Young israel,legal brief,discrimination,Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI), in conjunction with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, recently filed a legal brief in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of a coalition of minority religious groups - including Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and African American and Hispanic Christians - to defend the right of religious organizations to remain autonomous and to choose their members and leaders without being accused of engaging in religious discrimination.

Hastings, a state-run law school located in San Francisco, California, banned an organization called the Christian Legal Society (CLS) from the list of officially recognized student groups on campus, thereby precluding CLS from engaging in school sanctioned activities, utilizing the school facilities, and publicizing its events via school-issued email addresses. According to Hastings, CLS violates the school's policy against discrimination on the basis of religion because CLS requires its leaders and voting members to be practicing Christians who abstain from intimacy outside of marriage.

"Should the Supreme Court choose to rule for Hastings, Jewish organizations, such as the National Council of Young Israel, may well be subject to claims of religious discrimination for refusing to let non-Jews into our leadership, which could allow them to modify our core mission," said NCYI President Shlomo Z. Mostofsky, Esq.

"The Becket Fund is proud to be representing such a broad coalition of different faiths," said Kevin J. "Seamus" Hasson, President of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. "They have many disagreements about theology. But they and we are united about law. In America, all faiths have the right to be who they are without interference from the government."

Christian Legal Society meetings and events are open to all students, regardless of religious affiliation. Only its leaders and voting members, who speak on its behalf, vote on its policies, and lead its Bible studies, are required to adhere to the group's statement of faith and abide by the code of conduct.

"The question in this case is whether the government can force religious groups to embrace individuals who do not necessarily subscribe to the same religion or even agree with the group's mission, as the group's new leadership," said Mostofsky. "If so, it will not be long before the Young Israel Movement will be forced to change its name to Young Atheist or Young Evangelical, and other Orthodox Jewish organizations will lose their identification as well. It is hard to imagine a legal rule that will be more destructive to Torah Judaism in the United States."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Hastings. In what promises to be one of the biggest religious liberty cases affecting the Jewish community in decades, CLS v. Martinez, the Supreme Court will likely hear oral arguments in the spring.

Hasson noted that the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty solicited the involvement of the National Council of Young Israel because of the international organization's century-old mission of advocating strong Jewish religious values among its members throughout North America and Israel. Based in Washington, D.C., The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions. The Becket Fund has a 15-year history of defending religious liberty for people of all faiths. Its clients have included Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs. Additional information about the Becket Fund can be found by visiting their website at www.becketfund.org.

To read the legal brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, go to http://www.becketfund.org/files/becketfundbrief.pdf

Federal Grant Deadline February 15, 2010
The Association for Jewish Outreach Professionals (AJOP) in conjunction with the National Council of Young Israel and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York
Present
Homeland Security Grant Webinar for Non-Profit Organizations

Wednesday February 3, 2010
12:00 PM (EST)

Live from your Desktop Computer

(you will need a highspeed internet connection and speakers or earphones)

For further information and to register (required) please email Hilly@ajop.com

We would like to thank our colleagues at the office of Homeland Security and all those involved with the Homeland Security Information Network for helping us provide this important webinar.
Please note: This seminar and the grants are available nationwide

Overview: Nonprofit Security Grant Program FY 2010

Grant Amounts & Matching: Eligible applicants will be able to apply for up to $75,000 to bolster their physical security and conduct preparedness training.

Equipment: The grant funds two categories of security equipment and activities: Physical Security Enhancement Equipment and Inspection and Screening Systems

Training: The grant funds may also be used by an organization's security personnel to attend training courses and programs. Allowable training-related costs are limited to attendance fees for training, and related expenses for materials, supplies and/or equipment.

