Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The Central Conference of American Rabbis grieves deeply the death yesterday of our beloved Past President, Rabbi Peter S. Knobel. Baruch dayan ha-emet.

Rabbi Knobel was an exemplar of our rabbinate. Scholar and Zionist, pastor and prophetic voice, Peter Knobel was as devoted to interfaith relations as he was to meaningful worship.

Answering the call to the CCAR presidency on short notice at a time of transition, he guided our Conference with skill and sensitivity. Partnering with a new Chief Executive, his leadership was critical in the process of building the robust CCAR we celebrate today.

Rabbi Knobel’s service to our conference spanned decades before and beyond his service as President. He was central to the development of Mishkan T’filah, our Reform Siddur. He was a frequent, highly-valued CCAR Press author, including Mishkan Moeid and Navigating the Journey. At the time of his death, he was serving as a co-chair of the Taskforce on Retiree-Successor Relations.

The Central Conference of American Rabbis extends deepest condolences to Elaine Knobel, to their sons and grandchildren, and to all of the family, as well as to the family of Beth Emeth, the Free Synagogue, in Evanston, Illinois, and to all of the congregational families Rabbi Knobel served as interim rabbi.

Zecher Tzadik Livrachah. The memory of the righteous is a blessing.

Rabbi Ronald Segal
President

Rabbi Hara E. Person
Chief Executive

Rabbi Steven A. Fox
Chief Executive Emeritus

Central Conference of American Rabbis

Sunday, August 4, 2019

The Central Conference of American Rabbis mourns the deaths of more than 30 men, women, and children struck down by domestic terrorists in Gilroy, California, El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio all within the last week. We pray for comfort for the victims’ families and for the healing of scores of injured individuals, many of them also mourners.

All Americans should be shocked, though sadly, none should be surprised by these horrific massacres. They are enabled by the persistence of lax gun laws, the influential gun lobby,  and congressional leaders who continue to impede common sense gun legislation. Moreover, it is clear that at least some of the murderers have found inspiration in the racist hate speech emanating from our national leadership, including from the President.  Time and again, history has tragically taught us that targeted and hateful speech leads to hateful and violent action.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 37a) teaches that whoever destroys a single life, it is as if that person has destroyed an entire world, but that whoever saves a single life, it is as if he/she has saved an entire world.  In the face of these recent tragedies, Reform rabbis are grateful for the life-saving, sacrificial, and extraordinary work of first responders, medical professionals, and chaplains, including our own colleagues, who devote themselves to the healing and saving of lives, and worlds.

The time has long since passed for all people of conscience to unite in our efforts to try and prevent future massacres, by enacting and enforcing sensible gun laws, and by immediately calling out and curtailing all further hateful and racist speech, whatever its source.  We must strive to live up to our highest national aspirations rather than succumb to our basest impulses, and continue to insist that America do better in its efforts to care for all of its inhabitants.

Rabbi Ronald Segal
President

Rabbi Hara E. Person
Chief Executive

Central Conference of American Rabbis

For Immediate Release:

Contact:
Elliot Levy, 202-800-7409, elliot.levy@berlinrosen.com

New York – July 3, 2019 – The Central Conference of American Rabbis has today participated in the filing of a brief amicus curiae in the United States Supreme Court in support of LGBTQ rights in three cases pending before the Court. The CCAR is filing along with several other religious organizations as well as many clergy of different religions, including individual members of the CCAR.

The three cases all deal with whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects individuals from employment discrimination based on their status as gay, lesbian, or transgender. For example, one concerns whether a funeral home can terminate a transgender person solely because the home’s owners believe that a person should present themselves as the gender that they had at birth. The brief argues that unequal treatment of LGBTQ individuals constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII, as several lower courts have held. These cases have substantial ramifications for LGBTQ employees throughout the United States.

The purpose of an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief is to provide the justices with information that they might not otherwise have. In this case, the brief that the CCAR joined explains that many religious entities view equal treatment of LGBTQ people as a religious imperative. This counters arguments made by some faith communities that their religious beliefs in effect require them to discriminate against LGBTQ people. The brief that the CCAR joined argues that allowing such discrimination favors some religions at the expense of others.

The three consolidated cases are Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Bostock v. Clayton County. They are expected to be decided in the Supreme Court’s 2019 – 2020 term.

