Rabbis for Human Rights

I am waiting here at the airport with my flight nearing departure time. Today was mostly taken up by packing, though I managed one more trip to Chinatown.

So far one of the most enriching rabbinically oriented things I have done was to attend the conference in NYC hosted by Rabbis For Human Rights. (As I write this I am listening to this guy drone on in a monotone voice, not unlike the voice calling out "Bueler, Bueler in Ferris Bueler's Day Off and he is saying, "I live day to day. Every day is a huge adventure> Quite funny to be heard deadpan.)

This conference had 200 plus rabbis, cantors, rabbinical students and cantorial students movement wide with Reconstructionists having the largest presence. That was nice for a change and it gave me a chance to see friends that I haven't seen in a long while. Another special connection is that a third of the participants from my Institute of Jewish Spirituality participants (and teachers) were there. We are having a post conference call to talk about balancing spiritual practice and social justice--which was the theme of one of the workshops I attended by the insightful and pioneering Rabbi Amy Eilberg.

A handful of muslims attended including one Imam Yahya Hendi of Frederick, and he announced the creation of Imams for Human Rights and Dialogue, which he says has already amassed backing from at least 50 other Muslim leaders. It is so awesome when interfaith groups can inspire positive change amongst each other.

The conference focused on text study supporting human rights, creating solidarity for rabbis who often feel alienated in the face of being advocates for human rights and the specific issues of calling for the halt of U.S.-sponsored torture, stopping the genocide in Sudan's Darfur region and strive for security and human rights for both Israelis and Palestinians.

On thesecond day, we were notified that the Jerusalem government had, for the second time, demolished the Dari family home in Issawiyah, eastern Jerusalem, allegedly for zoning violations. This was the home that I had visited the last time I was in Israel. This was the family I had met. Rabbi Asherman exec director of Rabbis for Human rights explained it was discrimination... because the area in which they live has not been zoned since 1967," He noted that conference goers raised $30,000 on the spot to rebuild once again.

I felt so proud of the work that people were doing. The conference felt groundbreaking. The most troubling part was a session on torture where we listened to the the testimony of
torture survivor Sister Dianna Ortiz . She shared about how she was abducted, gang-raped and cigarette-burned in Guatemala nearly two decades ago andwas forced to abuse other captives.
Her experience led the way to talk about our US use of torture.

I will share more but I can't miss my flight.