May 6, 2025

Background

The American Jewish community has long held a deep commitment to the ideals of democracy, liberty, religious freedom, and a robust establishment clause, forging a separation of church and state, values enshrined in the founding principles of the United States of America. For the first time in 2,600 years of Jewish Diaspora history, this promised a nation in which one’s rights as a citizen would not depend upon their religious beliefs, religious identity, or religious practice.

Jewish participation in the American Experiment dates to 1654, when the first Jews to land in New Amsterdam demanded equal rights.[i] President George Washington memorably affirmed this vision of America. In response to an inquiry from the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, President Washington assured that “the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, but demands that all men shall be free to profess and worship God in their own way.” Throughout the over 200 years since, American Jews, including members of the Reform Movement, and members of all religious minorities, have celebrated and enjoyed the fruits of this expressed commitment to a pluralistic democracy and American society. As a result, the United States has given its Jewish community more rights, more freedom, and more opportunities than we have ever known in diaspora life. It is also with this experience in mind that the American Reform Jewish Movement promotes inclusion and a culture of mutual understanding and acceptance that celebrates human dignity through our adherence to אלהים בצלם (b’tzelem Elohim), the belief that God created all people in the divine image.

Today, in violation of Washington’s vision and our embrace of it, we face threats from rising white Christian nationalism spreading throughout American society and, to our great alarm, our government. White Christian nationalism is a political and cultural ideology that seeks to merge the identity of the state with conservative evangelical Christianity. This ideology is often accompanied by a racially exclusionary vision that emphasizes white dominance in political, social, and cultural structures, rewrites US history to exaggerate the Christian religious motivation of the founders; downplays the history and the contributions on non-Christians and of communities of color; acts as though democratic processes can be viewed as secondary to achieving a “divinely ordained” social order, thus justifying anti-democratic actions as necessary to fulfill a religious mission; depicts non-white immigration and demographic changes as an existential danger to America; and tries to revamp school curricula, library holdings, and media coverage to emphasize Christian nationalist values.

Such rhetoric and advocacy intensify conditions in which antisemitism on the right flourishes. Incidents in concert with, or inspired by, white Christian nationalism have too often led to violence. They include:

• The 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia: White supremacists and Christian nationalists gathered in protest of the removal of a Confederate statue. The rally, replete with speeches and social media messages on Jewish anti-Christian conspiracies, instigated violent clashes, the death of a counter-protester, Heather Heyer, and armed individuals standing threateningly across from Reform Congregation Beth Israel. Rally-goers marched through the streets of Charlottesville, chanting, “Jews will not replace us!”
• The attack on the nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, brought a convergence of open displays of white supremacist symbols, including Nazi and Confederate flags, with pervasive religious imagery and practices, including insurrectionists leading a fundamentalist Christian prayer in the Senate chamber, displays of large wooden crosses and Christian flags, and rioters evoking religion as the impetus for their actions.2[ii]
• The proliferation of “Great Replacement” theories also inspired other incidents of domestic terrorism, most notably: the Tree of Life—Or L’Simcha Congregation shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018, the Walmart Shooting in El Paso in 2019, and the Tops Supermarket shooting in Buffalo in 2022.

Resolution

Whereas the Jewish community and other minority faiths have thrived thanks to the American commitment to religious freedom and the separation of Church and State; and

Whereas the Jewish community has a historical understanding of the dangers posed by ideologies that seek to divide us along racial, religious, and cultural lines; and

Whereas, white Christian nationalism rhetoric and actions have contributed significantly to spurring antisemitism on the right; and

Whereas the rise of white Christian nationalism threatens the fundamental principles of religious liberty, equality, and freedom that are central to our Jewish and American identities; and

Whereas white Christian nationalism is an ideology rooted in exclusion, prejudice, and hatred that marginalizes communities that do not conform to their narrow definitions of identity, including Jews, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and religious and ethnic minorities, and

Whereas white Christian nationalists seek to redefine America falsely as a Christian nation, which is inconsistent with US history and with both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution;

Therefore, be it resolved that the Central Conference of American Rabbis: 

• Condemns the harmful ideologies of white Christian nationalism and commits to vigorously opposing policies rooted in or advancing white Christian nationalism.

• Advocates for engagement in thoughtful and constructive discussions about the dangers of white Christian nationalism, including across lines of difference and in interfaith partnerships.

• Commits to continuing to work alongside all marginalized communities, standing in solidarity with the vulnerable, confronting and dismantling systems of hate and oppression, and promoting the values of inclusion and justice.

• Reaffirms our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts that ensure all American citizens feel welcomed, valued, and empowered in civic engagement and opportunity, and ensures that Jews are included wherever appropriate in DEI efforts.

• Calls on national and state elected officials to stand firmly against all forms of hate, bigotry, and extremism, and remain committed to the just and equitable society that represents the highest ideals of America.

 

[i] Jonathan D. Sarna, Jews in the Colonial and Early National Periods,

 https://www.brandeis.edu/hornstein/sarna/americanjewishcultureandscholarship/Archive/JewsintheColoni

 alandEarlyNationalPeriods.pdf.

 

[ii] Andrew L. Seiderl, Amanda Tyler, et al, Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection,

 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cfea0017239e10001cd9639/t/6203f007e07275503964ab4d/1644

 425230442/Christian_Nationalism_and_the_Jan6_Insurrection-2-9-22.pdf.

 

February 13, 2025

Since its inception, the Reform Jewish Movement has been guided by the prophetic call to pursue צדק (tzedek, justice) and uphold the כבוד (kavod, dignity) of every human being, rooted in the foundational belief that all people are created בצלם אלהים (b’tzelem Elohim, in the divine image). Our Movement has historically stood at the forefront of social justice, advocating for gender equality, racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, assertive disability inclusion, and immigrant rights, among many other causes. From the 19th-century embrace of egalitarianism to active participation in the Civil Rights Movement and the ongoing fight against antisemitism and oppression, we have continually affirmed our responsibility לתקן את העולם (l’takein et haolam, to repair the world.)

Our Reform Movement’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is an extension of these deeply held Jewish values. We are grateful that the Jewish community itself is beautifully diverse, made up of Jews of Color, LGBTQ+ Jews, interfaith families, and people of different abilities and backgrounds. Our communal institutions must reflect this diversity and ensure that every individual feels welcomed, valued, and empowered to participate fully in Jewish life.

Yet, at this moment, DEI efforts—both within and beyond the Jewish community—are facing increasing attacks from political and ideological forces seeking to dismantle initiatives designed to address systemic discrimination and inequality. These efforts often attempt to erase the lived experiences of marginalized communities, weaken protections against discrimination, and distort the purpose of DEI work by falsely framing it as divisive. As Jews, we know too well the dangers of erasing history, ignoring inequity, and allowing injustice to persist unchallenged.

We are also mindful of concern that DEI initiatives have not always addressed the discrimination, bias, and violent antisemitism that the American Jewish community faces.  In the words of a statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion released on February 7, 2025 by a broad coalition of Jewish groups led by our Reform Movement, “Some Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion champions have spoken or acted in ways that have caused us pain, including through overt expressions of antisemitism, and others have shared visions of the future that differ from our own; none can speak authoritatively and comprehensively about what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is or is not. Rather, it is for each of us to do the work of opening the doors of opportunity for all. It is not only possible, but necessary, to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in a way that is truly inclusive of Jewish safety, identities, and history.”[i]

WHEREAS, the values of צדק (tzedek, justice), כבוד (kavod, dignity) of every human being, and בצלם אלהים (b’tzelem Elohim, the belief that all people are created in the divine image) are central to Jewish tradition and guide our commitment to equity and inclusion; and

WHEREAS, our Jewish community is enriched by the diversity of its members, including individuals of all racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, gender identities, sexual orientations, abilities, and socio-economic statuses; and

WHEREAS, historical and contemporary antisemitism, racism, and other forms of discrimination require a proactive commitment to education, advocacy, and allyship to foster a more just and inclusive society; and

WHEREAS, fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment strengthens Jewish communal life and ensures that all individuals feel valued, respected, and empowered to participate fully in religious, social, and cultural activities; therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CCAR affirms its commitment to:

1. Welcoming and Inclusivity: Creating spaces where all individuals, regardless of background, feel a sense of belonging and are encouraged to participate in Jewish communal life.
2. Education and Awareness: Providing opportunities for learning and dialogue about diversity, equity, and inclusion, including addressing unconscious bias and barriers to participation.
3. Equitable Practices: Ensuring that our institutions, leadership, and programming reflect the diversity of our broader community and are accessible to all.
4. Allyship and Advocacy: Standing in solidarity with marginalized communities and partnering with organizations committed to justice. Advocating for continuing and strengthening DEI in the public sphere. Insisting that combating antisemitism is a critical part of fighting discrimination, bias, and hate crimes.
5. Leadership: Empowering CCAR rabbis to advocate for DEI in and beyond the organizations they serve.
6. Continuous Reflection and Growth: Evaluating our DEI efforts regularly, seeking feedback from community members, and adapting our practices to better serve our shared values.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT we encourage all members of our community, including leaders, educators, and families, to uphold these commitments and work together to build a more just and inclusive Jewish future.