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About the Central Conference of American Rabbis:
The Central Conference of American Rabbis is the Reform Rabbinic leadership organization.  The CCAR strengthens the Jewish community by providing religious, spiritual, ethical and intellectual leadership and wisdom.  CCAR and its members lead the Reform Movement on important spiritual, social, cultural and human rights issues, as it has done since 1889.  CCAR also is the center for lifelong rabbinic learning, professional development, and resources for the 2,100 rabbis who serve more than 1.5 million Reform Jews throughout North America, Israel and the world. Since its founding, the CCAR has also served as the primary publisher of the Reform Movement through CCAR Press and its imprint Reform Judaism Publishing.

Thursday, June 27, 2019

The Central Conference of American Rabbis deplores the U.S. government’s inhumane detention of men, women, and especially children who are seeking refuge in this “Land of the Free.” Reform rabbis are particularly appalled by the renewal of widespread separations of migrant adults and their children, an abhorrent practice supposedly abandoned nearly a year ago.

Repeatedly, our Torah teaches, “There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you” (e.g., Exodus 12:49). Today, though, immigrants are being subjected to deplorable living conditions that American citizens would never tolerate for ourselves. A June 3, 2019 report from the Department of Homeland Security’s own Inspector General found “nooses in detainee cells, overly restrictive segregation, inadequate medical care, unreported security incidents, and significant food safety issues.” Some facilities “failed to provide recreation outside detainee housing units” and featured bathrooms described as “dilapidated and moldy.” The Inspector General continues, “At one facility, detainees were not provided appropriate clothing and hygiene items to ensure that they could properly care for themselves.” Most tragic and alarming are the deaths of children that have occurred in these detention facilities.

Reform rabbis are grateful that both Houses of Congress understand the severity of this crisis, and that they adopted legislation to provide humanitarian assistance at the U.S.’s southern border. The House bill is preferable, providing for greater congressional oversight and restricting the expansion of immigrant detention. We urge the Senate to adopt the current House bill and we urge the President to sign the legislation.

Reform rabbis renew our plea for comprehensive immigration reform, reiterated across several decades. We demand an end to frightful threats of mass immigrant round-ups followed by precipitous deportation. We call for an immediate and permanent end to our government’s separation of immigrant children from the adults who accompany them, except in cases that would equally prompt American law to separate citizens from their children. We insist that America can both be a nation of laws and live up to its promise of refuge to the world’s “huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.”

We pray that President Trump and all of our nation’s leaders will come to see that the divine spark resides in every human being. Then, may they adopt policies and practices that protect the lives and human dignity of immigrant men, women, and children.

Rabbi Ronald Segal
President

Rabbi Steven A. Fox
CCAR Chief Executive

Rabbi Hara Person
Incoming Chief Executive

Central Conference of American Rabbis

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

The Central Conference of American Rabbis condemns the Trump Administration’s latest attack on transgender Americans. By eliminating gender identity as a legitimate reason for health care and refusing to recognize anti-discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity, the Administration places millions of Americans – including Reform rabbis and members of the communities we serve – at serious risk.

Transgender Americans face unique health needs, which, if unmet, compromise their wellbeing and endanger their lives.

Reform rabbis have and will continue to stand up for transgender Americans among our own people and all God’s children (See our 2015 resolution: The Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals). Each and every one of us – cisgender, gender non-conforming, and transgender – is created b’tzelem Elohim, in the divine image, deserving of equal treatment under the law and particularly in accessing health care.

We call upon the Trump Administration to reinstate the 2016 rules, defining the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of discrimination “on the basis of sex” to include gender identity.

Rabbi Ronald Segal
President

Rabbi Steven A. Fox
Chief Executive

Rabbi Hara E. Person
Chief Executive-Elect

Central Conference of American Rabbis

The Central Conference of American Rabbis is alarmed by the cascade of new state laws intended to end reproductive liberty. While the most draconian measures, signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia and Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama, are the most blatant attempts to end abortion rights altogether, we also oppose the bevy of laws adopted in other states to limit or effectively end access to abortion.

