NEWS STORY: Reform Rabbis Denounce Bush on `False’ Weapons Claims

c. 2004 Religion News Service TORONTO _ Reform rabbis meeting here for their annual conference condemned the Bush administration for using “false claims” of weapons of mass destruction to justify the war in Iraq and for failing to implement a plan to end “chaos” in the country. The Iraq resolution adopted by the 450 rabbis […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

TORONTO _ Reform rabbis meeting here for their annual conference condemned the Bush administration for using “false claims” of weapons of mass destruction to justify the war in Iraq and for failing to implement a plan to end “chaos” in the country.

The Iraq resolution adopted by the 450 rabbis attending the 115th annual meeting of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) _ including about a dozen from Israel _ was tempered by support for American troops in Iraq and for the administration’s efforts to end the occupation and engage the United Nations in the transfer of power to Iraqi hands.


The rabbis also expressed “deep concern” over the United Nations’ “failure” to help Kurds in northern Iraq, and “outrage” over the abuse of Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison by “a very few” U.S. soldiers.

There were few surprises at the three-day gathering that ended Wednesday (June 23), as liberal rabbis voted on a dozen resolutions and had their choice of more than 60 workshops and seminars on issues ranging from terrorism to transgender issues to Kabbalah.

The rabbis, members of the world’s largest group of Jewish clergy (1,800 members), also passed a measure opposing federal or state constitutional amendments that would limit full civil marriage for same-sex couples.

Four years ago, the CCAR became the first large clergy group of a major religion to recognize the legitimacy of same-sex unions and to support rabbis who sanctify such ceremonies.

This time, rabbis say they “have grown in our knowledge and experience of same-gender couples establishing Jewish homes and raising Jewish children, and resolve to reaffirm our commitment to pursuing full civil marriage rights for same-gender couples.”

A motion to substitute the words “civil union” for “marriage” was defeated.

An amendment barring same-sex marriage would “pervert” the Constitution, said CCAR’s executive vice president, Rabbi Paul Menitoff. In fact, the Constitution’s “lofty vision” has much in common with the prophetic teachings of Judaism, the rabbis noted.

In other resolutions, the rabbis called on Israel to end “discriminatory” demolition of Palestinian homes and to place “limits” on the construction of Israel’s security fence in the West Bank.


Home demolitions carried out purely for administrative reasons “do not advance the security of Israel and are an affront to our deeply held Jewish values,” said CCAR’s president, Rabbi Janet Marder of Palo Alto, Calif.

The measure on the security fence stressed that the barrier must not define a permanent border between Israel and a future Palestinian state; must not violate Palestinian property and livelihood; and is opposed if it strengthens Jewish settlements.

The most contentious matter before the group was a resolution opposing physician-assisted suicide as public policy.

It called on rabbis to prevent the enactment of legislation endorsing physician-assisted suicide because Jewish tradition chooses life and forbids doctors from taking life, “even if prompted by benevolent motives.”

The resolution, the result of years of study and consultation, was tabled by a vote of 68-62, the closest at the meeting. The matter now returns to a CCAR committee for even more study _ or, as some participants suggested, a possible end to the file altogether.

The CCAR “expected strong opposition to physician-assisted suicide, and there was,” Marder told RNS. “As a result of the tabling, there will be more study.”


Also tabled was a motion opposing the public display of the Confederate battle flag and its inclusion in state and local flags, official seals and logos.

Members approved resolutions supporting dialogue with Arabs and Muslims; calling on President Bush to impose sanctions on Sudan; condemning and combatting human trafficking; calling on governments to fund the fight against AIDS; and commemorating the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education with programs and speakers.

The vote on the war in Iraq “went much more smoothly than we’d expected,” Menitoff said in an interview following the voting. “Two years ago, the president (of the CCAR) spoke out in support of the war, at a time the board did not feel it could take a stand. (Now), the issue has resolved itself.”

The challenge before liberal Judaism, he said, now as before, is finding the balance between traditional teachings and the Jewish conscience.

“The very nature of Reform Judaism is, we take the whole pool of Jewish knowledge very seriously, but at times, we part from it. The struggle is to keep our feet in two different worlds. How can we be serious Jews in the modern world? How do we integrate that in our lives?”

KRE/PH END CSILLAG

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