I spent the early part of this week in New Orleans at a conference for directors of small and intermediate sized Federations. The early part was dedicated to the story of the destruction and recovery of New Orleans: on Sunday we heard from Tulane University President Scott Cowan about how the university, most of which was under 8 feet of water, was able to rebuild its database and facilities and open its campus again only 5 months after the flood. Tulane is the largest single employer in New Orleans and the most amazing thing was that they kept their entire faculty and staff on full payroll while they were out of business.

On Monday we took a bus tour of the Lower Ninth Ward, which you will remember was one of the most devastated areas of the city. The downtown and French Quarter – the places where tourists are likely to be - are all fully recovered, but some of the residential areas, particularly in the less-affluent areas, are still far from being fully repopulated. The tour guide had to keep reminding us, “Where you see green spaces, that’s not a park, it’s where a house used to be.”

After that we did a service project with the St. Bernard’s Project, which focuses on house rehab in the St. Bernard’s Parish. As we were traveling and working we saw quite a number of other work crews, primarily students on “alternative spring break.”

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Via JCPA's Israel Advocacy Initiative, here's a link to an open letter placed in yesterday's NY Times by the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, calling on world leaders to intervene in the deteriorating human right situation in Iran.

The letter, which is part of Mr. Wiesel's campaign to bring awareness to the threat that the Iranian regime poses to global peace, was signed by over 40 Nobel Laureates from various countries. Here's a quote:

The situation in Iran is not improving; in fact, it is worsening every day. The cruel and oppressive regime of “Supreme Leader” Ali Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad, whose irresponsible and senseless nuclear ambitions threaten the entire world, continues to wage a shameless war against its own people. Human rights violations have now attained new levels of horror. ...

And yet, overcoming fear and ignoring threats, tens of thousands of freedom-loving men and women, many of them young students, are marching in the streets shouting their faith in democracy and liberty. They must know that we are on their side.

 And this is the regime that wants to develop nuclear weapons, and probably now thinks that it has to do so to regain its forfeited legitimacy at home. This, it cannot be allowed to do.

 

I wrote this as the Closing Remarks for the MKJF's Campaign Event on November 1. In the end I didn't deliver them (no one ever complained that a rabbi spoke too little) but I think they're interesting so I include them here.

I'm often looking at Jewish texts with one eye toward their use in Federation settings, writings with the themes of peoplehood, Jewish unity, charitable giving and Israel. I found a quote from Mordechai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, that addresses all of these, and I want to share parts of it with you. Now, Kaplan can be a difficult writer, so rather I'll hit the highlights.

What are the implications, Kaplan asks - social, political, cultural, and religious - of thinking of the Jews as an international people with its cultural center in Israel?

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Kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit appears to be healthy in a video aired on Israeli television stations Friday. Israel received the video of Shalit, held by Hamas for over three years, in exchange for 20 Palestinian women prisoners. There's hope this may open up channels for Shalit's release. Ha'aretz (including the video). 

On Thursday in Geneva -- in a coordinated effort that recruited not only staunch European allies, but Russia and China as well -- the United States laid out what Iran must do next: Allow inspectors of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to visit Qom within two weeks, and hand over much of the uranium it has already enriched. JTA.

A new AJC survey of American Jews reveals growing doubts over the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the nuclear standoff with Iran; a prevailing skepticism regarding the prospects for advancing Arab-Israeli peace; and a generally positive outlook on current U.S.-Israel relations. The Executive Summary is found here.

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