This past summer, I reacquainted myself with books written by Martin Buber, the eminent rabbi, philosopher and theologian, and I was riveted by an article entitled ‘The Jewish Soul,’ written by Buber in 1932. It is the published speech that he gave in Stuttgart in 1930 to Protestant theologians who were genuinely interested in Judaism and Christian-Jewish dialogue. The address began, “You have asked me to speak to you about the soul of Judaism” and midway through the speech he continued, “The…focus of the Jewish soul is the basic consciousness that God’s redemptive power is at work everywhere, and at all times, but that a state of redemption exists nowhere and never…The Jew, as part of the world, experiences, perhaps more intensely than any other part, the world’s lack of redemption. He feels this lack of redemption against his skin, he tastes it on his tongue; the burden of the unredeemed world lies on him. Because of this almost physical knowledge…he cannot concede that the redemption has taken place; he knows that it has not.” {The Martin Buber Reader - Essential Writings p. 111, edited by Asher D. Biemann. United States and United Kingdom, 2002, St. Martin's Press}

One need not be Jewish to realize that the world still awaits redemption, but Buber wrote that we Jews have a heightened sensitivity based on our “almost physical knowledge” of suffering at the hands of the unredeemed throughout history: “He [the Jew] feels this lack of redemption against his skin, he tastes it on his tongue, the burden of the unredeemed world lies on him.” At this holiest time of the Jewish year, we ask ourselves, “Does the weight of this burden overwhelm us or does it motivate us? Does it drag us down toward cynicism and despair, or does it inspire us to answer the call to engage the world in the spirit of tikun olam? The ancient Hebrew prophets – Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Micah – demanded that we care for the widow, the poor, the stranger and the orphan. It remains an obligation, not an option. Their call echoes through the ages to this very day in words that we will read from the Torah on Yom Kippur: "Atem n'tzavim ha'yom culchem" - "You are standing this day, all of you" {Deut. 29:9} to enact the Covenant, to respond to God's call.

The Jewish Relief Agency is currently assisting 1,650 families with monthly food distribution. On November 16th, JSPAN has volunteered to help pack Kosher food and deliver it to the homes of some of those in need. We will meet as a group at the JRA Northeast warehouse, 9986 Gantry Road, Philadelphia, at 9:30 a.m. Packing will take place from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. and deliveries will be completed by 1:00 p.m. Volunteers are needed for either the whole period or part-time.

You have an important contribution to make: Volunteer, Pack and Deliver. Make it a friend and family event. Please join us!

To register in advance, contact:
Deanne Comer ---dconsult@verizon.net
Ruth Schultz --- bubbubdoc@comcast.net

To learn more about the work of the JRA, click here.

The Cooper case began in Manchester, CT, where the Postal Service was not able to provide all of the postal services needed in the community. Rather than open a branch Post Office, it contracted with the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church, Inc. to operate a contract postal unit (CPU). The Post Office utilizes hundreds of CPUs around the country to provide services at a lower cost.

The church began to proselytize and distribute religious messages as an inseparable part of its postal operations. Patrons were forced to watch religious videos as they stood in line, and various types of religious literature were displayed.

A federal district court in Connecticut determined that the activities of the church and the Post Office were unlawful under the Establishment Clause based on finding pervasive administrative “entwinement” between them. But the court refused to find that the church was performing a “public function.”

JSPAN decided to file an amicus brief in this case because of a concern that lines between church and state could be blurred if the government were able to contract out some of its traditional functions to private religious organizations without subjecting them to the requirements of the Establishment Clause. According to the brief, which was filed jointly on behalf of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Anti-Defamation League and JSPAN, the activities of the Postal Services are so clearly governmental in nature that the state cannot be permitted to escape responsibility by allowing them to be managed by a supposedly private agency.

To read the JSPAN brief, click here.

JSPAN has joined with the Pennsylvania Assisted Living Consumer Alliance (PALCA) in raising a list of concerns with the Harrisburg officials. PALCA, led by the Pennsylvania Health Law Project, includes a strong array of critical voices on older adult issues, such as the Center for Advocacy for Rights and Interests of the Elderly (CARIE), the Elder Law Project of Community Legal Services and the Pennsylvania Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

According to Brian Gralnick, former Special Assistant with the Pennsylvania Department of Aging and JSPAN Board member, "Despite the state nearly being the oldest per capita, we are pretty late in the game of writing quality regulations. Because of this, assisted living centers have been placed under a large umbrella, and sometimes that umbrella has leaked."

Assisted living facilities across the Commonwealth must be equipped to provide residents with quality care and to meet the best available standards. On September 13, 2008, Ray Landis, advocacy manager for Pennsylvania's American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "A place can hang out a shingle that says it's an assisted-living facility, and all they provide is a meal, laundry services and a bed, whereas the next place down the road that calls itself assisted living has a dining room, maid service and chandeliers."

