Rabbi Alpert’s discussion and book signing will be held at Barnes & Noble, 1805 Walnut Street, on Thursday, February 26 at 12:30 p.m. The free event is presented by the Jewish Social Policy Action Network (JSPAN) and its co-sponsor, the Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee.

“Whose Torah?” explores the social justice values and teachings in the Torah, and how they should guide the actions of the community. Professor Alpert is the Chair of the Religion Department and an associate professor of religion and women’s studies at Temple University. She has written widely on progressive religion and Judaism. Her new book offers cogent evidence for Jewish support of the civil rights movement and sexual, economic and racial justice. She highlights the textual basis for reproductive rights, care for the environment and an end to poverty, as well as human rights for all people living in the Middle East.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Rabbi Alpert is a graduate of Barnard College and earned her Ph.D. in religion at Temple University. Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she became part of the first generation of women rabbis serving congregations in the United States and Canada. In addition to her writing and editing projects, Rebecca Alpert is the recipient of Temple’s College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Teaching Award.

For more information on the February 26 event call JSPAN at 215-635-2554.

Israel has a vibrant democratic tradition, as reflected by the 33 political parties that appeared on the ballot in the election. Despite the fact that Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni emerged as the head of the largest Knesset faction, it is not yet clear what shape Israel's new government will take. In the coming days, Israel's President Shimon Peres, after a period of consultations, will appoint the leader he believes is best positioned to form a government and to assemble a coalition.

It is our hope that the process will go smoothly and quickly, and that the new Israeli government will be able to address the many domestic and foreign challenges facing the country.

Tu B'Shevat was originally a tax day. It was set aside to mark the legal age of fruit-bearing trees, for the collection of tithes on their fruit. In Israel, buds are just beginning to appear on the branches of the almond tree (shkedia). The almond season is spectacular but brief.

There are a few customs or observances related to this holiday, including eating a new fruit and planting trees.

To learn more about how Tu B'Shevat has become Judaism's special environmental holiday, click here to read "Awakening to a Warming World: A Tu B'Shevat D'Var" by Mike Weilbacher, director of the Lower Merion Conservancy.

Many, many years ago in the Land of Israel lived a man called Honi the Circle Maker. Sometimes he would talk to God, asking God for rain for the hot dusty land, while standing inside a circle he had drawn on the ground. That’s why he was called, “Honi the Circle Maker”!

One day, Honi was not making circles and asking for rain. He was walking along the road, when he saw a man planting a tree. Honi asked the man, “How long will it be until the tree you are planting will give you something to eat?”

“Seventy years,” said the man.

“So why are you planting that tree? Do you think you will be around to eat its fruit in seventy years?” asked Honi.

“I don’t know,” said the man, “but I DO know that I found trees with fruit that someone ELSE planted a long time ago. I want to plant trees so my children will find trees with fruit as I did.” Then Honi understood how important it is to plant trees.

We eat the fruit from trees that someone else planted a long time ago, and we plant trees so that our children might get to eat it!

The resolution was specifically drafted to advocate for the efforts of newly-appointed U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Senator George Mitchell, who has already traveled to the region to listen to key stakeholders. Sen. Mitchell will be returning soon after the Israeli elections to establish a regular and sustained U.S. presence working for peace. President Obama has said that "Senator Mitchell is fully empowered by me and Secretary Clinton. When he speaks, he speaks for us."

At its meeting on February 10, the JSPAN Board voted to support H. Res. 130.

It is imperative that House members hear from their constituents as soon as possible about the importance of signing on to this resolution. Please ask your Representative to co-sponsor H. Res. 130!

To access contact information for members of the House of Representatives, click here.

To read H. Res. 130 in its entirety, click here.

On January 27, 2009 by video hook-up, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the High-Level Meeting on Food Security for All, held in Madrid, Spain. This two-day conference was convened by the government of Spain and brought together a broad range of committed stakeholders and Ministers from more than 126 countries. Secretary of State Clinton pledged to the delegates that the United States is dedicated to building a new partnership among donor states, developing nations, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGO's), the private sector and others to better coordinate policies on food security. Mrs. Clinton stressed that alleviating hunger worldwide is a top priority of the Obama Administration.

To view a video of Secretary of State Clinton's remarks to the delegates, click here.

This legislation reconstitutes the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides health coverage to low-income children in working families who are ineligible for Medicaid coverage but unable to afford private insurance. Both the U.S. House and Senate approved similar legislation in the 110th Congress, but a final children's healthcare bill was never signed into law.

This year's bill will extend health care coverage to an additional 4.1 million children, covering a total of more than 11 million children across the United States. Additionally, the bill waives the five-year waiting period for legal immigrant children and pregnant women and allows both groups to have access to urgent medical care regardless of the number of years they have legally lived in this country.

Jewish organizations were actively engaged in working towards the passage of SCHIP since it was first considered for renewal in 2007. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community, representing 14 national and 125 local agencies, provided much of the leadership in this critical effort. JCPA's Executive Director, Rabbi Steve Gutow, attended the signing ceremony, stating, "It was exceptionally rewarding to watch President Obama sign this bill into law. JCPA and many other groups have worked tirelessly to keep this bill alive, which ensures that some of the most vulnerable sections of the population in this country get access to life-saving health care."

