Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Magen David Adom Recognition

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

WHEREAS we, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, recall the principles of religious

independence, freedom of conscience, and equality that form the basis for the work

of the International Red Cross, and

WHEREAS repeated efforts have been made over the years to secure for the Magen David

Adom (Red Shield of David Society) of Israel the same status as is accorded to other

societies and emblems, such as the Red Crescent and the Red Lion, that are recognized

by the Geneva Conventions, and

WHEREAS the Magen David Adom Society of Israel is not yet admitted to the status of

membership in the International Red Cross;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we support the steps that are now being taken to secure

equality of status for the Magen David Adom, and assist the efforts of Operation

Recognition, which are designed to bring about the admission of the Magen David Adom

Society into the International Red Cross.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that since the Magen David Adom Society fulfills nine of the

ten criteria for admission more than adequately, with only the matter of the emblem

keeping it out of the Red Cross family, we look urgently to the competent authorities

and institutions of the International Red Cross to find a way to bring the Magen David

Adom Society into full recognition as a member of the International Red Cross world

family.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

American Joint Distribution Committee

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

WHEREAS for many decades the American Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC) has provided

emergency relief for communities in crisis around the world. and

WHEREAS both Jew and non-Jew alike have been aided in the truest sense of gemilut chasadim

and pikuach nefesh

(righteous action and life-saving principles), and

WHEREAS this past year AJDC has responded immediately to the crises suffered by peoples

in Ethiopia, Mexico, and Columbia, has created a lifeline of supplies and materials,

and has created a Jewish presence in these lands that teaches the world about our

people’s commitment to alleviate suffering and misery,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Central Conference of American Rabbis commends the

AJDC for its efforts throughout the years, and especially that it pay tribute to

the AJDC for its most recent mitzvot

and the great good that these mitzvot

have achieved.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Jewish Unity

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

The unity of the Jewish people is a goal and a value that transcends the details of

Jewish existence and is paramount. It is incumbent upon Jews, and particularly rabbis,

not to let the enemy without, within. Thus was Jerusalem destroyed.

We cherish our Orthodox and Conservative colleagues of the Rabbinical Council and

the Rabbinic Assembly and respect their views and interpretations of the Jewish tradition.

They strive sincerely and effectively to provide rabbinic leadership and inspiration for those Jews who share their views of Jewish belief and practice. However, religion,

by its very nature, is not subject to empirical, objective verification, and thus

it can only flourish in a context of pluralism and mutual respect. No one can claim

to be totally “right,” completely in possession of knowledge of the will of God in

every detail. As strong as is one’s commitment, one just may be wrong, may have missed

a sign. Religious commitment calls for a vast humility.        

We assert that Reform Judaism is as legitimate and full an interpretation of the Jewish

tradition as Orthodoxy and Conservatism. In some seminal ways, Reform is uniquely

a characteristic expression of historic Judaism. The adaptations of our ancestors

to the cataclysmic events of Roman times were clearly reforms. The rabbinic innovations

and drastic reinterpretations mandated as the ancient pastoral society evolved into

an agricultural, urban and commercial milieu were, indeed, reforms of a basic, even

daring nature. As Emancipation ushered in the modern age, the tradition of Jewish adaptability

was once more asserted so that Judaism could maintain life giving relevance and survive

the dangers of assimilation. Thus was modem Reform born, true to the venerable rabbinic tradition of adaptation, and true to the fundamental beliefs and values

of Judaism, including that of the unity of the Jewish people. In this connection,

we should view with openness and respect the claim of the Reconstructionist movement

to official representation within the community.        

The Shoa

and the emergence out of it of the State of Israel profoundly inform our passionate

desire to labor closely together with our Conservative and Orthodox colleagues in

the many causes common to our interest and to the needs of our people: the security

of the State of Israel and of Jews everywhere; the stemming of the tide of assimilation

and intermarriage; the fostering and intensification of Jewish education for both

youth and adult; the enrichment of the flow of tsedaka

; the strengthening of democratic institutions and processes in our lands of residence;

the enabling of our people to believe in the living God. to worship and pray; and

the binding of our people together as one Israel, strong and joyful as Jews. Toward

these ends we commit ourselves, as we reach out our hands in familial sociality to our

colleagues and partners.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Israel, V

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

It is part of the Reform Zionist dream that our people be truly permitted to flourish

as an Am Chofshi be-artsenu

. That freedom, however, must not be limited to members of one group within the Israeli

population, for surely no single person can be free if limitations are placed upon

others without concern for due process or for human rights.        

Upon due application, and following accepted procedures, permission was granted to

the Church of Latter Day Saints to build a Mormon Center in Jerusalem, and construction

was started at an approved site on Mount Scopus. The prospect of a Mormon Center

in Jerusalem outraged and anguished those who would see the facility as becoming a covert

center from which efforts would be directed to convert Jews to the Mormon faith.        