[i] Jewish Groups’ Statement on Diversity Equity, and Inclusion, February 7, 2025, https://urj.org/press-room/jewish-groups-statement-diversity-equity-inclusion#:~:text=It%20is%20not%20only%20possible,Equity%2C%20and%20Inclusion%20are%20suppressed.

December 11, 2024

Background

Since its founding in the United States in 1889, the Central Conference of American Rabbis has recognized that American democracy and its separation of Church and State created a unique environment in Jewish history.^[1] For the first time in the history of the Jewish diaspora, Jews found in America a place where they could participate as free and equal citizens while honoring our Jewish traditions and expressing our faith in meaningful ways. Today, that democracy is under threat in ways that it has not been in its history of nearly two hundred fifty years.

Ancient Judaism provides precedent for representative democracy. The Talmud teaches us to consult the people when choosing leaders: “One may only appoint a leader over a community after consulting with the community.”^[2] We are enjoined, too, to pray for the welfare of our government: “One should pray for the continued welfare of the government.”^[3]

Judaism thrives on a plurality of voices and the free exchange of ideas; indeed, our tradition mandates that we remain vigilant against a turning of the tide in opposition to such free exchange, including when that requires standing firm against the majority. The medieval commentary Rashbam exhorted us: “Do not simply follow the majority if, in your opinion, the majority are about to commit an error in judgment. Do not remain silent because they are the majority, but state your view.”^[4]

Speaking up for the weak in society, voicing dissenting opinions, and consulting the people— these are just a few of the democratic principles that Reform rabbis, and the communities we serve, hold dear. The time to recommit ourselves to democratic principles is upon us.

WHEREAS, democracy has made the United States^[5] home to the most vibrant and vital diaspora Jewish communities in history. Our ability to not just survive, but to flourish here depends on the preservation and continual improvement of that democracy; and

WHEREAS, being leaders of the American Jewish community, CCAR rabbis are obligated to make clear and explicit our commitment to the democracy that makes American Jewish life possible—not merely to commit to a set of abstract principles, but to bind ourselves to protect and defend them as if our safety, security, and ability to thrive depend on them—because they do.

THEREFORE, the Central Conference of American Rabbis resolves to:

1. Respect the rule of law and support and defend the fundamental American principle of equal justice under the law.
2. Defend the sacrosanct American rights to free speech,^[6] free expression,^[7] freedom of the press,^[8] freedom to assemble, free exercise of religion,^[9] and the separation of church and state.
3. Honor fact-based deliberation and speak out against falsehoods that undermine respect for, and confidence in, our elections, the Constitution, and the rule of law.
4. Support free, fair, safe, and accessible elections;^[10] the right of all eligible voters to cast their votes and have them counted and to honor the outcomes of those elections through the peaceful continuation or transfer of power.
5. Insist that preserving the rights of minorities is as fundamental to democracy as rule by the will of the majority.
6. Resolve differences within and beyond our community through respectful discussion and deliberation, to eschew dehumanization of our political opponents, and to firmly reject political violence in all forms.
7. Demand that the United States Senate vigorously defend, protect, and judiciously execute its Constitutional prerogative and responsibility to approve or reject presidential appointments.
8. Hold government officials, political and civic leaders, and candidates for elected office responsible and accountable for all of the above.

---

1. https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/civil-liberties-1889-1972/, https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/first-amendment-rights-1996/, https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/freedom-of-the-press-1889-1972/, https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/free-exercise-of-religion-and-the-religious-freedom-restoration-act-of-1991/, https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/free-and-accessible-elections/.  ↑
2.  Babylonian Talmud, B’rachot 55a. ↑
3. Mishnah Avot 3:2. ↑
4. Rashbam to Exodus 23:3 ↑
5. The remainder of the resolution is largely drawn from https://www.democracyprinciples.org/ where the CCAR has signed on to the declaration of democratic principles. ↑
6. https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/civil-liberties-1889-1972/ ↑
7.  https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/first-amendment-rights-1996/ ↑
8. https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/freedom-of-the-press-1889-1972/ ↑
9. https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/free-exercise-of-religion-and-the-religious-freedom-restoration-act-of-1991/ ↑
10. https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/free-and-accessible-elections/ ↑

April 18, 2024

Since the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Association in 2022, a concerted religiously-motivated effort to narrow and eliminate access to abortion, sexual health resources, sex education, and reproductive healthcare in the U.S. increasingly threatens the values of self-determination, health, and religious freedom that Reform Jews hold paramount.^[1] The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the Women’s Rabbinic Network (WRN) jointly issue this resolution as a clarion call to reaffirm our commitment to reproductive and sexual health care^[2] as a matter of church-state separation.

The Reform Movement has long opposed government interference with the reproductive rights of all individuals, particularly women and pregnant people, including the poor, minors, queer^[3] people, and women of color, who are disproportionately affected by attacks on reproductive rights across the United States.^[4] These attacks are religiously motivated and seek to elevate the restrictions of one faith over the religious teachings of others, including Judaism. As CCAR leadership recently argued, “Reform rabbis do not ask that Jewish law be enshrined in the laws of the United States or any state. We demand, however, that individuals in this free country be permitted to make their own choice” with regard to their reproductive health and capacities.^[5] As the WRN asserts, “People who have the physical power to create, nurture, and give life also have the power to decide when and if it is the right time to do so.”^[6]

Halachah (Jewish law) recognizes abortion as a legitimate and necessary form of basic health care for people at all stages of their reproductive capacity. Judaism has long affirmed that the rights and protections of personhood arrive at birth, not sooner.^[7] Only after delivery is a human classified as person, and even during the birthing process, the life and health of the pregnant person remains a priority.^[8]

Even our ancient Sages, who knew nothing of the broad reproductive technologies that today allow self-determination, informed choice, and medical assistance in sexual and reproductive life, found the mental and physical health of a pregnant person important. They allowed forms of contraception, particularly in the case of the most vulnerable.^[9] Our Reform Movement considers “maternal anguish” legitimate grounds for abortion.^[10] Additionally, experts like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists note that abortion is crucial to the health of child bearers and is necessitated by common challenges like “contraceptive failure, barriers to contraceptive use and access, rape, incest, intimate partner violence, fetal anomalies, illness during pregnancy, and exposure to teratogenic,” that is, medications that can cause developmental malformations.^[11]

We are deeply alarmed by the increase in so-called “moral” judicial arguments grounded in a narrow interpretation of certain religious beliefs, alongside a trend in decreasing services to women, pregnant people, queer people, and children in favor of legislative and judicial interventions that attempt to grant personhood to embryos and fetuses. Those who oppose the expansion of reproductive rights and the self-determination of pregnant people, with the supportive expertise of medical professionals, often disdain helpful advances and expansions of freedom as “new” and “unprecedented.” We would do well to remember that the systematic exclusion of women, people of color, and queer folks contributed to the restrictions of the past.

The Reform Movement is one of increasing inclusion, honoring the rights of all persons, created in God’s image. We are a movement that opposes sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and racism in all their forms.

Above all, Reform Judaism affirms moral agency. God gives each of us the capacity to make informed Jewish decisions that set the course of our lives. As opposed to anti-abortion religious leaders and politicians who broadly seek to impose their religious restrictions into the private lives of pregnant people, we uphold and seek to protect decisions about whether, when, and how to become a parent as a private, personal decision between the child bearer and their health care provider, and anyone else that person seeks into include in their deliberation, such as their friends, family, and their clergy. The government must not enter these personal deliberations, except to protect safety.