To read the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 in its entirety, click here.

It has been estimated that 1 in 4 individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish descent is a carrier of a gene mutation that could result in the birth of a child with a serious, life-threatening disease. The Victor Center provides genetic education, screening and counseling to healthy individuals at risk of being asymptomatic carriers.

With a simple blood test, carrier screening is available to identify a wide spectrum of diseases. Most often the diseases occur in families with no prior history of the disease. Carriers are only at risk of passing the gene change on to their children. It is important to realize that while the diseases are more common in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, they also occur in other ethnic groups.

The Victor Center is attempting to compile a database of information about what insurance company practices are when it comes to paying for genetic testing. Some companies will agree to pay for certain tests only after the policy holder is pregnant. Others will do so only after the policy holder marries. These kinds of restrictions on testing can limit the options that young people have when it comes to family planning. Please take a few minutes to help the Victor Center compile information by calling your own health insurance company and asking some simple questions. Complete the attached form anonymously and fax it to JSPAN toll free at 215-701-2072. We will compile the data and provide the information to the Victor Center.

For more information, call (215) 456-7875 or visit www.victorcenter.org. (Please note the new web address!)

The 2009-10 state education budget proposal builds on the progress made last year when the governor and General Assembly enacted a school funding formula based on a costing-out study of what is required to prepare all of the commonwealth's students to be successful in a career or college. The costing-out study identified that some school districts are underfunded by as much as $4,000 to $6,000 per student, and that the state's most financially deteriorated communities are tapped out in local property taxes in an effort to keep their schools solvent. Excessive property tax effort squeezes the schools and blights the communities by driving down the local economy.

The formula enacted in 2008 sets a target budget for each district based on such factors as student enrollment, and number of students living in poverty or who are learning English. The formula then calculates the state share of school budgets based on the degree of the funding gap and the local tax effort. In enacting the legislation last year, the General Assembly committed to meeting state funding targets by 2013, and Gov. Rendell anticipated allocating $418 million this year to keep the state on track to meeting that target.

Advocates are also encouraged that Gov. Rendell's proposal keeps its focus on student achievement, ensuring that school districts continue to target funding to curriculum and programs that close achievement gaps.

JSPAN is an active member of Good Schools Pennsylvania, a statewide network of citizens who are informed and mobilized in support of public education. Good Schools Pennsylvania is now calling upon the General Assembly to follow Gov. Rendell's lead and keep the Commonwealth on course toward establishing a sound system of education finance.

To read the full text of Gov. Rendell's speech on the proposed Pennsylvania budget, click here.

The vandals broke into Tiferet Israel, a Sephardic synagogue in Caracas, defacing Torah scrolls and spray-painting the walls with messages of hate, such as "Death to all." The situation in Venezuela is extremely disturbing, as it illustrates that anti-Semitism is being used as a political tool in order to persecute Jews and Israelis. According to a recent report of the Anti-Defamation League, the incidents include a series of attacks on the Israeli Embassy, as well as businesses and synagogues in Caracas. There is grave concern that this form of political anti-Semitism is "fostered by the highest levels in government, trickled down the government apparatus and is left unchallenged by officials in the Chavez regime," according to the ADL report.

The Jewish community continues to express concern about President Hugo Chávez's close ties with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has denied the Holocaust and called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia urges you to immediately contact your Representatives and Senators in Congress, as well as the State Department and the President, asking them to strongly condemn these anti-Semitic acts and their exploitation as a political tool against the Venezuelan Jewish community. In addition, please ask the State Department to investigate the Tiferet Israel attack and call on the Chavez regime to protect his country's Jewish community and quickly bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

To find relevant contact information for members of Congress, the State Department and the President, click here.

In his opinion column,"Sightings," which appeared in The Wall Street Journal on January 31 - February 1, Terry Teachout, drama critic, asks, "Why does the state of Israel insist that its musicians not perform such universally acknowledged masterpieces as 'Tristan and Isolde' and 'Die Meistersinger'? Because their creator was a notorious anti-Semite - and because Adolf Hitler loved his music. .... Wagner, needless to say, wasn't a Nazi. He died five years before Hitler was born. But his hatred of the Jews, like Hitler's, was more than a mere tic: It lay at the heart of his megalomaniacal vision of the world."

Mr. Teachout suggests that the ban in Israel is "not about the music of Wagner, or even the man himself: It's about his ideas, which he took as seriously as his music, and which we ought to take seriously as well. .... The case of Israel is, of course, unique. .... I do think it fitting that there should be one place in the world where Wagner's music is not played in public solely because of the hateful ideas of the man who wrote it. .... Israel's Wagner ban serves as a still-useful reminder that ideas have consequences - and that those who spread evil ideas should be held responsible for their evil consequences. Even geniuses."

To read "Why Israel Still Shuts Wagner Out" by Terry Teachout in its entirety, click here.

Please remember that JSPAN welcomes your donations to help us continue our important and effective work in Tikkun Olam. You may send gifts via PayPal on www.jspan.org. or to JSPAN, 1735 Market Street, Suite #A417, Philadelphia, PA 19103