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By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

The November 8 Philadelphia Inquirer described Senator Arlen Specter (R- Pa.) as being "in the hot seat" on whether to confirm Judge Alito for the Supreme Court.

It reported that he is worried that if he votes against Alito, conservative Republicans may deprive him of his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and with it his influence on policy issues that he cares about: notably, asbestos litigation and immigration.

But the Constitution is a far weightier matter than those issues. And Alito will be helping define it for at least a generation.

So it is important to realize that Judge Alito's radicalism goes far beyond his disdain for a woman's right to choose whether to have an abortion.

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

In our view, the American public should strongly and immediately oppose the nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court, and should particularly focus energy on the so-called "moderate" Republicans" and "moderate" Democrats whose votes will determine whether Alito is confirmed.

Why do we oppose his nomination? His record of judicial opinions shows that he is a smart, capable, right-wing ideologue. He has supported governmental power when it invades the personal freedoms of human beings and opposed governmental power when it tries to regulate corporations to protect workers, customers, or the environment.

JCUA, 5/27/2005

On April 10-11, 2005, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs hosted Tzedek Yalin Bah/Justice Shall Dwell There: A National Conference on Judaism and Social Justice.

This conference was intended as the first step in launching a national Jewish social justice movement that will:

• Build and strengthen connections among Jews involved in social justice work in different areasof the country and in various types of institutions.
• Enable more effective communication among Jewish social justice groups and activists in orderfor people around the country to share strategies, achievements and challenges.
• Create a forum for ongoing collaboration on national initiatives such as legislative campaigns.
• Develop a plan to provide technical assistance, upon request, to local Jewish social justiceinitiatives.
• Increase the visibility, both inside and outside of the Jewish community, of Jewish socialjustice work.
• Broaden the pool of funding for Jewish social justice work.

Rabbi Brian Walt, 8/5/2003

Dear Chevra,

Rabbi Brian Walt was the founding rabbi (1988) and till a month ago the spiritual leader of the Philadelphia Reconstructionist congregation Mishkan Shalom, which he led into becoming one of the most successful of Recon synagogues, with himself as one of the most beloved congregational rabbis in that or any denomination. He and his wife, also a Recon rabbi, have left Philadelphia so that she could become the rabbi of the only synagogue on Martha's Vineyard. The move also gave Brian the opportunity to greatly expand the very part-time work he was already doing as Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights/North America.