THEREFORE, the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Women’s Rabbinic Network call on our members and the communities we serve in the United States to:

1. Continually affirm the legal right of a pregnant person to make their own informed, medically guided choice to carry or terminate a particular pregnancy, free from government interference; the right to access birth control; and the right to comprehensive, medically accurate, and LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education;
2. Advocate for laws and policies that make medically accurate, religiously unbiased abortion, reproductive health care, and sex education affordable and accessible;
3. Destigmatize abortion by sharing our stories and/or empowering others to share their stories in appropriate forums;
4. Educate ourselves on the status of reproductive care in our states and communities, participating in campaigns to enhance reproductive justice whenever possible;
5. Provide accurate information to those seeking contraception, sex education, and abortion care according to the Reform Jewish values outlined in this resolution;
6. Contact Members of Congress and urge them to support:
   1. the EACH Act, to repeal the Hyde Amendment and eliminate the financial barrier to reproductive care;
   2. the Women’s Health Protection Act, to create a federal safeguard against state bans and restrictions that obstruct or delay access to care; and
   3. the Right to Contraception Act, to codify an individual’s right to access contraception and for healthcare providers to provide them;
7. Support the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would correct the inequality and exclusions of women and people assigned female at birth embedded in U.S. legal precedents.
8. Support state-level efforts that seek to protect and strengthen access to the range of reproductive care services and medically accurate information;
9. Affirm the moral calling of nurses, doctors, and other providers of abortion care, gender-affirming care, and reproductive services, and call for their protection; and
10. Work to ensure access to abortion, gender-affirming care, and reproductive services for those in states impacted by abortion bans and other restrictions on reproductive freedom.^[12]

---

1. While the values underlying this Resolution pertain to all locations in which members of the CCAR serve, the particular concerns expressed herein refer to specific challenges currently facing our colleagues and the communities they serve in the United States. ↑
2. We include in our definition of “reproductive and sexual health care” both endocrinological treatment pertaining to the human biological system regulating hormones and sexual education, which is crucial to understanding one’s own health. ↑
3. We include in our expansive definition of “queer”: transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, lesbian, gay bisexual, and intersex people. ↑
4. For example, the Women of Reform Judaism issued its statement, “Judaism and the Family” in 1965, calling for abortion access before the 1973 landmark case Roe v Wade guaranteed abortion rights, until Roe itself was overturned in 2022: https://www.wrj.org/sites/default/files/WRJ%20R%26S%201965%20Judaism%20and%20the%20Family.pdf. The Central Conference of American Rabbis has adopted resolutions on abortion and reproductive rights in 1967, 1975, and 1980 (see https://www.ccarnet.org/rabbinic-voice/resolution/); on women’s health in 1992 and 1993 (see https://www.ccarnet.org/rabbinic-voice/resolution/); on the medical use of fetal tissue in 1993 (https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/fetal-tissue-medical-use-1993/); and on state restrictions to reproductive care in 1995 (https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/state-restrictions-on-access-to-reproductive-health-services/). The CCAR Resolution, “Affirming Our Commitment to Women’s Rights,” predecessor of this current resolution, was adopted in 2017: https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/affirming-our-commitment-womens-rights/. ↑
5. Rabbi Erica Asch, President, and Rabbi Hara Person, Chief Executive, “Central Conference of American Rabbis Condemns Alabama Supreme Court Ruling on the Status of Embryos,” February 26, 2024. https://www.ccarnet.org/central-conference-of-american-rabbis-condemns-alabama-supreme-court-ruling-on-the-status-of-embryos/ ↑
6. Women’s Rabbinic Network, “Abortion Care Is Health Care. Forcing Someone To Carry A Pregnancy Violates Jewish Law And Constitutional Rights,” June 24, 2022: ↑
7. Sh’mot (Exodus) 21:22–23; Mishnah Arachin 1:4; Mishnah Ohalot 7.6; Y’vamot 69b; Central Conference of American Rabbis, Responsa Committee, “In Vitro fertilization and the Status of the Embryo,” 1997: https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-responsa/rr21-no-5757-2/. ↑
8. Central Conference of American Rabbis, Responsa Committee, “In Vitrofertilization and the Status of the Embryo,” 1997: https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-responsa/rr21-no-5757-2/. ↑
9. Babylonian Talmud, Y’vamot 12b. ↑
10. Central Conference of American Rabbis, Responsa Committee, “Abortion to Save Siblings from Suffering,” 1995:https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-responsa/tfn-no-5755-13-171-176/. We acknowledge that the term “maternal” might better be rendered to include any gestational carrier. ↑
11. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Facts Are Important: Abortion Is Healthcare,” https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/abortion-is-healthcare. ↑
12. For more ways to take action to protect abortion access, please visit the Religious Action Center of the Reform Movement: https://rac.org/blog/path-forward-abortion-resource-guide. ↑

April 18, 2024

Background

In an egregious decision, attempting to enshrine a narrow interpretation of Christian belief into American law, the Alabama Supreme Court in 2024 declared embryos created via in vitro fertilization and stored in a medical facility to be “persons” under the law in a case claiming “wrongful death.” This decision not only violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion, but also decimates a person’s ability, along with their doctor, to make the very personal decision to attempt intervention of reproductive endocrinology in order to have children. The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) opposes this decision as a barrier to both personal choice in reproductive matters and to the accessibility of an important path to parenthood for those who choose it. Endowing embryos with the legal status of personhood is yet another attempt to curb reproductive rights and sexual autonomy.

The Alabama case that sparked consideration of this current resolution alarms us as Reform rabbis, precisely because it threatens access to fertility treatments and harms those seeking to fulfill the mitzvah of p’ru ur’vu, be fruitful and multiply. The Judge granted a ruling of “wrongful death of a minor” in a situation where existing American legal precedents might have better indicated a ruling of “breach of contract.”^[1]

Jewish tradition does not treat human life flippantly and has always sought to balance a major concern for the life and health of a pregnant person with the changes and development that occur between conception and birth. Our rabbinic forebears were no strangers to the notion of competing obligations and values. The sages carefully considered the need to balance pikuach nefesh, the preservation of life, especially in the case of a pregnant person, with both the uniqueness of potential life and the obligation of p’ru ur’vu, “be fruitful and multiply.” As the CCAR has recently asserted, “[o]ur Talmudic sages understood that an embryo had the potential to grow into a person and also held the potential of not developing.”^[2] People undergoing fertility treatments, including the arduous and often expensive process of in vitro fertilization, know this truth agonizingly well.

Many factors motivate people to seek such treatments. The matter is of particular, but by no means exclusive, concern to hopeful parents who identify as LGBTQ+. As rabbis who provide pastoral care to people in complex medical situations, we are well acquainted with the heartbreak that sometimes leads to seeking out and undergoing fertility treatments. Our understanding and compassion for people in this situation is informed by the powerful emotions surrounding childbearing in the Hebrew Bible, as when Rachel says to Jacob, “Give me children or I shall die!” (Genesis 30:1). With each treatment and with each menstrual cycle, people risk having their hopes of becoming parents dashed; to treat embryos as “legal persons” does nothing to alleviate this risk or its attendant suffering.

Worse, the consequences of the Alabama Supreme Court’s February 2024 decision have already proved devastating for both patients seeking to receive fertility treatment and their medical care providers. Dr. Mamie McLean of Alabama Fertility Specialists called the ruling “truly a nightmare,” adding, “There is no question fewer babies will be born because of this ruling.”^[3] Conflating embryos, particularly embryos created and stored outside a human womb, with “persons” effectively imposes one narrow religious view on all those who seek fertility treatment in states where such a definition rules. It privileges the religious restrictions of one faith over the positive guidelines of others, including Judaism. Were this to become a trend, it could threaten reproductive and sexual health treatments of many kinds; as fertility professional Dr. Lora Shahine wonders, “If embryos are children… Is it harmful to freeze them? Biopsy them? Is an embryologist responsible if an embryo doesn’t survive a thaw? Is a doctor or patient responsible if an embryo doesn’t implant?”^[4]

Further, this case presents religiously coded language in ways that violate the First Amendment rights of Jews and other folks whose religion, if they have one, differs from that of the judges in the case. In a concurring opinion, for example, Chief Justice Tom Parker explicitly argues that his is a religious and a so-called “moral” decision, not a legal one, citing Christian theologians and arguing that “even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his [sic] glory.”^[5]

The Reform Movement has long supported fertility treatments, including both the creation and the necessary destruction of embryos via in vitro fertilization; for example, in a 1999 Responsum, “In Vitro Fertilization and the Status of the Embryo,” our colleagues found that “[a] human embryo or zygote is, like the fetus, a potential but not a legal person, and there is no explicit Jewish legal prohibition against its destruction.”^[6] The Rabbis of the Talmud distinguish between a fetus in the womb and one in the process of being born; all the more so, modern halachists (scholars of Jewish law) argue that an embryo outside the womb cannot be considered a “fetus,” and therefore possesses a lesser legal status. For example, while it is permitted to violate the laws of Shabbat in order to save the life (pikuach nefesh) of a pregnant person, the Talmud sees the life of a fetus as “in doubt.”^[7] Contemporary halachists rule that one may not violate Shabbat to save an embryo that has not yet implanted in the uterus.^[8]

No one seeking to become a parent through fertility treatments should suffer the wanton and nonconsensual destruction of embryos created from their own or their agents’ biological materials. It is these vulnerable people, including queer folks who cannot otherwise pursue their desire to become biological parents, who will be harmed if other judges and lawmakers follow this dangerous case. However, to claim that the destruction of an embryo amounts to the destruction of a legal person only serves to limit reproductive and sexual autonomy and ultimately to limit successful fertility treatments.^[9]

Reform rabbis have approached IVF and other reproductive technologies as welcome aids to those struggling with infertility who want to become parents. We view reproductive endocrinological intervention to treat infertility as a “legitimate medical therapy, offering realistic hope to many who seek to build families.” Furthermore, we permit the discarding of unused embryos that occurs through the process, both because Jewish law does not grant legal personhood until birth, and because any requirement to preserve zygotes or embryos indefinitely places such an undue burden that it would effectively render many fertility treatments impossible.^[10]

Therefore, the Central Conference of American Rabbis calls on its members to:

1. Demand that individuals in the United States be permitted to make their own choices regarding in vitro fertilization and other reproductive technologies;
2. Wherever possible, support the employees of institutions we serve who seek fertility treatment; for example, with lenient medical leave policies to allow for frequent treatments;
3. Offer pastoral support to those who are impacted by this ruling;
4. Teach traditional and contemporary Jewish legal approaches to abortion and the status of embryos and fetuses.
5. Contact our elected officials to object this and similar decisions or policies, and work to pass legislation affirming that frozen embryos are not legal persons; and
6. Advocate that the United States Supreme Court overturn the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision in Le Page v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, P.C.

