Justice

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.

[The Shalom Center was the first Jewish organization to oppose the Alito nomination. We have joined with a number of local or regional social-justice organizations and with the National Council of Jewish Women in shaping and signing the following statement, initiated by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (Chicago). Sheila Decter of Boston also did important work in shaping and organizing support for the statement.

[We especially want to note our admiration for NCJW, which alone among the "mainstream" Jewish organizations took swift action to oppose the Alito nomination. It is precisely because most of the older/ bigger Jewish organizations have been so slow or unwilling to act on many urgent social-justice issues that the various local groups named here have emerged in a renewal of grass-roots Jewish energy.]

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 Arthur Waskow 1/13/2005

In the Torah portion read in synagogues January 14, God sends Moses to face Pharaoh. It invites us to face this question:

How can we face the Pharaohs in our own lives?

Suren Moodliar and Jason Pramas, 10/5/2004

September 11, 2004

The World Social Forum (WSF) burst onto the global progressive scene in January 2001 with a 20,000-person happening in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Its mandate was to link up and strengthen dis

Howard Zinn, 9/28/2004

Excerpt from
"The Optimism of Uncertainty"
In The Nation, September 2, 2004

In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay invo

Rabbis Berman & Waskow; National Organizer Lenchner, 8/25/2004

Rabbi Phyllis Berman and Rabbi Arthur Waskow have been leading prayer services and teaching in both mulltireligious gatherings (e.g. conferences called by Jobs with Justice, the Religiou

Yechiel Tropper, 8/6/2004

Dear Chevra, The article that follows calls for society-wide social justice to become part of the religious (especially Orthodox) Jewish agenda in Israel. The same questions apply in America and elsewhere. The author is a