Mr. Bernstein, a 10th generation Philadelphian, is the founder and director of the annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service, a project he helped create nationally in 1994 with former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and Atlanta Congressman John Lewis. In 1996, Mr. Bernstein started the nation's first King Day of Service in Philadelphia. Since its start, the Greater Philadelphia King Day of Service, which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, has drawn nearly 500,000 volunteers. Each year, it has been the largest King Holiday service event in the nation, including this past January, 2009, when more than 65,000 people volunteered in over 900 projects.

JSPAN is recognizing Mr. Bernstein for his extraordinary commitment to community activism. He has inspired a whole generation of volunteers to engage in "tikkun olam," repair of the world, and continues to promote ongoing civic engagement through innovative new programs.

Tisha B'Av was at one time the compelling point of convergence for Jewish tragedy. The negative nuances of the day attracted associations ranging from the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 to a variety of pogroms and persecutions.

With the rise of Reform Judaism in 19th century Europe, the observance of Tisha B'Av began to diminish. Since the early Reformers no longer expected a messianic return to the land of Israel, they did not mourn for the destruction of the Temples, only for the loss of life. Instead, they viewed the dispersal of the Jews after the destruction of the Temples as an opportunity to spread the message of monotheism.

In the years following the Second World War, there was much debate as to whether the Holocaust should be absorbed into the observance of Tisha B'Av or whether it should be commemorated in an independent manner.

The emergence of Yom HaShoa, Holocaust Commemoration Day, resolved that debate, but also contributed to the decline in the observance of Tisha B'Av. The destruction of the ancient Temples became a distant defeat, while the raw reality of Yom HaShoa became more resonant as a time devoted to Jewish tragedy.

Since the settlers saw themsleves as the vanguard of the divine process of redemption, and since violence and even havoc were expected to accompany the final stages of that process, their ideology, and the culture it shaped, provided multiple opportunities to justify illegal, violent, and even murderous actions. The most notorious of these included the massacre of dozens of Muslim worshipers in Hebron by the fundamentalist settler Baruch Goldstein (later dubbed "the hero [haGibor]" by his settler admirers), the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and several near-miss attempts to blow-up the Muslim shrines in Jerusalem, on the Haram el-Sharif/Temple Mount.

What is different in the last five to ten years has been the appearance of a new generation of young settlers, born into the movement, with little or no secular education, and even less direct contact with Israelis living inside the Green Line. In our own communities many of these youths would be considered "juvenile delinquents" and were so regarded by their parents (because of reputed drug use and sexual adventures in remote and unsupervised 'outposts'; but for others their slovenly habits, radical and vicious ideas about "others" (whether Arabs or not); and penchant for direct and violent actions earned them a reputation for toughness and authenticity akin to that which the earliest Zionist pioneers sought to build.

These "Hilltop Youth" are responsible for most of the "illegal outposts" that successive Israeli governments have committed to, but failed to, take down. They proudly disdain the Israeli government and think of themselves as direct reproductions of the early Israelite inhabitants of the land, living by their own lights justified by laws they call God's without any state interfering.

Rep. Frank's bill had 10 original co-sponsors, five from each party, but was "re-dropped" on June 24 because the measure now has more than 100 co-sponsors.

During the Bush administration, the House in 2007 passed a prior version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) by a 235-184 vote, but the Senate never voted on that measure. Unlike the House-passed bill in 2007, the measure introduced June 19 also prohibits employment discrimination based on gender identity, which the bill defines as "the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth." Supporters of ENDA had removed the gender identity protections from the 2007 bill prior to House passage after a lengthy internal debate about whether raising the issue of transgender bias was diluting support for a federal ban on employment bias against gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals.

The current bill specifically exempts the U.S. military, veterans' service groups, and religious organizations. It also does not require employers to provide benefits to domestic partners of their employees.

The Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., a civil rights group that lobbies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality, said it welcomes the inclusive nature of Rep. Frank's bill, which it said mirrors policies already adopted by many of the country's largest employers. About 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies include sexual orientation in their equal employment opportunity policies and about 33 percent of those companies include gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Although about 20 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, the Human Rights Campaign said that in 30 states, “it is still legal to fire someone based on his or her sexual orientation” and that in 38 states, “it is still legal to fire someone for being transgender.”

The AFL-CIO said it "strongly supports" the bill, calling the measure “common sense legislation. ... Because transgender people are so frequently vulnerable to employment discrimination, the AFL-CIO applauds their full protection" said John Sweeney, the labor federation's president.