More Details to Follow

NATIONAL JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS COME TO RUSH LIMBAUGH'S DEFENSE

 
The following statement has been issued by numerous national Jewish organizations, among them: AMERICAN FRIENDS OF LIKUD, CAMERA, EMUNAH OF AMERICA, JINSA, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF YOUNG ISRAEL, RELIGIOUS ZIONISTS OF AMERICA, and Z-STREET:

"There has been controversy, recently, over statements made by radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh about Jewish voting patterns, political ties and the recent Massachusetts election. We are deeply dismayed by the unfounded criticism of the talk show commentator's observations.

While one may agree or disagree with Mr. Limbaugh's views on many subjects, his outspoken support for Israel has been eloquent, informed and undeniable. Moreover, in commentary on the Jewish people, he has been nothing short of a philo-Semite. We are grateful for his strong and singular voice on these issues."

RABBI PESACH LERNER, EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT OF NCYI, MET WITH MK DANON DURING RABBI LERNER'S RECENT VISIT TO ISRAEL; THAT MEETING AND THE DISCUSSIONS WHICH TOOK PLACE, FACILITATED THE FOLLOW-UP MEETING IN NEW YORK.

ITEMS DISCUSSED INCLUDED THE BUILDING FREEZE IN YEHUDA AND SHOMRON, THE POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE FREEZE, THE U.S. SPONSORED MITCHELL PEACE INITIATIVES, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES.
 

MK DANNY DANON IS DEPUTY SPEAKER OF THE KNESSET AND CHAIRMAN OF WORLD LIKUD

 
L-R  MK DANNY DANON;  SHLOMO MOSTOFSKY, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF YOUNG ISRAEL

L-R NCYI LEADERSHIP: YOSEF POPLACK, DR. CHANANIA GANG, RABBI PESACH LERNER, MK DANNY DANON, SHLOMO MOSTOFSKY, ELI DWORETSKY, DAVID LOVE, RABBI CHAIM KOMENDANT

YOUNG ISRAEL OF BAYSIDE, NY TO HOST COMMUNITYWIDE HEALTH PROGRAM

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) and the Young Israel of Bayside will host a program called "Bones & Groans: Awareness, Prevention, & Treatment of Knee and Back Pain."  The program will take place on Sunday morning, January 24, 2010, at 9:00 AM at the Young Israel of Bayside, which is located at 209-34 26th Avenue in Bayside, New York.

Breakfast will be served between 8:30 and 9:00, before the start of the program.  The Guest Speaker will be Reuven Guy, RPA-C, a Physician Assistant in Physiatry at Medalliance in Bronx, NY.  Admission to the event is free of charge.

To RSVP for "Bones & Groans: Awareness, Prevention, & Treatment of Knee and Back Pain," call 718-423-3720, or send an email to NCYI Director of Programming Rebbetzin Judi Steinig at jsteinig@youngisrael.org.

EXCLUSIVE: YWN Editor Meets With Jonathan Pollard

On Tuesday December 23, YWN had the privilege to meet with Jonathan Pollard in the Butner Correctional facility located in Butner, North Carolina.

Our meeting lasted two hours, and visitors included Rabbi Pesach Lerner (Executive Vice President,National Council Of Young Israel), Rav Yaakov Shapira, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mercaz HaRav Kook in Yerushalayim), R' Chaskel Bennet (an Askan from Flatbush), and another anonymous individual who has spent his entire life helping Jews across the globe.

The meeting left us in shock and very sad, after seeing one of our Jewish brothers locked in a prison for more than two decades. In fact, Jonathan has just started his 25th year behind bars.

Jonathan appears to look in fairly good condition, although the fact is that he isn't. He is suffering from numerous medical conditions. His "Matzav Ruach" is good, and his Emunah and Bitachon are steadfast.

Much was discussed in our two hour meeting, and many questions that people have were answered to us. [YWN plans on writing an extensive article about our two hour visit with Jonathan in the coming days.]

At the end of our meeting, the Rosh Yeshiva told Jonathon that he has a D'var Torah to tell him, and that the group would also like to sing a few songs with him. Jonathan responded instantly by saying "I'd prefer the D'var Torah more than the songs". The Rosh Yeshva told him a D'var Torah which gave him tremendous Chizuk.

