for the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.

On the way back, Arik spoke about how the demolitions fuel hate, terribly so. Children say that they want to retaliate and this seed gets planted in their mind early. It is his belief that it is in Israel’s best survival interests to build more of these partnerships and to show the Palestinians a different Jewish experience, one that rebuilds and does not destroy. Something to mull over. He was clear to state this position even in the framework of the Hezbollah war.Following a long conversation with Leanne back to the room changed and went for a long run.

Then it was time for the Interfaith WorldPride Convocation at Hebrew Union College Jerusalem—the Reform Movement’s seminary in Israel.