Resolutions 2005

“In a free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty, all are responsible.”  Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

WHEREAS the decades-long civil war in the Sudan has already taken 2,000,000 lives and there is an ongoing campaign of genocide to wipe out whole communities in the Darfur region;

WHEREAS as victims of genocide during the Shoah who know firsthand the consequences of silence and global indifference, the Jewish people cannot remain indifferent to the plight of those suffering in our time;

Background:
We, members of the Rabbinical Assembly, are heirs to traditions that ingrain in us an “aggressive attitude toward improving life,” exemplified in Pirkei Avot 2:20-1 “Rabbi Tarfon taught: The day is short, the task is great. You are not obliged to finish the task, but neither are you free to neglect it.”* Over the years the Rabbinical Assembly has adopted stances via resolutions passed at annual conventions on a wide variety of social issues. 

WHEREAS as the intifada continues, many church spokespersons have too frequently tied the murdering of Jews to Arab poverty and frustration; and

WHEREAS anti-Semitism is once again on the rise, particularly in Europe; and

WHEREAS the Rabbinical Assembly is concerned about recent efforts by certain church groups to single out the Jewish state and weaken its economy by divestment.

WHEREAS we are bidden שלום דרכי מפני (for ways of peace) and הבריות  שלום מפני (for peace among all creatures) and איבה מפני (to avoid hatred) and ה׳ חילול מפני (to avoid disgrace) and העולם תקון מפני (for improving the world) to be concerned that relations with our neighbors be on the highest possible level;

WHEREAS in many areas, relations between Jewish and Christian faith groups have never been better, partly due to the impact of Nostra Aetate forty years ago and the efforts of Pope John Paul II in Jewish-Catholic dialogue;

WHEREAS the Rabbinical Assembly has always based its environmental resolutions on the principles of:

WHEREAS there is a serious shortage of organs available for transplantation, leading to thousands of deaths each year;

WHEREAS serious illnesses and conditions leading to disability and often death may be ameliorated or cured through new technologies;

Background:

Background:

WHEREAS the Rabbinical Assembly, whose members serve as rabbis in Israel and the Diaspora, is an affiliate of the worldwide Masorti/Conservative movement, which supports the goals of Zionism as an integral facet of its commitment to the welfare of the Jewish people and Jewish culture;

WHEREAS the members of the Rabbinical Assembly have been in the forefront of establishing institutions of our movement both in ארץ ישראל (the land of Israel) and worldwide;

WHEREAS members of the Rabbinical Assembly have committed themselves to promoting our movement in Israel and throughout the world through their sacred service and through the gathering of financial resources;

WHEREAS members of the Rabbinical Assembly are committed to a strong presence of our movement inמולדתינו  ארץ (our historic homeland); and