Darfur

Darfur Action

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:20:00 -0500

Photo of a child from Darfur.Do not stand idly by while your neighbor's blood is being shed. —Leviticus 19:16

What is at stake is our own humanity. —Elie Wiesel

Whoever can prevent any person throughout the world from committing a sin but does not, is responsible for that person's sin. —Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 54b

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation is participating in the Save Darfur Coalition effort to stop the atrocities and impoverishment in the Darfur region of Sudan.

View our Darfur resources.

JRF is a member of the coalition (supported by AJWS and JCPA), and is encouraging our member congregations to show strong participation in this effort, through tzedakah relief efforts and organizing nationally and regionally to aid in this effort.

Activities occurred worldwide, with thousands of people taking part in SAVE DARFUR NOW: Voices to Stop Genocide to urge the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping force to Darfur and to raise international awareness of the ongoing atrocities in Darfur.

The April 30th, 2006 rallies in Washington, DC and across the country demonstrated the impact that Americans could make on our congressional and political leaders. The September 17th rally in New York and internationally, redoubled Save Darfur Coalition domestic efforts while engaging the international community in a more coordinated manner.

We hope your congregation will continue or deepen its involvement in trying to end the violence and impoverishment being perpetrated on the people of Darfur. NOW IS THE TIME!

Please use the resources and read the news gathered on these pages to support your efforts to stop the genocide in Darfur.

For info on JRF efforts contact: Rabbi Shawn Zevit, JRF or 215-885-5601, ex. 24

Places to Donate to Support the People of Darfur

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:11:49 -0500

American Jewish World Service Logo The American World Jewish Service, The Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief and The Save Darfur Coalition recommended agencies for making donations to support the people of Darfur.

American Jewish World Service (AJWS) - Genocidal crisis in Darfur
Since April 2004, American Jewish World Service has been providing humanitarian aid to many of the displaced and traumatized people who have been violently forced from their homes and are now living in camps in Sudan and Chad. Recognizing that humanitarian aid is crucial but will not stop the genocide, AJWS is engaged in a simultaneous education and advocacy campaign to put pressure on United States and world leaders to end the crisis.

AJWS is accepting donations by check to their Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund at: AJWS Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund, 45 West 36th Street, 10th flr, New York, NY 10018, or donate online.
The Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief (JCDR) - Sudan Relief
JRF is part of a multi-Jewish organizational coalition which is addressing the crisis in the Sudan.

To date, the Jewish Coalition for Sudan Relief has raised and distributed over $445,000 to help the victims of this crisis. Grants have been made to the International Medical Corps (IMC) and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children to support their humanitarian, nutritional and reproductive health efforts.

Coalition support is also being given to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to help conduct a psychosocial assistance program in two of Chad's refugee camps. A grant to the International Rescue Committee is helping support their educational and support services with refugees and the local host community in Chad. Recent grants have been made to other international organizations to improve the quality of emergency obstetric medicine in Nyala, Darfur, and to support a psychosocial program for refugees in Zalingei, Darfur. Click here for JCDR's online donations page.

Save Darfur Coaltion The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 130 diverse faith-based, humanitarian, and human rights organizations, assembled to raise public awareness and to mobilize efforts to help end the atrocities and reduce the suffering in Darfur and nearby refugee camps. Donate to the save Darfur Coalition.

Jewish World Watch (JWW) has been instrumental in working directly with KoZon, the organization on the ground in the Iridimi camp om Darfur. JWW helps them complete the outfitting of the camp with solar cookers.

The price of each solar cooker is $30. JWW has raised so much money that they have actually been able to not only pay for the training and the cookers, but also fund the construction of a workroom for the manufacture of the cookers. Additionally, JWW has paid the women back wages for making the cookers. JWW has also funded both the production of the hay baskets and of carrying bags for the cookers. They have funded the purchase of seeds to give the women a chance to grow some vegetables, something they have not had before. JWW wants to build on its successes and offer even more. Donate to Jewish World Watch

Tents of Hope for Darfur

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:51:16 -0400

Visit the Tents of Hope Project: www.tentsofhope.org
The mission of the Tents of Hope project is to support a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan by creating tents that are both unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan.
The tents are not answers in themselves. Rather, they are points of entry for more concrete forms of Darfur advocacy.