As a conference of rabbis, we certainly would oppose the Mormon Church taking advantage

of the openness of Israeli society so as to use the Mormon Center for conversionary

activities. We accept with gratitude assurances from the sponsoring Church that such a use is not contemplated and that it would not be permitted.        

We strongly oppose the efforts of those who have taken to the streets, at times with

threats of terror, in their efforts to block construction and to halt the opening

of the Center. Israeli society must retain its democratic core and focus. We would

be deeply distressed if any official efforts were made to limit the activities of any religious

organization in Israel or elsewhere, so long as that organization is committed to

respectful relationships with its counterparts and so long as that organization pledges non-interference in the activities, programs and personal lives of all those

who do not choose to follow their faith.        

We will share in a watchful concern that the Mormon Center remains what it is designed

to be: a place of program and study but not of outreach.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Israel, IV

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

The Israeli government, through its President and Prime Minister, issued a call in

February of 1986 to the leaders of the North American rabbinate to come to Israel

for a twofold purpose: to learn of the impact of terrorism on Israeli tourism and

to learn how individual rabbis, in both congregational and organizational settings, can be

of immediate and practical help during this present emergency.        

Two hundred and ten colleagues heeded the call, among them 37 members of the Central

Conference of American Rabbis. Participants in the three-day mission learned that

tourism is Israel’s number one dollar-earner and, thus, its number-one export, representing 40 percent of Israel’s total base of industrial exports. In recent years, the

growth of non-Jewish tourism has rapidly outstripped the growth of Jewish tourism,

even though fewer than 20 percent of all Jews have ever visited Israel. Since the

summer of 1985, North American Jewish tourism has declined dangerously, at a cost to Israel

of many millions of dollars, since the outbreak of a series of terrorist assaults.        

We reaffirm our commitment to doing all that lies within our power to support the

growth and strengthening of Israel’s economy, and we therefore call upon our colleagues:

1. to organize congregational missions to Israel during the 1986-87 program year,

perhaps in conjunction with the WUPJ’s Conference and dedication ceremonies scheduled

for November of 1986;

2. to become fully aware of the outstanding security arrangements available for those

who fly to and from Israel on El Al, and to teach by personal example that travel

to Israel is safe;

3. to pool our tour group with other Reform tour groups so that no tour program is

canceled because of low enrollments. We must bring every interested Jew to Israel

this year. Every local Israel Bond Office throughout North America is ready now to

assist our congregations with such efforts;

4. to continue to teach that tourism to Israel is the fulfillment of a mitzvah

, a mitzvah

that will greatly assist in Israel’s recovery from her present crippling financial

losses and that will serve, as well, to strengthen our own local Jewish communities.

5. to enrich our tour programs with mutually beneficial visits to the major institutions

of Reform Jewish life and activity in Israel, and

6. to be unrelenting in our commitment to answer terrorism with tourism. The lifeline

between the Middle East and North America must never be severed, even temporarily.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Israel, IV

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

The Israeli government, through its President and Prime Minister, issued a call in

February of 1986 to the leaders of the North American rabbinate to come to Israel

for a twofold purpose: to learn of the impact of terrorism on Israeli tourism and

to learn how individual rabbis, in both congregational and organizational settings, can be

of immediate and practical help during this present emergency.        

Two hundred and ten colleagues heeded the call, among them 37 members of the Central

Conference of American Rabbis. Participants in the three-day mission learned that

tourism is Israel’s number one dollar-earner and, thus, its number-one export, representing 40 percent of Israel’s total base of industrial exports. In recent years, the

growth of non-Jewish tourism has rapidly outstripped the growth of Jewish tourism,

even though fewer than 20 percent of all Jews have ever visited Israel. Since the

summer of 1985, North American Jewish tourism has declined dangerously, at a cost to Israel

of many millions of dollars, since the outbreak of a series of terrorist assaults.        

We reaffirm our commitment to doing all that lies within our power to support the

growth and strengthening of Israel’s economy, and we therefore call upon our colleagues:

1. to organize congregational missions to Israel during the 1986-87 program year,

perhaps in conjunction with the WUPJ’s Conference and dedication ceremonies scheduled

for November of 1986;

2. to become fully aware of the outstanding security arrangements available for those

who fly to and from Israel on El Al, and to teach by personal example that travel

to Israel is safe;

3. to pool our tour group with other Reform tour groups so that no tour program is

canceled because of low enrollments. We must bring every interested Jew to Israel

this year. Every local Israel Bond Office throughout North America is ready now to

assist our congregations with such efforts;

4. to continue to teach that tourism to Israel is the fulfillment of a mitzvah

, a mitzvah

that will greatly assist in Israel’s recovery from her present crippling financial

losses and that will serve, as well, to strengthen our own local Jewish communities.