Following the D'var Torah the YWN Editor asked Jonathan if he'd ever heard of Shlomo Carlebach. "Of course I have! I loved Carlebach! In fact he was even supposed to come sing for me in prison - and even had clearance to bring his guitar with him. Unfortunately, he was Niftar shortly before his scheduled visit," Pollard answered us in a sad voice.

I started singing "Esa Einai El He'harim", followed by "L'maan Achai". After a few moments I looked at the group, and saw that I was not alone..... everyone had tears in their eyes.... I don't think I ever sang a song with such D'veykus, feeling, and emotion..... We ended with Carlebach's joyous "Leshano Habbah Be'Yerushalayim".

The "government monitor" gave us the look.....time was up.....

We stood up, hugged and kissed Jonathan, blessed him from the bottom of our hearts, told him to stay strong. When it was my turn to bid him farewell, I was at loss of words. What can I possibly tell him? What kind of Chizuk can I possibly give a man who has been imprisoned for 25 years, and who has had the entire Israeli Government turn their backs on him?

I walked up to him, hugged him tightly, and told him that his grandfather, the famed Vilna Goan (whom Jonathan is a direct descendant of) should be a "maylitz yosher" for him, and hope to visit him again real soon as a free man.

He thanked me, and specifically thanked the tens of thousands of YWN readers from the bottom of his heart - who flooded the Whitehouse with emails and phone calls in the last few weeks of the Bush administration.

We just stood there without saying another word, and watched with broken hearts as they removed Jonathan Pollard back to his prison cell.

Please - keep davening for the health and freedom of Yehonosson ben Malka Pollard!

-Please write him letters, letters of support, of chizuk, of divrei torah. Jonathan refers to these letters as his "oxygen". The letters can be from adults and children, from families and school classes. Please be sure the letters are written in English only. Please just send him letters, no enclosures (tapes, gifts, etc).

- Please choose one day each week, make that your day, each week, to write another letter. ask your family members and friends to do the same. Jonathan reads every letter, although he may not respond.

Please send the letters to:

Jonathan Pollard

# 09185-016

Fci Butner

PO Box 1000/Clemson

Butner, North Carolina

27509-1000

USA

-If you wish to contribute funds to assist Jonathan, while he is in prison, to buy kosher food items from the prison canteen, to pay for his phone calls, to purchase various items that he needs, etc., please use the following link
https://www.youngisrael.org/securecontent/donate.cfm?dt=pollard
or send your contributions to: Young Israel Charities, attention the Pollard Fund, c/o National Council of Young Israel, 111 John Street, Suite 450, New York, NY 10038.

[An extensive article is being worked on, and will be posted in the coming days]

(YWN Editor - NYC)

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=43757

LECTURE FOR SINGLES AT THE YOUNG ISRAEL OF WOODMERE

The Young Israel of Woodmere and the National Council of Young Israel will present a lecture for singles entitled "For Singles Beginning the Process . . . Navigating the Dating Route: Halacha, Hashkafa, and Hadracha" on Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 7:30 PM.  The event will take place at the Young Israel of Woodmere, which is located at 859 Peninsula Boulevard, in Woodmere, New York.

 The Guest Speaker will be Rabbi Mordechai Willig, a renowned lecturer and scholar, who is the Rabbi at the Young Israel of Riverdale, and a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.  Refreshments will be provided.

For more information about "For Singles Beginning the Process . . . Navigating the Dating Route: Halacha, Hashkafa, and Hadracha," call NCYI Director of Programming Rebbetzin Judi Steinig at 212-929-1525, or send an e-mail to jsteinig@youngisrael.org.