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1. Riese, “Alabama’s Anti-IVF Ruling Quotes God To Conclude Embryos Are People […],” February 24, 2024, https://www.autostraddle.com/alabama-ivf-ruling-embryos-are-people/. ↑
2. Rabbi Erica Asch, President, and Rabbi Hara Person, Chief Executive, “Central Conference of American Rabbis Condemns Alabama Supreme Court Ruling on the Status of Embryos,” 26 February, 2024. https://www.ccarnet.org/central-conference-of-american-rabbis-condemns-alabama-supreme-court-ruling-on-the-status-of-embryos/. ↑
3. Dr. Mamie McLean, Op-Ed: “Alabama Supreme Court ruling ‘truly a nightmare’ for doctors and patients,” https://www.al.com/opinion/2024/02/guest-opinion-alabama-supreme-court-ruling-truly-a-nightmare-for-doctors-and-patients.html. ↑
4. Dr Lora Shahine Instagram  ↑
5. Le Page v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, P.C., Supreme Court of Alabama, February 16, 2024, https://law.justia.com/cases/alabama/supreme-court/2024/sc-2022-0579.html. ↑
6. Central Conference of American Rabbis, Responsa Committee, “In Vitro fertilization and the Status of the Embryo,” 1997: https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-responsa/rr21-no-5757-2/. ↑
7. Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 85b. ↑
8. See also ibid. and CCAR Responsa Committee, “Human Stem Cell Research,” 2001: https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-responsa/nyp-no-5761-7/. ↑
9. We are reminded that laws seeking to limit abortion and define life as at conception (even if that conception be outside of the womb) harm not only those who seek to end a pregnancy, but harm those who seek to have healthy pregnancies. See CCAR and WRN Resolution Affirming Commitment to Broad, Accessible Reproductive and Sexual Health Care ↑
10. Ibid. ↑

 

March 10, 2024

Background

Current data from the American Library Association (ALA) reflects an alarming trend: the highest number of attempts to ban books from US public libraries since the organization began recording such data more than twenty years ago,^[1] and efforts to ban books are on the rise in Canada too.^[2] Book bans aim to narrow and limit access to a diverse range of information, voices, and views. In our current moment, LGBTQ+ stories are most often targeted, with six out of the top ten books challenged in 2022 featuring positive depictions of diverse sexual and gender identities.

Titles like the graphic novel Maus, which teaches honestly about the Shoah (Holocaust), and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, continue to appear on lists of books that activists seek to ban, sometimes successfully. Nearly sixty percent of these public library challenges originate from parents and patrons who are neither educators nor librarians. In 2022, only three percent of book challenges originated with teachers, and organizations like the National Educational Association, note that teachers face personalized harassment and discrimination for their overwhelming opposition to book bans.^[3]

Between January 1 and August 23, 2023, the ALA documented more than 695 challenges to at least 1,915 distinct titles, overwhelmingly authors and works that positively present LGBTQ+, Black, brown, Indigenous, and Jewish themes, people, and communities. Texas, Florida, and Virginia lead the nation in both the number of attempts at censorship and the number of titles targeted; they are among the eleven US states to report more than one hundred challenged books per state in the period between January and August 2023.^[4] Spurred on by extremist organizations which “have advanced the proposition that the voices of the marginalized have no place on library shelves,” individuals have turned not only to established public processes that govern public libraries, but to “intimidation and threats.”^[5]

Book bans often represent attempts to erase vulnerable individuals and communities—and to silence marginalized voices—which has happened to Jews repeatedly throughout history. Educator, writer, and advocate Emily Style, founder of the inclusive curriculum approach, emphasizes the importance of people’s access to works that can serve as both “windows” and “mirrors:” snapshots into lives different from our own, as well as depictions that validate our realities.^[6] Style writes, “All students deserve a curriculum which mirrors their own experience back to them, upon occasion—thus validating it in the public world of the school. But curricula must also insist upon the fresh air of windows into the experience of others—who also need and deserve the public validation of the school curriculum.”^[7]

The Mishnah, among the earliest of rabbinic interpretations of Jewish values, presents many well-known advocates for broad access to learning. For example, Ben Zoma teaches, “Who is wise? One who learns from every person.”^[8]

Our classical rabbinic sages notably demonstrated that they valued diverse viewpoints by including minority opinions in our sacred texts. These perspectives, rejected in their own time, continue to be studied, and the sages recognized that minority opinions might even be adopted in practice in the future.^[9] Suppressing disfavored voices endangers both the fullness of our perspective and the ability to pivot, change, and grow. As the ALA articulates, “Book bans result in the suppression of history and distortion of readers’ understanding of the world around them.”^[10] Jewish views align with the ALA’s longstanding Library Bill of Rights, first adopted in 1939, which declares, “Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.”^[11]

Young Reform Movement leader Cameron Samuels, Co-Founder of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas and former NFTY Vice President of Engagement and Inclusion, testified before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in September 2023, arguing, “Students deserve to be active decision-makers in our daily experiences as we attend class. The actions of one person alone, challenging a book in a school library, should not burden and restrict the education of 90,000 students in my district without due process.”^[12]

Therefore, the Central Conference of American Rabbis resolves to oppose book bans in all their insidious forms, by:

1. Speaking and writing in public fora to oppose book bans;
2. Attesting to and advocating for the vital role of public libraries, including public school libraries, in providing diverse reading and resource options;
3. Testifying against book bans at meetings of local, state, and federal governmental bodies, including but not limited to library boards, school boards, legislatures, and Congress;
4. Joining with a broad diversity of faith leaders who oppose book bans by raising a collective interfaith voice in opposition to efforts to ban books and resources; and
5. Including in Reform Jewish community events and resources, books and resources targeted by those who would ban books, for example, by teaching from these books when illustrating Jewish values, or by placing selected banned and targeted titles in our institutions’ libraries.^[13]

---

1. American Library Association, Book Ban Data Website, October 2023, https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/book-ban-data. ↑
2. Jessica Wong, “Calls to ban books are on the rise in Canada. So is the opposition to any bans,” CBC News, February 21, 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7106913 ↑
3. ALA News, “American Library Association reports record number of demands to censor library books and materials in 2022,” February 2023, https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/03/record-book-bans-2022 ↑
4. ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/book-ban-data ↑
5. ALA News, “The American Library Association opposes widespread efforts to censor books in U.S. schools and libraries,” November 2021, https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2021/11/american-library-association-opposes-widespread-efforts-censor-books-us ↑
6. Emily Style, “Curriculum As Window and Mirror,” first published in Listening for All Voices, Oak Knoll School monograph, Summit, NJ, 1988, accessed via National Seed Project, October 2023, https://nationalseedproject.org/Key-SEED-Texts/curriculum-as-window-and-mirror ↑
7. Ibid. ↑
8. Pirkei Avot 4.1. ↑
9. Mishnah Eduyot 1:5. ↑
10. Association of Jewish Libraries, Statement on Censorship and Banning Books, October 2022, https://jewishlibraries.org/ajl-statement-on-censorship-and-banning-books/ ↑
11. ALA, “Library Bill of Rights,” June 19, 1939; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; January 29, 2019. Affirmed January 23, 1996. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill ↑
12. Cameron Samuels, Witness Testimony before US Senate Judiciary Committee, 12 September, 2023, Published on Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism’s website, https://rac.org/blog/witness-testimony-book-bans-examining-how-censorship-limits-liberty-and-literature ↑
13. There are several organizations that track book bans, along with the ALA. The collection of this data is a crucial aspect of intellectual freedom, as attempts to censor, redact, and restrict access to books in libraries can take many forms. See the ALA’s list of top books banned in 2022 at https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10. In addition, consider including so-called controversial Jewish books, like The Purim Superhero, in your community’s libraries. ↑

February 15, 2024

Background

We are a people for whom history endures. As students of history, we recognize that the past shapes our identity and our values. Looking back, we celebrate joyful moments, but do not hesitate to grapple with the dark and painful ones. As a Jewish people, we have lived in many different places throughout history—in the Land of Israel and in diaspora. We have both impacted and been influenced by each place and era in which we have lived. Like the Israelites carrying the shards of the broken tablets alongside the unbroken tablets of the commandments,^[1] we carry the difficult and even shameful moments of our history and the histories of the lands in which we dwell with us as we journey into the future.

Torah is the foundational story of the Jewish people. We see our destiny in Torah, and we embrace an obligation to honor and remember the whole story. We include our triumphs and failures, blessings and curses, finding wisdom in each episode. Our ritual of reading through the entire Torah each year encourages us to face difficult memories of our past and how they have contributed to defining the Jewish—and, more broadly, the human—experience.