The CCAR lifts up our own resolution on reproductive justice, a powerful Resolution released this week by our constituent group, the Women’s Rabbinic Network, and this comprehensive statement from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, which detail the historical and contemporary Jewish stances on abortion and the status of the fetus. See also the comprehensive review of Jewish law on abortion from the Freehof Institute on Progressive Halakhah. We will not review these matters here, except to reaffirm that Judaism has never accorded personhood status to the fetus.

Reform rabbis are particularly concerned about the fate of financially vulnerable women in the affected states, as well as the fates of gender non-conforming and transgender people who may become pregnant. Restricting abortion rights to those who can afford to travel out of state is a grotesque violation of reproductive justice. We stand with abortion providers, who bravely make a safe, legal medical procedure available, often and increasingly under perilous circumstances.

Reform rabbis would not seek to impose Judaism’s position on these matters upon our nation and state. We reject the adoption of other religions’ stances into law, which is a violation of the First Amendment prohibition of the imposition of a state religion. The CCAR calls on federal courts to prohibit enforcement of these laws, and on the Supreme Court to reaffirm the reproductive rights promised in our Constitution, clarified in Roe v. Wade.

Rabbi Ronald Segal
President

Rabbi Steven A. Fox
Chief Executive

Rabbi Hara E. Person
Chief Executive-Elect

Central Conference of American Rabbis

May 15, 2019

Dear Member of Congress,

On behalf of the fifteen undersigned national Jewish organizations, we write to express our support for the Equality Act (H.R. 5). Driven by our Jewish values, we are committed to supporting laws that protect the civil rights and individual liberties of all people. The Equality Act is a significant step forward for the LGBTQ community, and we urge Congress to swiftly pass this important bill.

Our Jewish values necessitate that we support full equality for the LGBTQ community. Jewish tradition teaches that all people are created b’tzelem Elohim, in the Divine image, and are worthy of dignity and respect. As organizations grounded in Jewish values, we have an ethical and moral responsibility to fight for a society that ensures the humanity of all people. Every person is entitled to live without fear of persecution, harassment, and discrimination – regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. For centuries, Judaism has recognized a diverse spectrum of sex and gender identities. Across Jewish legal codes and rabbinic commentary, there are hundreds of references to at least six different genders.[1] Many of our texts proudly affirm the existence of transgender, intersex, and genderfluid individuals. We know that these identities, and those of the entire LGBTQ community, are valid.

Indeed, support for LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections extends across the faith community, and throughout the country. A majority of all faith groups – including 80 percent of Jews, 71 percent of white mainline Protestants, and 54 percent of white evangelical Protestants – support laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing.[2]  This view is shared by nearly seven in ten Americans – including a majority of people in every state and every political party.[3]

Despite significant progress since the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the LGBTQ community still faces discrimination in many areas of daily life. There is no federal law that explicitly provides anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, and over 30 states still similarly lack such explicit nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals.[4] The Equality Act will address many areas of life where the LGBTQ community still faces discrimination (including employment, housing, education, public accommodations, federally-funded programs, credit, and jury selection) by amending existing federal civil rights laws to include explicit and consistent nondiscrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. This law will grant the same protections to LGBTQ people that are currently provided to other protected classes.

Beyond the LGBTQ community, the Equality Act would prohibit sex-based discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs, providing critical protections for women. The bill will also expand the definition of public accommodations in Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to more closely align with definitions in the Americans with Disabilities Act and many state laws, thereby strengthening nondiscrimination protections for all people.

The need for comprehensive protections for the LGBTQ community is clear. In 2017, a majority of LGBTQ people reported that they or an LGBTQ family member or friend experienced discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.[5] According to the most recent FBI hate crime statistics, there were 1,130 hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2017 (a five percent increase since 2016) as well as 119 crimes based on gender identity, including 106 targeting transgender people.[6] Furthermore, the Human Rights Campaign 2018 Healthcare Equality Index reports that 70 percent of transgender and gender non-conforming patients and 56 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual patients surveyed experienced some sort of discrimination in health care.[7] LGBTQ youth are especially vulnerable, with nearly eighty percent of LGBTQ students experiencing verbal harassment due to their sexual orientation and over 50 percent experiencing harassment due to their gender identity or expression. LGBTQ people of color, immigrants, and those with disabilities face even greater barriers and biases.