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) today called the presentation of a human rights award to Judge Richard Goldstone a "travesty."  Goldstone, who authored a nearly 600-page report about Israel's military operations in Gaza, received the first-ever Stockholm Human Rights Award, which is a joint initiative by the International Bar Association, the International Legal Assistance Consortium and the Swedish Bar Association.  The award will be presented each year to an individual or an institution for outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

NCYI President Shlomo Z. Mostofsky noted that the Goldstone Report, which alleges that Israel committed war crimes during the Gaza conflict in December 2008 and January 2009, contains a disproportionate amount of criticism of Israel.  It ignores the thousands of deadly rockets that Hamas terrorists fired at innocent Israeli men, women, and children, and overlooks the fact that Hamas readily used civilians as human shields.  In addition, the report disregarded Israel's right to defend its citizens and ignored the extraordinary steps Israel took to prevent civilian casualties.

"Recognizing Judge Richard Goldstone as a defender of human rights is an immoral mockery of the efforts of many who truly champion human rights absent a hidden agenda," said NCYI President Shlomo Z. Mostofsky.  "By labeling Israel's acts of self defense as human rights violations, Judge Goldstone displayed a clear inability to discern between a country struggling to protect itself from unprovoked acts of violence and the aggressive acts of a terrorist organization."

"The International Bar Association, the International Legal Assistance Consortium, and the Swedish Bar Association displayed extremely poor judgment in selecting Judge Goldstone to be the beneficiary of what should have been a very prestigious honor," continued Mostofsky.  "In light of his failure to conduct a fair and honest assessment of Israel's military operation in Gaza, bestowing the Stockholm Human Rights Award to Richard Goldstone diminishes its importance and renders the award worthless."

The Time Is Now to Press for Pollard's Release

By Farley Weiss - Hamodia - November 30, 2009

The failure to obtain Jonathan Pollard's release from his U.S. prison is primarily due to the fundamentally flawed policy of the leaders of Israel, and, no less, that of American Jewish leadership. They together continue to follow a strategy that has failed for twenty-five years - of quietly (if at all) pressing for Pollard's release, while at the same time withholding the necessary support for public efforts to secure Pollard's release.

Before the end of President Bush's tenure, the National Council of Young Israel (regrettably, almost the only Jewish organization that constantly publicly pushes for Pollard's release) organized a concerted call-in directed at the White House to appeal for Pollard's release. Moreover, efforts were undertaken to privately contact high-level people, past and present, from the Bush Administration to push for his release.

The National Council even persuaded friends of the president to advocate for his release, a relatively isolated endeavor because the government of Israel itself had no involvement and gave no assistance to these efforts. Simply stated, the failure to make this a case that warranted attention clearly did not help Pollard's chances to be released.

It is noteworthy that the U.S. activists lobbying for Pollard were not interviewed by Micha Lindenstraus, Israel's State Comptroller, who just completed an investigation of the Israeli Government's actions regarding Pollard. Yet it is public knowledge that Defense Minister Ehud Barak (then Prime Minister) pushed for a pardon for fugitive financier Mark Rich at the same time he was supposed to be singularly focused on Pollard's release. Barak's push for Rich gave President Clinton an excuse to say that he acceded to one of Israel's two requests - when it was known that Clinton had promised to release Pollard at Wye and then reneged on this promise. Known too is the fact that Prime Minister Olmert attempted to prevent Eli Yishai, the head of the Shas Party in Israel, from speaking to President Bush regarding Jonathan Pollard at a dinner in Israel.

We also know that whatever private efforts were carried out by Israeli leaders have failed. Thus, one must wonder why numerous substantial changes of policy were not advocated by Mr. Lindenstraus, even though in other investigations he usually does make such suggestions, and it is obvious that the current policy has been a failure.

I recently attended an event at which I approached one of the top Jewish leaders in the U.S., someone with access to President Obama. I asked him what President Obama's view was on Pollard. His response was particularly telling. He did not know, indicating that he had not used his access to Obama to address the matter.

