It is just one of the many misleading (at best) e-mails that turned up in my mailbox during and after the Lebanon war. This one claimed to be the “definitive” list of “anti-Israel Members of Congress.” The half-dozen copies I received all came from people active in mainstream pro-Israel organizations.

“Friends, if ever there was a definitive list of the anti-Israel members of Congress, we have it now.

“Surprisingly they are mostly Democrats.

“It's these 23 members who voted against last week's House and Senate resolutions of support for Israel.

“No other issue and no US political party allegiance is more important in these times than the safety and security of Israel.

“Following is a list of legislators who voted 'No' on yesterday's resolutions of support for Israel.”

The e-mail went out late in July and seems to be referring to a resolution that had just taken place.

The most glaring thing wrong with the e-mail is that it describes a vote that never took place. There was no such resolution. There was no such vote.

On top of that, of the 23 "anti-Israel Members of Congress" enumerated in the e-mail, six are not current members of Congress and have not been for two years.

The authors of the e-mail must have known that the list was a fake – anyone who’s even glanced at CNN or any of the other cable news outlets in the last few years knows that Gary Condit is no longer serving California’s 18th district. And Fritz Hollings, the well-known ex-Senator, retired from Congress in 2005.

Unfortunately, some of the people who see the e-mail will not know that. They will read it and believe that they know "definitively" who in Congress does not support Israel.

Harris currently serves in the U.S. House of Representatives and is leading in polls to win the Republican primary nomination for U.S. Senate. She gained notoriety in 2000 when she served as Florida's Secretary of State and presided over the controversial Florida vote recount while serving as co-chair of the Bush Presidential campaign in Florida.

Harris was reported as saying "If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you're not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin." She went on to claim that the separation of church and state is an outright "lie we have been told."

Since then, Ms. Harris defended her remarks to Fox News by saying she is pro-Israel and supports Holocaust education. "Neither support for Israel nor endorsement of Holocaust education will smooth over open pandering to religious bigotry," responded JSPAN President Jeffrey Pasek.

To view the letter sent to the Republican National Committee, click here.

Every year, approximately 25,000 rape victims are impregnated. If administered properly, nearly 90% of these pregnancies would be preventable. Despite this, less than half of all Pennsylvania hospitals offer emergency contraceptives, even when the victim requests it.

Rather than twice victimizing these women, the CARE Coalition supports the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act (Senate Bill 990 & House Bill 2159), which would:

• Provide medically accurate information about emergency contraceptives;
• Provide the full regimen of emergency contraceptives upon the victim's request;
• Provide information about the availability of a rape crisis counselor and the contact information of the local rape crisis center; and
• Contact the local rape crisis center upon the request of the victim so that she can have the opportunity for a personal and private consultation with the counselor while at the hospital.

"United by Love, Divided by Bars" is a conference organized by Central Pennsylvanians to Abolish the Death Penalty to be held on September 23rd. For those who do not observe a second day of Rosh Hashanah, this conference offers an excellent way to "pray with your feet" as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once described Jewish commitment to social action. The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia. Speakers will include Diann Rust-Tierney of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Rev. Walter Everett of Murder Victims Families for Human Rights, and Harold Wilson of Philadelphia, the 6th exonerated death row prisoner in Pennsylvania. The focus will be on the impact of the death penalty and the criminal justice system, in general, on families and communities.

Amnesty International USA will also be holding a teach-in and rally for a moratorium on the death penalty on Saturday, October 7, in Harrisburg. The teach-in will be held from 10:30 a.m to 12 p.m. in downtown Harrisburg (location TBA) with the rally at 1 p.m. on the capitol steps. For those who don't go to shul on Sukkot, this promises to be an interesting learning experience.

For more information on how to sign-up to attend "United by Love, Divided by Bars" click here.

The rally will be held on Independence Mall at 5th & Market Streets in Philadelphia..

Featured speakers include:

• John Dean, former White House counsel and author of Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush
• Michael Coard, host of The Radio Courtroom on WHAT 1340 AM
• Angel Ortiz, former Philadelphia City Councilman and a lead sponsor of the Philadelphia anti-PATRIOT Act Resolution