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YOU ARE HERE: Archive >> Past Issues of the United Synagogue Review >> Spring 2007

USCJ Review - Spring 2007

News From United Synagogue

There is a great deal going on in United Synagogue. Each year, such programs as Hazak, Sulam, and Imun, to name just a few of many, draw more participants to many days of excitement, learning, and discovery. We also always begin new programs and offer one-of-a-kind responses to the world as it changes around us.

Here is news from a few of United Synagogue’s many programs.

Tzedek Hekhsher

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly are working toward establishing the tzedek hekhsher, which would certify kosher products as being consistent with Jewish social values. It is not intended to supplant the hekhsers upon which we now rely, but to supplement them; it will look not at the vitally important area of ritual kashrut but at the also important and far-less attended-to arena of social responsibility. We begin by looking at the working conditions at meat-packing plants. For more information, go to our website, www.uscj.org, and click on the Social Action tab on top, then follow the links.

Regional Presidents Travel Together to Israel

In January, United Synagogue’s Council of Regional Presidents spent an intense week together in Israel. Here, Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, shakes hands with United Synagogue’s president, Dr. Raymond Goldstein, as our executive vice president, Rabbi Jerome Epstein, looks on.

During the trip, council members discussed a program that will partner Ethiopian Israelis and United Synagogue congregations in North America, Here, Rabbi Epstein; Rabbi Yafet Alemu, the first Ethiopian graduate of Machon Schechter, the Conservative movement's rabbinical seminary in Israel; the chair of the Council of Regional Presidents, Paul Kochberg; Dr. Raymond Goldstein, and the Israel Commission's director, Rabbi Paul Freedman, celebrate the program.

Changing Dates on Our Pocket Calendar

The Israeli government has changed the dates of this year’s observances of Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, and Yom HaAtzmaut. The change was made in order to keep Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron from beginning on Saturday night, just as Shabbat ends, and of course Yom HaAtzmaut is the day after Yom HaZikaron, so a change to one is a change to the other. This year, Yom HaShoah will be Monday, April 16, Yom HaZikaron will be on Monday, April 23, and Yom HaAtzmaut will be Tuesday, April 24. The change came too late for our pocket calendar to be amended, although our Art/Engagement calendar, which was printed later, is correct.

United Synagogue Youth Elects New President

t its international convention in Boston in late December, United Synagogue Youth elected its new international president, Aaron Jacobs, who belongs to Congregation Beth Torah in Richardson, Texas. For more information about USY, go to its website, www.usy.org. To see pictures from the convention, click on Int’l Convention 2006.

Wheelniks in New Orleans

Last August, a busload of teenagers on the USY on Wheels program stopped in New Orleans. That wasn’t unusual – the Big Easy always has been part of the Wheels itinerary. But right after Hurricane Katrina hit the trip had to be rerouted – there was no reason to assume that hotel rooms or kosher food would be available. In the spring, the youth department decided to send one busload of USYers back to New Orleans to help with the cleanup. They had fun in New Orleans too, as they did on the rest of the trip, but they found joy as well in helping with the clean-up. To learn more about USY on Wheels, go to USY’s website, www.usy.org, and follow the links for 2007 summer programs.

Let All Who Are Hungry

This year, for the second time, Project Reconnect, United Synagogue’s alumni group, is finding seders for young people who otherwise would not be able to mark Pesach properly. The program, Kol Dichfin, offers alumni of the movement’s programs both communal meals in synagogues and private observances in family homes. For more information, go to Project Reconnect’s website, www.projectreconnect.org.

Israel Commission

The Conservative movement’s ties to Israel have always been strong, but now we’re making them more formal on the congregational level. United Synagogue has established our Israel Commission; we urge each member synagogue to name a chair for its own commission chapter. The international commission will offer local chairs programming information, help with planning trips to Israel, and the latest inside news; local chairs can help marshal support for the Jewish homeland in North America. For more information about the commission, email Rabbi Paul Freedman at freedman@uscj.org.

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