This honest confrontation with our history is clearest when facing our people’s gravest sins. The Book of Lamentations teaches that our people suffered the destruction of the First Temple as a punishment for departing from God’s way. Nevertheless, Lamentations concludes with optimism. Acts of t’shuvah, repentance, lead us back to a life of conviction, wherein we can reconnect with our heritage and God to feel as empowered as we were when at the height of our spiritual strength.^[2] The Book of Lamentations invokes a harsh lesson of failure to hasten reflection and repair.

Our rabbinic sages also emphasize the imperative to learn from our failures in their recollection of the Bar Kochba revolt against Roman rule in second century Judea. The Rabbis portray Bar Kochba, the self-proclaimed messiah, as being destructive and irrational, falling victim to delusions of grandeur and paranoia. Although he attains praise for his strength and bravery, improper judgment leads to his downfall, and ultimately, brings about great suffering to the Jewish people.^[3] 

These purposeful teachings are at the forefront of our thoughts as we confront contemporary attitudes toward American history and how we empower future generations to ensure the well-being of our country.

In 2022, the College Board proposed a multidisciplinary Advanced Placement African American Studies curriculum. The Florida Department of Education subsequently rejected the proposed curriculum. The College Board then resubmitted its curriculum, stripping certain materials from qualified authors and academics who teach subjects such as the Movement for Black Lives, reparations theory, the queer experience, and Black feminism.

This approach is not unique to Florida, as other states and communities contemplate similar avenues to discard crucial historical milestones and perspectives. We find the attitudes behind this censorship discriminatory, contrary to our values of fully comprehending our nation’s history. Those who make these objections to the curriculum in this manner claim to be removing incidents that draw shame upon our country. However, the omission of these stories is an erasure of painful moments of the past from which we can learn to shape a better and more just future.

Often, voices lifting these painful moments come from members of marginalized communities who have had to fight for human dignity in our nation. Facing embarrassing periods of injustice and cruelty—whether mass murder and dispossession of Native American Indians, slavery and Jim Crow, quotas limiting minority students in higher education, gender inequality, or discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans—grants us opportunities to appreciate the fullness of the American story. We acknowledge a great deal of discomfort in this confrontation with history. The American journey has included grievous sins, some of which leave scars that have yet to heal and wounds that repeatedly reopen in a divisive political atmosphere. Appreciating the truth of the American experience can build our resilience as citizens concerned for our nation’s future. Exposure to moments of shame ensures continuity for the American experiment, proof of our attention to the past, as well as our commitment to build a better future.

WHEREAS some American political leaders and their supporters are deeply engaged in an effort to suppress voices of members of marginalized communities who seek to share the truth that they have had to fight for human dignity in our nation; and

WHEREAS no person, nor any nation, is unblemished; and

WHEREAS the study of history is a core Jewish value (zachor, remembrance); and

WHEREAS public education should allow students to engage vulnerable and historically oppressed peoples from a variety of viewpoints and perspectives, primarily from their own voice;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Central Conference of American Rabbis:

Supports access to a variety of public-school instruction without politically motivated governmental intrusion; and

1. Calls upon governmental entities to cease attempting to indoctrinate students by erasing or downplaying some of America’s greatest flaws; and
2. Demands that American history be taught in its fullness, with attention given to the work of qualified academics and historians, significantly including members of historically marginalized communities.

^[1] Bava Batra 14b.

^[2] Lamentations 5:21.

^[3] Richard G. Marks, The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature: False Messiah and National Hero (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994), 35.

 

February 20, 2023

Jewish tradition acknowledges and honors gender diversity as inherent in Creation. The very first human being was created as a singular individual in order to emphasize the equality, uniqueness, and infinite value of each and every human being (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). This same first human being themself represents gender diversity, for Rabbi Jeremiah taught that this earth-creature was an androgynos, a person whose gender exceeds the binary definitions “male or female” (B’reishit Rabbah 8:1). It is our holy obligation to nurture and nourish each sacred human being, in all our diverse expressions and experiences of gender.

In keeping with the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ ongoing work to safeguard the rights of every person, the CCAR adopted a resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals in 2015.^[1] As transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people in North America face increasingly legislated hostility and discrimination that threaten their/our lives, rights, mental and physical health, dignity, and existence, a renewed commitment is needed to educate and advocate in opposition to these dangerous measures, as we create and sustain communities in which gender diversity can thrive.

In 2022 alone, more than three hundred anti-transgender bills were introduced, passed, or debated in US state legislatures.^[2] Using a strategy employed by homophobic activists since the 1970s, these harmful bills claim, in rhetoric, to “protect children.” In practice, they harm trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse folks of all ages and stages. They have a disproportionate and potentially catastrophic effect on trans children and adolescents.

These laws target transgender people in various aspects of life. For example, at least eighteen states^[3] have adopted measures banning trans individuals from playing sports in accordance with their gender identity. Four states have enacted terrifying restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans people, criminalizing parents who help their children access lifesaving and dignity-affirming treatment. Some proposed policies threaten to force school staff members to “out” a young person to hostile, anti-trans parents. LGBTQ+ rights advocates decry these bills as forms of “government-mandated conversion therapy—forcing youth to live as their assigned sex and deny their trans identity.”^[4]

Anti-trans legislation represents an existential threat to the health, lives, dignity, and well-being of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people, including Reform rabbis and all of the communities we serve. This legislation contradicts the well-documented and well-researched current best practices of virtually every North American and international professional medical and mental health organization that works with LGBTQ+ individuals, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Family Practice, and the Endocrine Society.^[5]

These attacks threaten the most vulnerable among us and challenge our Reform Jewish values. Their consequences are alarming—including the appalling murder rates of transgender people and the high rates of suicidal ideation and suicide among trans youth.^[6] By contrast, we know that an affirmative, proactive encouragement of gender diversity can make a positive difference. A 2016 study from the University of Washington and published in Pediatrics promisingly found that gender nonconforming children aged three to twelve who were raised in socially affirming families showed lower rates of depression and anxiety, with rates trending toward those of their gender-conforming peers.^[7] Furthermore, a 2023 multicenter study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that transgender and nonbinary youth ages twelve to twenty who received gender affirming hormone therapy experienced increased positive affect and life experiences and decreased depression and anxiety.[8]

With the gender-diversity-affirming texts of our tradition and the CCAR’s longtime commitment to the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people, Reform Rabbis must be among those voices.

Therefore, the Central Conference of American Rabbis resolves to take the following steps and encourages CCAR members and the communities we serve to:

1. Renew advocacy for the adoption of the Equality Act at the US federal level, which would make both sexual orientation and gender identity protected classes;
2. Oppose^[9] proposed and enacted discriminatory legislation and local policies that threaten the health, safety, and lives of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people and that criminalize gender-affirming educational practices and medical care;
3. Lead in protecting transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people—especially youth—from harm by teaching, preaching, and speaking about gender diversity in Jewish tradition and threats to that diversity in public policy;
4. Follow the most up-to-date best practices of the CCAR with regard to gender-inclusive language in prayer, lifecycle ritual,^[10] communal membership, and other areas of Jewish life;
5. Educate community leaders about the binary and gendered nature of the Hebrew language and of many of our sacred texts, and learn about the emerging field^[11] of gender inclusion in Hebrew;
6. Work with our partners at the Union of Reform Judaism, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, congregations, and all other places where CCAR rabbis serve to ensure broad access to gender-affirming facilities, including restrooms, camp bunks, and signage; and
7. Model the regular inclusion of gender diversity in Jewish community and invite the sharing of pronouns—especially by cisgender leaders—without requiring others to do so. We understand that visibility and being “out” must not be imposed upon those who are vulnerable but available as an opportunity.

^[1] See our previous resolution at https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/rights-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-indiv/.

^[2] The Human Rights Campaign reported these statistics in a year in which the state legislature of Texas was not in session; therefore advocacy organizations like the Religious Action Center predict more such bills to be introduced during this year’s legislative session. See also 2023 predictions from the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Campaign, and Transathlete.

^[3] A pernicious aspect of these policies and measures is their passage by extra-legislative measures, such as gubernatorial action or school board and other local policies.

^[4] Chase Strangio and Raquel Willis, “Visibility Alone Will Not Keep Transgender Youth Safe” (The Nation, March 20, 2021).

^[5] For example, a 2021 statement by AAP President Dr. Lee Savio Beers warns that half of transgender youth consider suicide, and one third actually attempt it, continuing, “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that youth who identify as transgender have access to comprehensive, gender-affirming, and developmentally appropriate health care that is provided in a safe and inclusive clinical space. We also recommend that playing on sports teams helps youth develop self-esteem, correlates positively with overall mental health, and appears to have a protective effect against suicide.” (press release, “American Academy of Pediatrics Speaks Out Against Bills Harming Transgender Youth,” March 16, 2021).