JSPAN adds its voice in support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 and urges its readers to contact their House members to urge their support as well.

To read the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 in its entirety, click here.

To access contact information for House members, click here.

However, the Supreme Court has recently ruled in District Attorney's Office of the Third Judicial District v. Osborne "that no such right exists after conviction, and that each state can decide when and under what circumstances a convicted defendant may have access to DNA evidence." According to the two attorneys, Pennsylvania is among those states that have laws on their books which offer access to DNA evidence after conviction, "but many of these statues are too narrowly framed to ensure sufficient access."

In his opinion in the Osborne ruling, Justice John Roberts noted, "DNA testing has an unparalleled ability both to exonerate the wrongly convicted and to identify the guilty." Ms. Bluestine and Mr. Rudovsky are challenging the courts and the legislature in Pennsylvania to "make sure that innocent inmates are not denied access to the evidence needed," and, instead, are guaranteed that right.

Harrisburg, Pa. -- As the General Assembly continues to negotiate the state budget, the principles of a sound system of education finance received a ringing endorsement on July 1, 2009 when the House Education Committee, by a 22-3 vote, endorsed a special education funding reform bill.

HB 704, co-sponsored by Policy Chair Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster), House Education Chair James Roebuck (D-Philadelphia), and Special Education Subcommittee Chair Barbara McIlvaine Smith (D-Chester), would extend to special education funding the same reforms enacted last year to basic education funding.

Since 1991, the state has funded special education costs on the assumption that all districts have 16% of students in need of special education services - regardless of whether the district has fewer or more students with disabilities. A costing-out study discovered that most districts do not have the resources needed to provide a quality education to children with disabilities. Absent a fix to the system, the upward pressure on local property taxes will continue.

HB 704 mirrors the state's new basic education formula by appropriating state funding to each district based on a five-year average of actual student enrollment in special education. It would also commit to meeting state funding targets by phasing in state funding over several years. A companion bill, SB 940, has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Andrew Dinniman (D-Chester/Montgomery).

This legislation is endorsed by Good Schools Pennsylvania, a statewide network of citizens who are informed and mobilized in support of public education. JSPAN is a member of the network.

To read HB 704 in its entirety, click here.

Concern has been expressed by some law makers that changing the way we measure poverty in America would change the number of individuals eligible for various entitlement programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as the federal food stamp program. It is important to note that no change would occur for federal programs that presently determine individual eligibility or broader allotments based on the current poverty measure. However, the hope is that once this new poverty measure is established and effectively used, we can gain a better sense of how current federal entitlement programs and tax credits affect their recipients and better target these entitlement programs to those who have the greatest need.

Furthermore, H.R. 2909 would help make the modern poverty measure accessible to state and local governments, who could use the new tool to guide and measure the success of their own anti-poverty strategies.

Stay tuned for more updates as this important legislation makes its way through the halls of Congress!

The spike in world hunger is a result of a two-year period of sustained high food prices compounded by the global economic downturn. These have led to lower incomes and higher unemployment. In response, struggling households have cut down on the amount of food they eat and switched to less expensive foods that are often less nutritious. The economic slump is now affecting developing countries severely; the World Bank expects economic growth to fall to 1.2 percent this year, compared with 5.9 percent in 2008 and 8.1 percent in 2007.

African economies, in particular, have been adversely affected by the global recession. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports that unemployment has increased sharply across the continent, rising as high as 40 percent in Kenya and South Africa. The rapid worsening of Africa's economic outlook has been caused by several factors, including a steep decline in the price of commodities exported by developing countries (among them copper and petroleum), a decrease in remittances from people working overseas to their families at home, and a reduction in official development assistance.

H.B. 1821 requires Pennsylvania's two pension funds, as well as the Treasury, to divest their holdings from foreign companies with significant business activities in Iran and Sudan. In explaining the importance of the legislation, Rep. Shapiro stated, "While I believe it is morally justifiable to divest from companies that do business with terror sponsoring nations, it also makes practical sense, as a company's association with countries that sponsor terrorism and human rights abuses creates risk and could undermine the value of the Commonwealth's investment."

The new bill is nearly identical to H.B. 1086, which passed the House in 2008 by a vote of 185-15. It is anticipated that H.B. 1821 will pass the scrutiny of the State Government Committee, and will be brought before the full House for a vote in the coming months.

To read the bill in its entirety, click here.

The next issue of this newsletter will be published on July 31, 2009.

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