WHEREAS Jewish tradition teaches “Open your hand [to the poor person] and provide sufficient for the need” (Deut. 15:8), and “Just as God clothed the naked…so too you must supply clothes for the naked [poor]” (Talmud B. Sotah 14a);” and
WHEREAS the burden of the current recession and the aftermath of Sept. 11 falls disproportionately on low income families; and
WHEREAS the President of the United States, George W. Bush, all those serving in our Armed Forces, and all firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency/rescue personnel, deserve the dedicated, wholehearted support and sincere gratitude of all American s as they respond to the treacherous terrorist acts carried out on American soil on September 11, 2001; and
WHEREAS a healthy Diaspora is a critical component of modern Jewish life, and all Jews in the Diaspora are precious and worthy of our support, and the institution of the synagogue is central to the Diaspora for organization, vigor, education, and communication; and
WHEREAS those Jews living in Ethiopia believe that the political climate in Ethiopia is such that it is now possible to create a public, institutional, indigenous presence, and that such a presence would help protect the Jewish heritage of Ethiopia.
WHEREAS the heinous attacks of September 11, 2001 were explicitly against America and American values; and
WHEREAS one of the touchstones of American life is our regard for the civil rights and civil liberties protected by our laws and constitution; and
WHEREAS there is an urgent need for law enforcement officials to have the necessary tools and support to conduct the difficult task of bringing to justice terrorist organizations that operate by stealth and secrecy; and
WHEREAS the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and her Arab neighbors has occupied much of the attention of American journalism, in all of its forms, since the founding of the modern State of Israel in 1948, making Israel a daily staple of print, audio and video news outlets; and
WHEREAS news reporting is a subjective art, where facts, events, visual images and opinions are selected by the reporter in order to construct a narrative of a news story that is of interest, and that the personal bias of the reporter always governs the subjective process of selection; and
WHEREAS the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 illustrated the very worst of human nature, in the suffering and destruction that is caused by hatred of a people, a nation or a group; and
WHEREAS the firemen, police, rescue workers, and countless other ordinary people who were willing to sacrifice their lives to save others demonstrated the very best in human nature; and
WHEREAS Jewish tradition has its paramount principle the sanctity and pursuit of life as exemplified in the Torah with the words, “You shall keep My Laws and rules, by the pursuit of which one shall live” (Lev. 18:5) and Jewish tradition teaches that deliberate indiscriminate killing is murder, and;
WHEREAS Jewish tradition supports the establishment of a basic normative order and governance that ensures peace and security for the citizens of all lands as exemplified by the instructions of Moses to Jethro in Exodus 18, and;
WHEREAS the State of Israel is the spiritual homeland of the Jewish People and an object of ultimate concern for Jews, creating an unbreakable bond between Israel and Jews all over the world; and
WHEREAS the hope of the Oslo peace accords was that the question of the legitimacy of the State of Israel in the minds of the Arab states in general, and the Palestinian nation in particular, had been favorably resolved, and it is now clear that such resolution is being challenged; and
Background:
The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
WHEREAS the Masorti Movement, writ large, includes more than 50 kehilot, many formal and informal educational programs, Machon Schechter and the efforts of the USCJ; and
WHEREAS Masorti continues to work to secure Israeli’s spiritual future; and
WHEREAS we recognize with gratitude and admiration our brothers and sisters in the Masorti movement are an integral part of the historic success of the Jewish people building its own society and nation; that they and their children help defend our land and state; and