^[6] The Human Rights Campaign named 2021 the “deadliest year” for the violent murders of transgender and other gender nonconforming people, and they linked the increase in such murders to the increasing number of anti-trans bills in state legislatures (press release, “2021 Becomes Deadliest Year on Record for Transgender and Non-Binary People,” September 9, 2021). The American Medical Association called violence against those whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth to be an “epidemic,” and the anti-gun violence group Everytown noted that transgender people are more than 2.5 times more likely than cisgender people to experience violence (C. Mandler, “Murders of trans people nearly doubled over past four years, and Black trans women are most at risk, report finds,” CBS News, October 13, 2022).

^[7] Deborah Bach, “Transgender Children Supported in Their Identities Show Positive Mental Health” (Washington University press release, February 26, 2016).

[8] Chen et al., Psychosocial Functioning in Transgender Youth after Two Years of Hormones, NEJM, 2023; 388:240–250.

^[9] Our partners at the Religious Action Center have helpful resources on this urgent issue in their “Urgency of Now” campaign at https://rac.org/issues/lgbtq-equality/urgency-now-transgender-rights-campaign.

^[10] For example, we urge our colleagues to study the soon-to-be-released guidelines on inclusive language and approaches to bet mitzvah, a gender-inclusive term for Jewish coming-of-age rituals and preparation programs. For individual ceremonies and children, the CCAR continues to endorse the use of whatever term is most meaningful to the child or person undergoing this ritual (e.g. bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, bet mitzvah, b’rit mitzvah, b. mitzvah, etc.).

^[11] The Non-Binary Hebrew Project (www.nonbinaryhebrew.org) provides practical guides for applying new language in Jewish communal life.

February 2, 2023

Background

The Uyghurs are an ethnic Turkic minority group with a population of 12.8 million living in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The majority of Uyghurs are Muslims. For over a decade, Chinese authorities have increasingly engaged in oppressive restrictions of Uyghur religious, cultural, and family life and practices, as well as growing restrictions of the Uyghurs’ basic human and political rights. In 2017, the Chinese government escalated its assault on the Uyghurs by building a vast network of at least 300 detention centers in Xinjiang and arbitrarily imprisoning Uyghur Muslims.[1] Aided by surveillance tracking systems[2], China has detained as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, the largest mass internment of an ethnic-religious minority group since World War II.[3]

Human rights groups, reliable journalism, and Canadian and U.S. annual reports on human rights and religious freedom attest to a panoply of severe and systematic human rights violations,[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] involving surveillance (including numerous instances of placing Chinese representatives in the homes of Uyghur families);[10] repression of Uyghur religious practices including enforced restrictions of dress (such as banning beards and head coverings like the hijab),[11] forcing restaurants to remain open during Ramadan,[12] and the destruction or damage of over 9,000 mosques in Xinjiang;[13] political indoctrination; physical and sexual abuse; sexual violence including rape and sexual assault;[14] torture; forced internment; forced labor;[15] forced separation of families; and reproductive violence and coercion, including coerced sterilization, contraception, and abortion.[16] U.N. human rights experts have also received credible information about alleged organ harvesting.[17]

The Uyghurs have also been forced to take factory jobs both inside and outside of the detention camps, which, in addition to the human rights violations inherent in such forced labor, serves as a form of cultural erasure: Chinese authorities utilize factory labor to assimilate Uyghur Muslims to the mindset and discipline of the Han majority culture.[18] Uyghur forced labor is used to produce cotton, textiles, yarn, polysilicon (used in solar panel manufacturing), tomato products, hair products, gloves, and fish. Due to the inconsistent tracking of goods produced with forced labor at various points in the production process, Uyghur forced labor is now believed to be inextricably linked with many, if not all, products that come from Xinjiang.[19]

The bipartisan 2021 American Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act established the “rebuttable presumption” that all goods from Xinjiang are produced with forced labor and bans the importation of these goods. The act, which took effect on June 21, 2022, prevents tainted goods from entering American markets. Due to the types of products manufactured in Xinjiang (such as cotton, tomato products, and solar panels) as well as penultimate step products that China’s trading partners use in finished products (Xinjiang is rich in critical minerals including gold, iron, zinc, chrome, nickel, copper, molybdenum, and tungsten, as well as fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas),[20] [21] rigorous enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and international adoption of similar anti-forced labor laws are needed.[22]

The Chinese government has, with intentionality, taken numerous steps to disrupt the Uyghur populace’s abilities to have families and raise children. In 2020, a leaked Chinese document called the Karakax List (named for Qaraqash County in Hotan Prefecture) detailed reasons for the detention of 484 Uyghurs. The most common reason (in 149 cases) was having had too many children.[23] [24] [25] Data comparing Uyghur birth rates in Xinjiang with national Chinese averages is shocking, showing steep declines in the Uyghur birth rate. Between 2015 and 2018, population growth in Kashgar and Hotan, two areas of Xinjiang mostly populated by Uyghurs, fell 84 percent. This has been accomplished in part by forced sterilizations and forced implementation of IUDs. In 2014, slightly over 200,000 IUDs were used in Xinjiang; by 2018, almost 330,000 IUDs were placed, an increase of over 60 percent.[26] Some Uyghur women have been forcibly and irreversibly sterilized and have given harrowing accounts of what happened to them, including but not limited to being subjected to both sexual violence and reproductive violence.[27] [28] The Chinese government’s own documents about “Free Technical Family Planning Services to Farmers and Pastoralists” suggests the campaign’s goal is to sterilize all women with three or more children and a percentage of women with one or two children; the project has enough funds to sterilize almost 200,000 or 12 percent of all married Uyghur women aged 18 to 49 in southern Xinjiang.[29]

In addition to the instances of reproductive violence, forced sterilization, and forced implementation of IUDs,[30] hundreds of thousands of children have been separated from their families. When Uyghur parents are detained or arrested, their children are often forcibly placed in orphanages or state boarding schools, even when relatives have offered to care for the children. Some of the children’s accounts from the state-run boarding schools include physical punishment, indoctrination, stress positions, prohibitions on speaking their native language, and solitary confinement—any and all of which can cause significant trauma, especially to a child.[31] [32]  In all these cases, the children are deprived of and sometimes punished for observing their own culture and religion, thus jeopardizing the future of the Uyghurs and their historic culture.

Chinese surveillance of the Uyghurs, absolute control over state media, and the government’s efforts to hide the internment camps severely limit the world’s ability to fully investigate what is happening to the Uyghurs. Further, it is increasingly difficult for Uyghurs to flee China.[33] Even if Uyghurs are able to leave, Chinese authorities threaten them or harm their family members still in China if they speak critically of the Chinese government.[34] The Chinese government has cut off contact between Uyghurs in China and their family members abroad. Those few Uyghurs who have both escaped from China and are willing to risk speaking out have confirmed the pattern and practice of inhumane abuses described herein. By testifying, the survivors give voice to the tortured and abused, providing insight into the extent of the harm and the immediate and long-term impact of such trauma. As one survivor stated, “[…] I am already a walking corpse, my soul and heart are dead.”[35]

The term genocide was coined by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin[36] after horrific details of the Nazis’ Final Solution came to light, to convey the systematic extermination of a people. Genocide combines the Greek genos for “race” and the Latin cide for “killing.”[37] The U.N. Genocide Convention, which has been ratified by both the United States and Canada, declares that genocide is a crime under international law and that sovereign nations must stop the atrocity of genocide from ever happening again. Article II of the Convention defines genocide as

… any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.[38]

Killing, the first and most common instrument of action that signals intent to destroy a group, has been committed by the Chinese against the Uyghurs, albeit not on the scale of many other widely recognized genocides. However, the other four criteria do reflect documented Chinese government practices that are continuing to occur and are clear enough that the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic have formally determined China’s treatment of the Uyghurs to be genocide, as has an independent tribunal in the United Kingdom. [39] [40] The Chinese government has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that it is fighting “three evil forces” of separatism, terrorism, and extremism in Xinjiang.[41] The Chinese government has also refused to allow any independent entities, human rights experts, or international authorities into Xinjiang to investigate.[42]

This issue has deep resonance for the Jewish communities of the U.S. and Canada. Throughout history, Jews have been the victims of persecution, repression, and ethnic cleansing. Tragically, at certain times in history, these efforts constituted genocidal attempts to destroy us. Every Passover, we recall the story of the Exodus from Egypt, how the tyrant Pharaoh, fearing the size and power of the Hebrews, forced the Hebrews into slavery and then ordered all Jewish baby boys to be drowned in the Nile. We recall the “Ten Lost Tribes” of Israel. The holiday of Purim commemorates yet another genocidal attempt to destroy the Jewish people. The Jews of the Soviet Union faced decades of cultural genocide efforts. And there are those still among us who lived through the Shoah, one of the most heinous tragedies of history. In our family trees, we trace the names of those who were murdered as the world looked away. In history classes and educational lectures, people study the Shoah: how antisemitic attitudes became antisemitic actions, how prejudices and stereotypes became violence and destruction, how hatred hardened into genocide.

