With Representative Barney Frank, David Saperstein, Sharon Kleinbaum, Seth Limmer and Barbara Weinstein

Aug. 15, 2012 - Aug. 15, 2012

Noon ET

Keter Torah: 1 hour
Call-in Phone Number: Domestic Callers 1-888-537-7715 | International Callers 1-334-323-9858
Passcode: 11740738#
Topics:
  • Gender Issues
  • Financial/Economic Issues
  • Social Justice
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    The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is legislation proposed in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.

    TEXT STUDY
    Seth Limmer:     Serves as Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Yisrael and is chair of the CCAR Justice and Peace Commission and a member of the Commission on Social Action. He serves as rabbinic faculty of Eisner Camp (where he is a member of the camp's board of directors) and in May 2009 he was awarded his Doctorate in Hebrew Literature in the field of Rabbinic Hermeneutics.

    SPEAKERS: 

    Representative Barney Frank:     Represents the Fourth Congressional District of Massachusetts, and he is also the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee. In 2009 and 2010, he helped pass the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and in 1994 he first introduced the Employee Non-Discrimination Act. Throughout his over 30 years in Congress he has been a prophetic voice for justice, championing many of the progressive issues about which our Movement cares deeply.    

    David Saperstein: Director and Counsel of the Religious Action Center; serves on the boards of numerous national organizations, including the NAACP, People For the American Way, Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life and the World Bank's World Faith Development Dialogue. In 1999, he was elected as the first Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; in 2009 was appointed by President Obama as a member of the first White House Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships; teaches seminars in both First Amendment Church-State Law and in Jewish Law at Georgetown University Law School; has appeared on Crossfire, Hardball, Nightline, Oprah, Lehrer News Hour, ABC's Sunday Morning, and The O'Reilly Factor; his articles have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Harvard Law Review; author of Jewish Dimensions of Social Justice: Tough Moral Choices of Our Time.  

    Sharon Kleinbaum: CCAR member;  spiritual leader of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah; prior to joining CBST, Rabbi Kleinbaum was Director of Congregational Relations at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, DC, from 1990-1992. Rabbi Kleinbaum has testified in Federal Court and before the U.S. Congress in hearings on the subject of same-sex marriage. She attended the President's White House meeting of national religious leaders in 1999. Rabbi Kleinbaum has been a speaker and a panelist at numerous feminist and gay rights conferences. She has frequently been engaged to speak about same-sex marriage, Judaism & homosexuality, gay synagogues, and Judaism and social justice.

    Barbara Weinstein: Legislative Director at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) since 2002. Ms. Weinstein directs legislative policy and oversees the RAC's Eisendrath Legislative Assistant program - a one year fellowship for recent college graduates focusing on Jewish values and social justice.Raised in Montreal, Canada, Ms. Weinstein earned a M.A. in Political Management from The George Washington University and a B.A. in Political Science from McGill University in Montreal. For five years, Ms. Weinstein worked in the U.S. House of Representatives. She served first on the staff of former Rep. Vic Fazio (D-CA) and later as a Legislative Assistant in the office of Rep. John F. Tierney (D-MA). While on Capitol Hill, Ms. Weinstein's public policy portfolio included women's rights, civil and human rights, the environment, energy, and telecommunications.