Since the launch of Tents of hope in 2004, the American Jewish World Service, the Save Darfur Coalition (of which JRF and the RRA are members) and other faith and non-profit groups have joined as participating organizations.

The structure of the Tents of Hope project is decentralized and temporary. It is a one-year project in which local communities are responsible for taking the initiative to shape the project both through the creation of the tents as works of art and the use of the tents as focal points for education, advocacy and fundraising for humanitarian assistance. National coordination is focused on giving support to these local efforts in such areas as the project website and the national event in Washington, DC November 7-9, 2008.

For more information and to register for the Tents of hope event in washington go to http://www.tentsofhope.org/index.html

Also see http://www.jrf.org/darfur

Darfur - children playing

Brian Fink — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:28:42 -0400

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) on the ground in Chad providing trauma counseling and social services to Darfuri refugees

HIAS is the only Jewish organization with staff on the ground in Chad, where we provide services in five of that country’s camps for refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan. At the request of the United Nations, we are providing counseling and community services programs for some 90,000 refugees, including conflict resolution training, sexual and gender-based violence education and sensitization, and trauma counseling. One of the most successful activities has been HIAS-organized playgroups, which allow children to express the traumatic events of their young lives through art, music, and sports therapy.

In addition, HIAS has created a cadre of refugees in each camp to serve as community mobilizers. Participants are trained to identify and intervene appropriately so they can provide help to their fellow refugees. HIAS’ refugee peer groups empower community members and allow them to help others deal with sensitive issues in a culturally acceptable format.

To support HIAS’ activities on the ground in Chad with Darfuri refugees, please call HIAS at: (866) 871-9681 or online.

Action needed on AIDS legislation

Brian Fink — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:14:23 -0500

There is exciting activity happening on the reauthorization of the PEPFAR AIDS legislation. (PEPFAR = President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).

JRF is a partner with the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) in the Jewish Coalition Responding to HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The PEPFAR legislation will be "marked-up" in the House foreign affairs committee on Wednesday, February 27th at 9:30 am (and may be televised on C-SPAN).

There are two important action items:

A conference call with Ruth Messinger on Monday, February 25, 2-3pm
An email action alert

More details follow below:

On Monday, February 25, listen in/participate on a conference call with Ruth Messinger, Executive Director of AJWS, and member of the SAJ (Society for the Advancement of Judaism, a Reconstructionist synagogue in NYC).

Follow this link to e-mail your congress-person about PEPFAR. Fill in the information, edit the text (if you wish), and hit the *send* button.

At most, this will take you THREE MINUTES. Please take this action now, send the link to at least 20 other people asking them to take the action, and them to forward to 20 others.

Visit here for more information on PEPFAR, and the work of AJWS addressing the global AIDS pandemic.

Kol HaLev to Co-Sponsor “Sounds of Justice” Havdalah Concert and Advocacy Event for Darfur

Lisa Tuttle — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:56:56 -0500

Start: Feb 9 2008 - 7:30pm

End: Feb 9 2008 - 10:00pm

Please join congregation Kol HaLev and more than 20 congregations and organizations throughout the Cleveland, OH area for a special community-wide event: “Sounds of Justice” Havdalah Concert and Advocacy Event for Darfur, featuring JRF's director of Outreach and Tikkun Olam, Rabbi Shawn Zevit.

Saturday, February 9th at 7:30 pm, B’nai Jeshurun Congregation, 27501 Fairmount Blvd., Pepper Pike, Cleveland, OH.

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY

Help spread the word - download and post the event flyer.