Our commitment against genocide remains strong both in our understanding of our tradition and in the power of the historic lessons of what happens when, literally, good people stand idly by the blood of their neighbor.[43] That is the spirit in which we address what our nation, our Movement, our congregations, and individual Reform Jews can and must do for the Uyghurs.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS:

1. Declares that the extent of the Chinese government’s relentless actions against the Uyghurs cannot be explained by anything other than an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, an ethnic or religious group;
2. Concludes, based upon the definition above, that the Chinese government and those acting on its behalf are perpetrating genocide against the Uyghurs;
3. Rejects racist and/or broad-brushed characterizations that hold the Chinese people, as distinguished from the Chinese government, responsible;
4. Identifies as a friend and ally of the Uyghur communities in the United States, Canada, China, and elsewhere;
5. Urges the U.S. and Canadian governments to act to aid the Uyghurs and hold responsible those perpetrating genocide, including but not limited to:
   1. Facilitating the expedited immigration of Uyghur refugees and other persecuted minorities to safe harbor here in the United States and Canada;
   2. Imposing sanctions that include barring perpetrators from entry into the United States and Canada, and/or prohibiting them from materially benefitting from their actions;
   3. Prohibiting import of products that use or incorporate, in whole or in part, Uyghur forced labor;
   4. Encouraging additional countries, including Israel, to carefully study and evaluate what the Chinese government is doing to the Uyghurs so that they can make their own such determinations of genocide, and to take similar actions to support the Uyghurs;
   5. Encouraging the U.N., especially the U.N. Human Rights Council and the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, to continue pressuring the Chinese government to allow a full, comprehensive, and unhindered investigation into the Chinese government’s activities in Xinjiang; and
   6. Encouraging the International Criminal Court, the International Justice Tribunal, and other supra-national judicial bodies as well as domestic and international human rights organizations to seek and advance justice on behalf of the Uyghurs;
6. Urges CCAR Members and the communities they serve to engage in the following courses of action to assist the Uyghurs, including but not limited to:
   1. 1. Raising awareness of the Uyghur genocide;
   1. Working with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) to take action and discover and share ways to help the Uyghurs;
   2. Partnering with Uyghur community members and groups to uplift their voices and center their needs and desires as the Reform Jewish Movement works to help them;
   3. Donating resources to Uyghur organizations and groups, especially those that help advance justice for the Uyghurs and those that teach and/or preserve Uyghur cultural knowledge, traditions, practices, language, and expression;
   4. Supporting Uyghur emigration to and resettlement in the United States and Canada through their synagogues or in partnership with HIAS or other refugee organizations;
7. Endorses the intention of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) to research and pursue avenues for advocacy that help the Uyghurs, including but not limited to:
   1. Researching and supporting legislation that will help the Uyghurs;
   2. Partnering with organizations working to defend Uyghur human rights—be it for programming, information exchange, organizing or activism opportunities, and the like; and
   3. Partnering with Uyghur community members and groups to uplift their voices and center their needs and desires in advocacy work.

[1] The Xinjiang Data Project, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, https://xjdp.aspi.org.au/explainers/exploring-xinjiangs-detention-facilities/.

[2] How a Chinese region that accounts for just 1.5% of the population became one of the most intrusive police states in the world, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/xianjiang-province-china-police-state-surveillance-2018-7.

[3] Global Supply Chains, Forced Labor, and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Congressional-Executive Commission on China Staff Research Report, March 2020, https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Staff%20Report%20March%202020%20-%20Global%20Supply%20Chains%2C%20Forced%20Labor%2C%20and%20the%20Xinjiang%20Uyghur%20Autonomous%20Region.pdf.

[4] The Human Rights Situation of Uyghurs in Xinjiang China, Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-2/FAAE/report-4/page-33.

[5] 2022 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF),  https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/2022%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report_1.pdf

[6] 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China (Includes Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet), U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/china/.

[7] “Like We Were Enemies in a War”: China’s Mass Internment, Torture and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang, Amnesty International, https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/.

[8] China’s Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-repression-uyghurs-xinjiang.

[9] “Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots”: China’s Crimes against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs and Other Turkic Muslims, Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/19/break-their-lineage-break-their-roots/chinas-crimes-against-humanity-targeting#_ftn6.

[10] China’s Nightmare Homestay, Foreign Policy, https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/26/china-nightmare-homestay-xinjiang-uighur-monitor/.

[11] China Uighurs: Xinjiang ban on long beards and veils, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-39460538.

[12] Restaurants Ordered to Remain Open in Xinjiang Amid Ramadan Fast, Radio Free Asia, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/ramadan-05262017080553.html.

[13] Thousands of Xinjiang mosques destroyed or damaged, report finds, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/25/thousands-of-xinjiang-mosques-destroyed-damaged-china-report-finds.

[14] ‘Their goal is to destroy everyone’: Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55794071.

[15] Addressing Forced Labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region: Toward a Shared Agenda, Center for Strategic and International Studies, https://www.csis.org/analysis/addressing-forced-labor-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region-toward-shared-agenda.

[16] Sterilizations, IUDs, and Mandatory Birth Control: The CCP’s Campaign to Suppress Uyghur Birthrates in Xinjiang, The Jamestown Foundation, https://jamestown.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Zenz-Internment-Sterilizations-and-IUDs-REVISED-March-17-2021.pdf?x85091.

[17] Belgium, Czech Republic Legislatures Pass Uyghur Genocide Declarations, Radio Free Asia, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/genocide-declarations-06152021171101.html.

[18] Addressing Forced Labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region: Toward a Shared Agenda, Center for Strategic and International Studies, https://www.csis.org/analysis/addressing-forced-labor-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region-toward-shared-agenda.

[19] Against Their Will: The Situation in Xinjiang, U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/against-their-will-the-situation-in-xinjiang.

[20] Economy of Xinjiang, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Xinjiang/Economy.

[21] China’s Mineral Industry and U.S. Access to Strategic and Critical Minerals: Issues for Congress, Congressional Research Service, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43864.

[22] The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Goes into Effect, Center for Strategic and International Studies, https://www.csis.org/analysis/uyghur-forced-labor-prevention-act-goes-effect#:~:text=In%20December%202021%2C%20Congress%20overwhelmingly,President%20Biden%20on%20December%2023.

[23] China’s Own Documents Show Potentially Genocidal Sterilization Plans in Xinjiang, Foreign Policy, https://foreignpolicy.com./2020/07/01/china-documents-uighur-genocidal-sterilization-xinjiang/.

[24] The Karakax List: Dissecting the Anatomy of Beijing’s Internment Drive in Xinjiang, The Journal of Political Risk.

[25] China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization, Associated Press, https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-international-news-weekend-reads-china-health-269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c.

[26] China’s genocide against the Uyghurs, in 4 disturbing charts, Vox, https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22311356/china-uyghur-birthrate-sterilization-genocide.

[27] Women in Xinjiang shine a light on a campaign of abuse and control by Beijing, CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/asia/xinjiang-sterilization-women-human-rights-intl-hnk/index.html.

[28] “[…] I have no words to describe the inhuman cruelty of the violence, they didn’t just beat me, and they didn’t just satisfy their sexual desires, I remember clearly, they did that to me three times, and once they used those iron bars, electric shock wands. They raped me by inserting iron bars, electric batons, and other equipment into my genitals. I have no way to explain to you exactly what kind of equipment, anyway – it is the same as to pull out your intestines, internal organs. For my own sexual assault, once by them with these electric rods, iron bars and other devices, and three times by them artificial rape. The first time, I was raped by all three of them together. I remember it very clearly. I can’t cry and I can’t die, I must see them pay for this. But I am already a walking corpse, my soul and heart are dead. A young woman was taken out with me at that time, but after she came back, the woman was already delirious, just like crazy, not talking at all, not doing anything, not saying anything. I was taken out a few more times not long afterwards. They were also tortured in the same way. I also realized why the woman’s body was so bruised and battered, just like the skin was torn open by a few dogs. So that’s what they say it was like in there. It was all torture; it was all abuse. It was all inhuman abuse and torture.” Witness Statement: Tursunay Ziyawudun, Uyghur Tribunal, https://uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/05-1400-JUN-21-UTFW-019-Tursunay-Ziyawudun-English.pdf.

[29] China’s Own Documents Show Potentially Genocidal Sterilization Plans in Xinjiang, Foreign Policy, https://foreignpolicy.com./2020/07/01/china-documents-uighur-genocidal-sterilization-xinjiang/.

[30] China’s genocide against the Uyghurs, in 4 disturbing charts, Vox, https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22311356/china-uyghur-birthrate-sterilization-genocide.

[31] Uyghur kids recall physical and mental torment at Chinese boarding schools in Xinjiang, NPR, https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/1073793823/china-uyghur-children-xinjiang-boarding-school.

[32] Uyghur Children Face Legacy of Trauma Caused by Mass Incarceration Campaign, Radio Free Asia, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/children-03222021190834.html.