5. to enrich our tour programs with mutually beneficial visits to the major institutions

of Reform Jewish life and activity in Israel, and

6. to be unrelenting in our commitment to answer terrorism with tourism. The lifeline

between the Middle East and North America must never be severed, even temporarily.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Israel, III

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

We celebrate those in our Conference and those members of our congregations who have

committed themselves to Aliya

, and we call upon our colleagues to teach Aliya

actively as a legitimate option within the spectrum of Reform Zionist beliefs. A

significant increase in Reform Aliya

would be of enormous benefit to those within the State of Israel who are committed

to the strengthening of democratic institutions there and would also serve to stimulate

our North American communities to consider more fully the many positive ways in which we might choose to give expression to Reform Jewish lifestyles.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Israel, II

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

We offer heartfelt congratulations to the World Union for Progressive Judaism as construction

of its Youth Hostel in Jerusalem nears completion, and we call upon our colleagues

to be present for the dedication ceremonies in November of 1986. We warmly commend the HUC-JIR as the enabling institution for these projects, and particularly

for their own dedication of a classroom quadrangle and center for biblical and archaeological

studies.        

We offer congratulations as well to the leadership of ARZA, as well as to KADIMA and

Arzenu, for their superb efforts on behalf of liberal Jewish religious life in Israel.

ARZA’s leadership in the shaping of the Reform Grant Proposal to the Jewish Agency

represents a landmark achievement, and we pledge our support for all appropriate efforts

to gain for our Israeli programs and institutions that financial support that has

been withheld for far too many years.        

We salute as well ARZA’s Law of Return Center in Israel, an organization that seeks

to mobilize all liberal voices in Israel on behalf of religious pluralism and democracy.

We also take note of the efforts now under way to prepare vigorously for the next

World Zionist Congress, and we call upon our colleagues to become fully informed partners

in the process.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Israel, I

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

We, colleagues and friends of the late Morton Berman, condemn those who took it upon

themselves to desecrate his grave on the Mount of Olives because of their conviction

that a Reform rabbi ought never to be buried in sacred soil.        

Morton Berman was an outstanding leader, a pioneering Zionist, and a Jew who devoted

his life to his people and to the Land of Israel. Religious extremism and religiously-motivated

acts of terrorism must not be permitted any aura of legitimacy in the State of Israel. The perpetrators of terror must be punished according to Israeli law,

and those who would teach racism and Sin-at Chinam

must now be publicly rebuked by all who would aspire to the mantle of spiritual leadership

within the Jewish people.

Resolution Adopted by the CCAR

Newborn Infants Unable to Live without Massive Medical Intervention

Adopted by the CCAR at the 98th Annual Convention of

the Central Conference of American Rabbis

1987

WHEREAS Judaism cherishes newborn life and believes that every newborn is a nefesh

, a human being created in the image of God, and possesses certain fundamental rights,

including the right to adequate nourishment, appropriate health care, and humane

medical treatment, and

WHEREAS new medical and surgical techniques, drugs, and technology make it possible

to prolong the lives of newborn infants whose medical problems would once have meant

certain death, and

WHEREAS such developments offer to Jews, for whom the preservation of life is a supreme

mitzvah

, tools for the sacred task of pikuach nefesh

, and

WHEREAS the measure of life is not merely quantitative, but is also qualitative, and

thus, in deciding whether to render life-prolonging medical treatment to a severely

defective infant, the quality of life that the child would experience after treatment

must be taken into account, and

WHEREAS in all cases, decisions concerning the care of a seriously deformed infant

must be based solely on the child’s best interest, and

WHEREAS given Jewish tradition’s extraordinary emphasis on the saving of human life,

the decision to withhold life-prolonging medical treatment from an infant can be

justified only when there exists a moral certainty that either no rational person

could conceivably prefer life in the condition that the infant will attain after treatment

to death OR the infant is totally and permanently devoid of all higher functions

characteristic of humanity, and

WHEREAS even when the withholding of life-prolonging care is justified, the infant

is entitled to palliative care and must not be abandoned. The Jewish tradition’s

prohibition of positive action to hasten death remains in force and must be respected,

and

WHEREAS one special aspect of cases involving infants is the patients’ inability to

participate in decisions concerning their own care, as Jewish tradition and American

law entrust minor children to their parents and empower parents to make decisions

on their children’s behalf, and

WHEREAS the Justice Department has intruded into rights viewed as parental prerogatives,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Central Conference of American Rabbis affirms that

1. Decisions concerning providing or withholding medical care to infants are the right

and responsibility of parents, to be made in accordance with the highest values of

their faith, and in consultation with physicians and clergy.

2. It is the responsibility of medical personnel to be certain that parents are aware

that a range of options exists, from that of providing life prolonging treatment

followed by institutionalization or adoption to that of providing only palliative

care at home.

3. It is not the business of government agencies to intrude upon the confidential

relationship of a family with its physicians and clergy or to interfere with parental

decisions concerning an infant’s treatment.

4. It is the right of parents to make decisions about the care of their minor children,

and it is their responsibility free of government interference, except in cases of

obvious parental neglect or willful misconduct.