To read the JSPAN letter, click here.

Almost two years ago Burt Siegel posted an invitation to join the Board of JSPAN. Since I had been active in the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and believed in most of its principles, and since JCRC was considerably downsized, I decided that JSPAN would provide me the opportunity to become involved again, now that I have time in retirement.

My interest in social justice may date back to my activities as a Boy Scout. As an adult, I did get involved during the 1960s in the Civil Rights movement. I lived in several different communities during that decade and became active in the Fair Housing Council in each. The goal of these councils was to counteract discrimination in housing and to get across the message of integration and fair treatment of minorities.

Having a son with special needs also made me conscious of the generally overlooked and neglected members of our society. I have been very active in Jewish special education and have published materials in this field.

When I was an officer of the Board of Rabbis in the 1980s, Rabbi Morris Dembowitz (z"l) served as interim director, and appointed me chairman of a new program called "Kol Dichfin." Its purpose was to provide food for the needy in the Jewish community, another segment of society that had been overlooked. It was then that I became aware of the extent of poverty among Jews and contributed in a small measure to alleviating it. I would like to see JSPAN get more involved in this subject. In my estimation, it is probably the most serious social issue of our time.

Membership in JSPAN has enabled me to continue to give voice to my concerns about social justice, which I see as integral to leading a full Jewish life. The church-state issues have especially interested me because the line of demarcation is not so clearly defined and we sometimes appear to be anti-religious in our insistence on strict separation. I am truly fascinated with the ways we deal with this dilemma.

Gratz College
Day of Holocaust Studies
Sunday, November 9, 2008
7605 Old York Road, Melrose Park, PA
ACT 48 Activity Hour credits available for PA Teachers

In Commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht

Nora Levin Memorial Keynote Lecture

Sponsored by The Gratz College Holocaust Oral History Archive

Facing the Onslaught: Jewish life in Germany, 1933-39

Plus choices for two more sessions including a variety of Holocaust topics by Gratz professors, Survivor Testimonies, a Holocaust Art Exhibit and a Holocaust film

I am not a fan of Alan Dershowitz, and therefore approached reviewing his latest book, “IS THERE A RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT? Coercive Interrogation and the Fifth Amendment After 9/11” with some skepticism, particularly since it is his third book in a year. I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, to find myself reading, for most of the book, what is essentially an extended (176 pages) law review article, followed by copious endnotes. And as is often true of Supreme Court opinions (one of which is the subject of the book) and law review articles, some of those endnotes are as intriguing as the text itself. However for those very reasons, those not steeped in constitutional law and particularly civil liberties law under the Bill of Rights may find this book a hard read, although admittedly a worthwhile one.

The book deals with two intertwined topics, whether in light of the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Chavez v. Martinez, there is a protectable right under the Fifth Amendment’s self incrimination clause to be free of abusive, even if not tortuous, interrogation, and how Supreme Court Justices do, and how Professor Dershowitz believes they should, decide constitutional questions. For these purposes, abusive is best defined by the description of the Court of Appeals of what occurred to Mr. Martinez.

“Martinez alleges that Chavez brutally and incessantly questioned him, after he had been shot in the face, back and leg and would go on to suffer blindness and partial paralysis, and interfered with his medical treatment while he was ‘screaming in pain … and going in and out of consciousness.’ Chavez allegedly continued this ‘interrogation’ over Martinez’s pleas for him to stop so that he could receive treatment.”

According to a New York Times editorial, which appeared on September 28, the Election Assistance Commission, which is in charge of certification of the machines, has "failed to set up an adequate system for tracking and resolving problems with machines once they are certified and in use." As the elections draw closer, there is a recognition among "many computer scientists, voting rights activists and voters .... (that) the best way to ensure the integrity of the vote (still) is for Congress to require voter-verified paper records for every electronic ballot cast."

To read The New York Times editorial "Certified but Not Guaranteed" in its entirety, click here.

To read the full Government Accountability Office report, click here.

Certainly "Israel's friends do indeed have reason to worry (about Iran's) record of belligerence. .... The singular focus on the threat that Iran represents to Israel, however, obscures the other profound dangers posed by Tehran's nuclear program. A nuclear-armed Iran would be a menace, not only to Israel, but also to its Arab neighbors and to American and Western interests in the region."

Mr. Clawson concludes; "Americans are more likely to be concerned about defending their country's national security than about protecting another nation, even a close ally such as Israel. And the international community is more likely to mount a vigorous response to Iran's nuclear ambitions when the nature of the threat is not framed as an Israeli issue. Stopping Tehran means making the case that the Iranian nuclear program is a menace, not only to Israel, but to world peace."

To read "Don't Make Iran an Israeli Issue" by Patrick Clawson 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