[33] Written Submission to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Hearing on Refugees Fleeing Religious Persecution, Uyghur Human Rights Project, https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/UHRP Submission to USCIRF Refugee Hearing February 10 2021.docx.pdf.

[34] China Retaliates Against Uighur Activists by Imprisoning Relatives, US Officials Say, Voice of America, https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_voa-news-china_china-retaliates-against-uighur-activists-imprisoning-relatives-us/6201486.html.

[35] Witness Statement: Tursunay Ziyawudun, Uyghur Tribunal, https://uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/05-1400-JUN-21-UTFW-019-Tursunay-Ziyawudun-English.pdf.

[36] The Union for Reform Judaism (previously the Union of Associated Hebrew Congregations, or UAHC) and Raphael Lemkin have a long history together, including UAHC providing Lemkin office space in the 1950s after the UN Genocide Convention was passed. Long after his death, Lemkin’s family entrusted his papers to the Religious Action Center, which turned them over to the American Jewish Archives to be made available to the public. Among his papers was an unpublished survey he was writing of an historical overview of numerous efforts in Chinese history of genocidal actions by authorities.

[37] Genocide, UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml.

[38] Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf.

[39] Belgium, Czech Republic Legislatures Pass Uyghur Genocide Declarations, Radio Free Asia, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/genocide-declarations-06152021171101.html.

[40] China committed genocide against Uyghurs, independent tribunal rules, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59595952.

[41] US: China ‘committed genocide against Uighurs’, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55723522.

[42] China’s Weak Excuse to Block Investigations in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/25/chinas-weak-excuse-block-investigations-xinjiang.

[43] Kedoshim (The Holiness Code), Leviticus 19:16, Sefaria, https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/172297?lang=bi.

Adopted by the CCAR Board
November 3, 2022

Central Conference of American Rabbis 

The Central Conference of American Rabbis is the Reform rabbinic leadership organization that fosters excellence in the Reform Jewish rabbinate. The oldest and largest rabbinic organization in North America, the CCAR strengthens the Jewish community by providing religious, spiritual, ethical, and intellectual leadership and wisdom for the 2,200 rabbis who serve more than two million Reform Jews throughout North America, Israel, and the world. The CCAR’s unique contribution to a continued vibrant Jewish community and Reform Movement lies in its work fostering excellence in Reform rabbis, enhancing unity and connectedness among Reform Jews, applying Jewish values to a contemporary life, and creating a compelling and accessible Judaism for today and the future. 

Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition 

In spring of 2022, CCAR signed on as a founding signatory to the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition (JCLC). The JCLC is a coalition of major Jewish organizations committed to climate action. Each signatory publishes a Climate Action Plan (CAP). Inspired by Jewish values, JCLC members are working to do the Jewish community’s part to mitigate the worst effects of climate change and build a livable future together.   

The Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition uses a nine-point framework for Climate Action Plans. Each year, certain areas may be more impactful or relevant for an organization than others. CAPs are revised annually, and organizations are encouraged to make their goals as robust as possible and build on previous years’ successes.  

1. Primary Energy Use (Quantity) 
2. Renewables 
3. Transportation 
4. Food 
5. Offsets 
6. Education & Celebration 
7. Finance 
8. Advocacy 
9. Resiliency 

Actions Prior to 2023 

The CCAR and its members have a deep commitment to climate. CCAR Press publications have addressed climate change. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, which engages in extensive advocacy, including on the topic of climate change, is a joint instrumentality of the CCAR and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ).   

In May 2022, the CCAR Board adopted a Resolution on the Global Climate Crisis. That resolution, far from the CCAR’s first on the topic, covered the science behind human-caused climate change, key Jewish wisdom informing our response, the intersections between climate change and other forms of oppression, including racism and sexism, the leadership of young people on this issue, and the need for action in a range of concrete ways. That resolution serves as the basis for this JCLC Climate Action Plan.  

CCAR’s operations have seen substantial pivots because of the coronavirus pandemic, including a temporary reduction in travel and in food. As we seek to restore our robust programming and services, we will use 2019 as a baseline against which to measure ourselves.  

Climate Action Plan for 2023   

Summary 

The CCAR’s most significant impact will be in our ability to inspire and engage our members and the communities we serve to advance action on climate.  

1. Primary energy use

CCAR has a relatively small staff, several of whom work remotely, and it utilizes rented office space. The CCAR does not have control over the building’s carbon footprint.  

We will encourage all CCAR members who serve organizations that own their buildings to measure their emissions from direct energy use and to develop mitigation plans as part of their own CAPs.  

While we do not currently have the capacity for a full-scale audit, we will partner with Hazon’s resources and staff support to benchmark our 2018–2019 greenhouse gas emissions from food served at events, where we have control over that, and work-related travel. This will enable us to have a baseline from which to measure future success.  

2. Renewables

See #1 above.   

3. Transportation

During the coronavirus pandemic, we developed creative ways to meet our mission without traveling. We commit to incorporating that learning and making climate impact a factor in evaluating travel post-pandemic.  

Some work-related travel will remain essential to our mission of supporting Reform rabbis. For work-related travel, and for participant travel to conferences, we commit to exploring the possibility of offsetting the climate impact of that travel through purchasing climate offsets when information about the process and cost of doing that becomes available.  

4. Food

The CCAR rarely if ever serves mammalian meat at its own events and conferences, and fowl is only rarely served. Our 2022 resolution calls on all members and their organizations to seek to reduce the amount of animal protein served at events, recognizing conventionally farmed meat’s impact on the climate. Vegetarian meals are always offered on an equal basis with meals that include fish—or, rarely, meat. Meals that also do not include dairy are similarly offered on an equal basis with those that do.   

5. Offsets

See #3 above.  

6. Education & Celebration

CCAR provides support and resources to Reform rabbis across North America and worldwide. We will incorporate climate-related resources into what we offer to rabbis. We will especially seek to offer climate-related materials in advance of holidays. We are prepared to work with Hazon and/or the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assembly and the Rabbinical Assembly, which are also JCLC members, to develop and compile the resources.   

Ideas articulated in our May 2022 Resolution on the Global Climate Crisis include but are not limited to:  

1. Community engagement programs that address key aspects of climate change across lines of difference like race and religion; 
2. A speaker event or series on topics about climate change;
3. A documentary or movie screening and discussion about climate change and what needs to be done; 
4. Hosting a service project or community event, paired with discussion of climate change. 

CCAR Press has lifted the collective rabbinic voice to address climate change in several of its publications, including The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic and The Social Justice Torah Commentary. CCAR Press looks forward to the projected 2023 publication of an anthology devoted to the topic, The Sacred Earth: Jewish Perspectives on Our Planet.  

Additionally, CCAR will play a leadership role in the Reform Movement and in other institutions served by CCAR rabbis. We will work with the URJ, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and our members to encourage and inspire Reform congregations, other Reform-affiliated organizations, and other Jewish organizations led and served by CCAR rabbis to participate in JCLC and develop their own Climate Action Plans. Collectively, the Reform Movement will be able to achieve significant scale and impact with our climate action.   

7. Finance

We are proud that the Reform Pension Board has developed a Reform Jewish Values Stock Fund, which is an option for pension participants. The Reform Jewish Values Stock Fund does not invest in coal stocks and has a positive screen for renewables. We will engage in a campaign to educate our members about the Reform Jewish Values Stock Fund as an option for their consideration.  

8. Advocacy

Through the Religious Action Center (RAC), CCAR already engages in extensive advocacy, including on climate change. This is an area where we take real leadership on behalf of the Jewish community. CCAR’s 2022 Resolution on the Global Climate Crisis highlighted a range of specific advocacy asks of the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch that we as an organization (through the RAC) will pursue and will encourage our members to pursue, including:   

1. Creating incentives for the most egregious greenhouse gas emitters to dramatically reduce the emissions they pump into the atmosphere; 
2. Transitioning to a low- or zero-emission clean, green economy by 2050 or earlier;
3. Incorporating environmental justice into governmental action;
4. Empowering the constituencies most impacted by climate change and centering them and their needs in the process of finding and implementing the best possible solutions to the crisis; 
5. Ensuring that the procurement of necessary materials for a zero-emission economy do not cause or advance unfair or exploitative labor practices, community harms, and/or human rights violations; 
6. Supporting a just transition of fossil fuel workers to meaningful and sustainable employment; 
7. Contacting local, state, and federal level legislators to express concerns about climate change, voicing support for proposed legislation that will help resolve climate change and protect the environment; 
8. Holding the governments of the United States and Canada accountable for our share of the problem, with special regard to our obligations to vulnerable nations experiencing the first and worst effects of climate change.

We will continue to support the RAC to elevate climate as a key issue with direct impact on the Jewish community. We may partner with organizations like Dayenu to support our climate advocacy.   

9. Resiliency

A key piece of resiliency is supporting our CCAR rabbis, in their work to counsel congregants around the climate crisis. The educational resources and events mentioned above will be opportunities to do so. We will seek to weave climate explicitly as a topic into any resources we provide to rabbis around spiritual counseling.