Following the concert, which will emphasize the theme of tikkun olam, there will be hands-on activities for everyone to work together to encourage an end to the genocide in Darfur:

Write letters to the media, local and national legislators and the Chinese government
Decorate symbolic refugee tents with prayers, words of support, and images for a better world
Make donations to American Jewish World Service to provide much needed items for Sudanese refugees through Jewish World Watch

For event coverage in the Cleveland Jewish News see: http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2008/02/01/news/local/darfur0201.txt

and

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2008/01/28/news/local/rally0125.txt

Learn more about JRF's work to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan at http://www.jrf.org/darfur

Bet Am Shalom Takes Part in Backpack Project for Darfur

Lisa Tuttle — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:39:52 -0500

JWW Backpack ProjectCongregation Bet Am Shalom in Whiteplains, NY, joins the Westchester Darfur Coalition and Jewish World Watch (JWW) in providing and education for children fleeing genocide in Darfur. JWW's Backpack Project will enable children in the Oure Cassoni refugee camp in Chad to attend schools run by the International Rescue Committee. Filled with shoes, books, school supplies, soap and toothpaste (all obtained as locally as possible), the backpack allows each child to make the most of school under the most difficult of circumstances.

Backpacks are $36 each. Every dollar donated to the JWW Backpack Project will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $100,000, through the generousity of a local family foundation.

For for more information on Bet Am Shalom's Giving Program, e-mail Fran Heyman at franheyman@msn.com, and visit www.JewishWorldWatch.org

Bet Am Shalom's flyer and donation form are attached below.

Click here for a full listing of JRF's resources and response to the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

Rabbi Harold Schulweis Speaks Out Against Genocide

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:30:36 -0400

Rabbi Harold M. SchulweisOn April 27, 2007, Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis of Temple Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California, California, delivered a major speech regarding genocide, the suicide of denial, and our collective responsibilities to transmit memory to our children and our children’s children.

Entitled In Honor of the Martyrs of Armenia, it commemorates the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, speaks to all genocides, whether Armenian, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, or Darfur, and points out the consequences to a society which remains apathetic in the face of murder.

Listen, watch or read Rabbi Schulweis’ speech.

Rabbi Schulweis, a long-time member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College's Board of Governers and a student of Mordecai M. Kaplan said, “Silence is the slow strangulation of conscience… Holocaust denial is not only a clear and present danger. It is a clear and future danger.” Rabbi Schulweis crystallizes, in eighteen minutes of prose and poetry, that we are...we must be… our brother’s keeper.

These materials have been made available by the The Harold M. Schulweis Institute.

Audio and video media formats are also available for accompanying speeches on the Armenian Genocide given by Archbishop Hovnan Derderian and Jewish World Watch Co-Founder and President, Janice Kamenir-Reznik.

This commemoration program was co-sponsored by Jewish World Watch, Valley Beth Shalom and the Harold M. Schulweis Institute. Jewish World Watch may be contacted directly for additional information about its programs to combat genocide and other egregious violations of human rights around the world.

Save Darfur Global Days, April 23-30, 2007

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:07:46 -0400

JRF urges our member communities to help make Global Days for Darfur a huge success: April 23rd to 30th

The Sudanese government-sponsored genocide in Darfur has already claimed up to 400,000 lives, displaced 2.5 million people and left more than 3.5 million men, women and children struggling to survive amid violence and starvation. The global community must act!

During the week of April 23th – 30th, 2007 – four years into the crisis in Darfur – groups and organizations throughout the world will come together for “Global Days for Darfur” to highlight the need for the immediate deployment of an international peacekeeping force. “Global Days for Darfur” presents an opportunity to place focused pressure on US policy makers, the United Nations, the Government of Sudan and the international community to call for the urgent protection of civilians in Darfur.

We need your help to inspire events around the country during this important week of action. We're hoping your group will join with countless others in organizing a local or regional event. To take the lead in organizing a “Global Days for Darfur” event in your area, contact global@savedarfur.org.

For events near you and to log on an event you are holding see: www.savedarfur.org/globaldays

For an example of how a JRF congregation is responding see Or Hadash's concert event for Darfur at http://www.jrf.org/orhadash/calendar/events.htm

Darfur Advocacy Web Sites

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:19:14 -0500