In fact, to our knowledge, no Jew or Jewish organization has exploited their access to raise the Pollard issue in the ten months since Obama has been president (the National Council of Young Israel was not invited to the two recent Jewish Leaders meetings with President Obama, probably due to its public and outspoken right-of-center support for greater Israel).

Despite the many meetings between Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Senator George Mitchell, special envoy for Mideast affairs, we have yet to hear that Israel has demanded or received anything in return for concessions the U.S. is exacting. Quasi support for a Palestinian state and a removal of roadblocks are concessions Israel has already made without obtaining anything from the U.S. in return, and the U.S. continues to demand more concessions from Israel with no apparent quid pro quo. One might at a minimum expect some gesture to obtain Pollard's release.

Years ago, during the discussions that led to the Wye Agreement, it was well known that President Clinton promised then-Prime Minister Netanyahu that he would release Pollard - and then reneged on this promise at the urging of Dennis Ross. Ross is today one of the advisers to President Obama, and it appears that he has now switched his position, favoring Pollard's release. Unfortunately, since returning to office, Prime Minister Netanyahu has yet to mention Pollard in any speech or give any indication that this is an issue of concern for him, even though previously he had made the biggest effort to obtain Pollard's release and is the only Israeli leader who visited Pollard, albeit when he was not Prime Minister.

Considering the fact that President Obama is a former constitutional law professor, it seems reasonable to expect that we might convince him to support Pollard's release on the merits of the case. Furthermore, the argument that American presidents should be called upon to consider the pardon only during the last days of their tenure is misbegotten. It should be noted that the closest Pollard came to being released was during the 1998 Wye negotiations, not during the last days of the Bush Administrations. Thus there is no reason to wait another three years.

The failure by many different people in many different forums to raise the issue with the administration may have led President Bush to believe it is not important. This is not a subjective opinion of mine, but the exact message I personally received from a member of the Bush Administration. He unabashedly asked me why, if this was such an important issue, Jewish leaders are not bringing it up in their meetings with the president and the secretary of state, and unfortunately, as is the case now, with the Obama Administration?

Not relying upon the government of Israel or Jewish leaders in the U.S., I succeeded ten years ago in helping to convince former U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini (Arizona), then head of the Intelligence Committee, to reverse his position and support Pollard's release. Moreover, in the last few years I also helped arrange for former CIA Director James Woolsey to go public with his support for Pollard's release. Both of these people know all of the classified information about Pollard and they believe he should be released.

They know that the average sentence for passing information to an ally is two to four years, that Pollard pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government, that he did not expose U.S. agents, and that he has expressed remorse for his actions. And yet he is still in prison and is now in poor health.

By supporting his release, these officials confirmed that the circular reasoning that Pollard must have done something terrible that we are not aware of to receive such a harsh, unprecedented sentence is simply false. This was confirmed by Lawrence Korb, deputy of former defense secretary Casper Weinberger, when he wrote Pollard's father that the severity of Pollard's sentence was due to Weinberger's visceral hatred for Israel.

A famous aphorism attributed to Albert Einstein seems applicable to the Pollard case: Insanity is continuing to do the same thing and expecting to achieve different results. That is why the current methods of pressing (or not pressing) the case for Pollard's release must change.

Coordination of efforts among Israeli leaders and lay and organizational leaders involved in the Pollard case needs to start now. Jonathan Pollard has suffered too long. His release from an unjust sentence needs to be pressed by those lobbying the administration, whether Israeli leaders or U.S. Jewish leaders. A twenty-five-year policy of silence has failed; it needs to change.

December is the main month for pardons and commutations of sentences by the President of the United States. So that Pollard will finally be released, we ask you, the readers of this column, to start on December 1 and continue through the month to call the White House to politely register support for the commutation of Pollard's sentence to time served.

The White House number is 202-456-1111.

Let us do our part, and maybe the American Jewish and Israeli leaders will finally do theirs.

Farley Weiss is 2nd Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel and President of Young Israel of Phoenix.

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