United Synagogue Creates an Israel Commission

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s international president, Dr. Raymond B. Goldstein, and its executive vice president, Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein, have announced the creation of United Synagogue’s Israel Commission.

We are now asking each United Synagogue-affiliated congregation to appoint an Israel Affairs or Israel Advocacy chair. Please send his or her name to info@uscj.org. We plan to build a database in which every one of our nearly 750 synagogues is represented.

But that is just our first step. The Commission will be multidimensional; we will be both proactive and reactive. We are now developing relevant, timely materials and services for our member congregations. These materials will be sent to each synagogue’s Israel Affairs chair, who will be encouraged to share it with synagogue members. Any committee chair who would like to receive the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization’s free emailed Daily Alerts will be added to that list. (United Synagogue is a member of the Council of Presidents.)

Our website includes will include a page in its Israel section that will have links to information about and from the Commission.

We are here to serve you. Email questions and requests for your synagogue to info@uscj.org and they will be forwarded to Rabbi Freedman. For example, if you wish to have an Israeli speaker, we can help make that match.

The best way to describe the new Commission is by sharing its mission statement:

“The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is deeply and passionately connected to the Land and the State of Israel.

The Israel Commission will seek:

• To provide the United Synagogue Congregations, Regions and Departments information and programming concerning Israel.
• To offer user-friendly services to congregations, by facilitating contacts with extant agencies and resources.
• To encourage aliyah and provide olim from our movement with a Conservative contact in Israel.
• To develop support for other Israel-orientated agencies within and without the Conservative movement.

To make clear that our love for Israel is not theoretical but real, we will hold some of our meetings in Israel.”

Under the overall guidance of United Synagogue’s vice president for Israel, Dr. Saul Shapiro, United Synagogue’s Israel Commission is chaired by Norman Stern; its director is Rabbi Paul Freedman. The steering committee is Steve Wolnek, Alexandra Cyngiser, Frank Kreutzer, Rabbi Phil Scheim, Norman Stern, Dr. Saul Shapiro, and Rabbi Paul Shapiro. Dr. Raymond Goldstein and Rabbi Jerome Epstein are ex-officio members.

Please send us the name, congregation and email address of your Israel Affairs chair today.