Although many federal courts have ruled that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is a form of sex discrimination that violates federal law, the current administration is actively working to overturn these rulings and redefine federal sex discrimination through regulation. In the face of these attacks, Congress must make these protections permanent. The Equality Act would clarify what many courts have ruled: that sex under Title VII covers sexual orientation and gender identity.

As Jewish organizations, we believe firmly that all people deserve to live free from fear and discrimination, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We urge Congress to pass the Equality Act.

Sincerely,

American Conference of Cantors
Anti-Defamation League
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Jewish Women International
Keshet
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
Men of Reform Judaism
National Council of Jewish Women
Rabbinical Assembly
Reconstructing Judaism
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Union for Reform Judaism

[1]http://www.transtorah.org/PDFs/Classical_Jewish_Terms_for_Gender_Diversity.pdf
[2]https://www.prri.org/research/americans-support-protections-lgbt-people/
[3]Ibid.
[4]http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/non_discrimination_laws
[5] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/poll-lgbtq-americans-discrimination/
[6] https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2017/topic-pages/incidents-and-offenses 
[7] https://www.hrc.org/hei

UNION FOR REFORM JUDAISM AND
CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS STATEMENT ON ISRAEL UNDER ATTACK

New York, NY; May 6, 2019 – We hope and pray that the cease fire holds, and at the same time, the Union for Reform Judaism and Central Conference of American Rabbis deplore the massive rocket attack unleashed upon Israel and its citizens by Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the terrorist clients of the Iranian regime, which controls the Gaza Strip.

We mourn the innocents who have lost their lives in this new round of violence. We pray for the healing of the injured and for the safety of the Israel Defense Forces as they strive to combat this murderous assault on Israeli sovereignty and security. As we send strength and blessings to our congregations in the south of Israel, we are grateful that peril to life and limb in Israel has been greatly limited by the effectiveness of the Iron Dome, emblematic of longstanding U.S.-Israeli security cooperation.

As this week, together with Jews across the globe, we prepare to celebrate Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut, we stand in solidarity with the State of Israel and all Israelis even as we pray for Israel’s safety and security, for an end to this tragic violence, and for a future of real, lasting, and sustainable peace for Israel and for the Palestinian people.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs
President, Union for Reform Judaism

Daryl Messinger
Chair, Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Ronald Segal
President, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Steven A. Fox
Chief Executive, Central Conference of American Rabbis

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The Central Conference of American Rabbis is thrust into mourning once again, together with all decent people worldwide, in the aftermath of another attack on Jews at worship.  We mourn the precious soul lost to this world in Poway, California, at the hands of the murderer. We pray for the healing of all who were injured, including our Chabad colleague, and stand in solidarity with the whole community of Chabad of Poway.

Exactly six months ago, a mass murderer took the life of eleven Jews at worship at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. More recently, Muslims and Christians have been massacred at prayer in Christchurch, New Zealand and at multiple churches in Sri Lanka.

Houses of worship are intended as sanctuaries from the hateful violence that too often characterizes our world today. Security measures are important if regrettable necessities, but they do not take the place of loving hearts, celebration of religious diversity, and a worldwide human commitment to end the scourge of hate-fueled violence.

Reform rabbis join in prayer for the realization of the Prophet Isaiah’s vision: “Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, nor devastation and destruction within your borders” (Isaiah 60:18).

Rabbi Ronald Segal
President

Rabbi Steven A. Fox
Chief Executive

Central Conference of American Rabbis

Sunday, April 21, 2019

The Central Conference of American Rabbis grieves the mass slaughter of Christians at prayer on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka. We extend sympathy to the mourners and pray for the healing of the survivors and all who were injured.

Today’s atrocity follows upon the mass murder of Jews at prayer in Pittsburgh in October and the massacre of Muslims at prayer in Christchurch, New Zealand last month. Each of these crimes is horrific and singular in its own right. Taken together, they threaten free religious observance worldwide, particularly for members of religious minorities in the nations where they gather in worship.

At Passover, Jews throughout the world are celebrating liberation in our past, while opening the door to more perfect salvation for all the world in the future. Today, on Easter Sunday, Christians rejoice in the promise of the Resurrection. May all the world’s prayers for peace and redemption be heard, both here on Earth and on high.

Rabbi Ronald Segal                                             Rabbi Steven A. Fox
President                                                              Chief Executive

Central Conference of American Rabbis