Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights, Speaks on Judaism, Human Rights, and the Crisis in Israel

Shaarei Shamayim, Madison's Reconstructionist and Renewal Community, is pleased to welcome Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights, to Madison on Sunday, November 17th. His talk, entitled "Judaism, Human Rights, and the Crisis in Israel" is open to the public and will be held at 6:00 pm at Temple Beth El, 2702 Arbor Drive.

Rabbis for Human Rights is an Israeli rabbinic organization that advocates for the human rights of all people, including Israelis, Palestinians, Bedouins, and foreign workers. It is the only rabbinic organization in Israel that brings together Reform, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reconstructionist rabbis, and the only human rights organization that is rooted in a religious Jewish perspective.

Current activities of the organization include protesting home demolitions and rebuilding demolished homes, visiting Israeli and Palestinian victims of violent attacks, helping Palestinians harvest their olive groves and replant uprooted trees, bringing food and humanitarian aid to besieged Palestinian villagers, and presenting human rights issues to the Israeli Supreme Court.

Rabbis for Human Rights was founded in 1988 in response to serious abuses of human rights by the Israeli military authorities in the suppression of the first Intifada. It seeks to remind both religious and non-religious Jews in Israel and abroad that human rights abuses are not compatible with the age-old Jewish tradition of humaneness and moral responsibility.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman will share his experiences working for human rights during the current crisis in Israel. The position of Rabbis for Human Rights is unequivocal: "We condemn Palestinian violence and support Israel's legitimate efforts to defend her citizens. However, Judaism teaches that even in times of conflict, there lines which we dare not cross. The harming of innocent civilians crosses those lines."

Rabbis for Human Rights has enjoyed broad support from a wide range of American rabbis. Rabbi Martin S. Weiner, President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, states, "Rabbis such as Arik Ascherman have devoted their lives to alleviating human suffering and helping to build bridges of understanding among the diverse children of God who live in this sacred land. Truly these rabbis walk in the spiritual footsteps of Amos and Jeremiah. We should commit ourselves to sharing in their prophetic work."

Kavanna, or Progressive Jewish Voice, is a new student group, advocating
peace and  working to foster dialouge and understanding surrounding the
issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  We will be hosting our first
major event this Sunday and we invite the Madison community to attend:

ARIK ASCHERMAN, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights 
will speak on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17 at 8:00 P.M. at THE MEMORIAL
UNION (check TITU for location)!

He will be discussing:
    * the organization Rabbis for Human Rights (check out this website
to see what they do: http://www.rhr.israel.net/overview.shtml)
    * Economic justice in Israel
    * Human rights during the intifada

Come hear this wonderful speaker and bring your friends!

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions,

Michal Ziv-El  mczivel@students.wisc.edu  264-0517
Tammy Shapiro  TBSax@aol.com  345-0369
Julie Weitz jmweitz@hotmail.com  257-8880