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E-Update from the OU
July 3, 2002 ISRAEL ON OUR MINDS AND IN OUR HEARTS Returning from over a week in Israel spent attending sessions at the World Zionist Congress, followed by the Jewish Agency assembly and board of governors meetings, OU president Harvey Blitz reports that both agendas were overshadowed by the terrorist attacks. But that apart, he expressed disappointment that the WZO Congress sessions were too political in nature and failed to reflect the urgent need to galvanize Jews everywhere in support of Israel. "The most meaningful moment I spent in Israel," he said, "was unfortunately the shiva visit I paid to the family of a terror victim in Gilo." OU Israel Task Forces In one of a new series of regular, large scale phone conferences with rabbis and presidents of OU synagogues around North America, Harvey Blitz and executive vice president Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb reported the progress of the OU's new Israel task forces in the areas of Public Relations, Education, Chizuk and Anti-Semitism. Each task force is working to help identify ways we can organize, enhance, and unite grassroots community efforts in practical, hands-on ways on both the local and national levels. Volunteers are needed from every community to serve on these important groups. If you want to take this opportunity of being part of a major effort to help Israel, please contact our task force coordinator, Tobey Herzog, at 212. 613.8399, or by e-mail to herzogt@ou.org. Next Israel Mission Gears Up Each successive Israel Solidarity mission in the very effective OU/RCA series seems to take on greater significance than its predecessors, as each day's news brings more reasons to go. You can still join the next mission, which leaves on Sunday, July 21st and returns Sunday, July 28th. Full details, with itinerary and prices, are available on the OU website, www.ou.org, or by calling Richard Stareshefsky at the OU Israel Missions Desk, 212.613.8171; e-mail richard@ou.org. Extensions, with optional tour programs, both before and after this Mission, are available by request. Ask, too, about customized trips for your shul or community group. AROUND THE OU Three Weeks Programming Following last year's highly successful format, the OU's Department of Community and Synagogue Services and the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) have again produced and distributed a video to be shown in shuls during the Three Weeks between the fasts of Shiva Asar b'Tammuz (June 27) and Tisha b'Av (July 18). The video, which features an inspiring message from Israel Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, shlita, as well as calls to action from Rabbi Weinreb, RCA president Rabbi Heshie Billet, and Harvey Blitz, concentrates on the many ways our communities can support Israel. Some shuls have already held this program, while others have announced it for the coming weeks. Please call your local synagogue for details of their program. Tisha b'Av Live Web Broadcast On Tisha b'Av itself, the OU website, www.ou.org, will carry a live broadcast of Kinot with introductions and explanations by Rabbi Weinreb. Designed to be seen by large groups in shuls, as well as by individuals who are prevented from spending the entire morning there, the broadcast will last from 9:30 am until 1:15 pm. Those in the NYC area are invited to the OU offices at 11 Broadway at 8:30 am for shacharit, but, for security reasons, you must register in advance by calling 212.613.8227. Protecting Our Synagogues and Schools The rising number of brazen anti-Semitic acts being committed all over Europe has set off alarm bells, and the OU has been carefully monitoring the situation. "The first thing we must do," according to Stephen J. Savitsky, chair of the OU's Community and Synagogue Services Commission, "is to make sure all our synagogues are conversant with the best security measures available to them, and then to encourage them to put them into practice." Arrangements have therefore been made for a one-day practical seminar to be conducted by a team of British experts specializing in synagogue and school security. To be held on Wednesday, July 10 at OU headquarters in New York, the program will also be available via live internet hook-up to our communities throughout North America. Participation, whether in person or on the web, is by reservation only. Please call Rabbi Mayer Waxman at 212.613.8285, or visit www.ou.org. 100th Issue of Popular OU Kashrut Publication The 100th issue of Daf Hakashrus, a monthly newsletter for professionals in the field, has just been published. Edited by Rabbi Yosef Grossman, one of our distinguished rabbinic coordinators, Daf Hakashrus is avidly read not only by our own close to 400 rabbinic field representatives, but by the members of kashrut organizations all over the world, by rabbanim and dayyanim, and by anyone who wants to keep up with finer nuances of kosher supervision. The articles, which tend to be highly technical, deal with such topics as the chemical composition of various food ingredients, as well as the halachic ramifications of recent changes in the manufacture of food processing equipment. Some volumes of back issues are available for purchase by calling 212.613.8212. New OU Billboard Proclaims Support for Israel Thanks to an anonymous donor, the OU's Department of Communications and Marketing has been given the use of a huge billboard alongside the New Jersey Turnpike (between exits 8A and 9, on the right side when traveling north) for the next several months. Reflecting the donor's only stipulation that it carry a message of support for Israel, the billboard reads: "Stand with Israel, now and forever!" together with the biblical phrase "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem" in Hebrew and English, and the OU logo. We would be happy to supply artwork for any other billboard that can be made available to us, anywhere in North America. To see a photo, visit www.ou.org. IPA Summer Interns Program Rabbi Weinreb recently traveled down to Washington, DC for a series of meetings with government officials and to greet the new group of 42 IPA interns who are spending most of the summer in Washington. The OU-IPA Washington Internship brings Jewish university students from around the country to Washington each year to work on Capitol Hill and in Jewish public policy offices. In addition to their work schedules, the OU organizes a series of lectures and shiurim for them on a wide range of topics throughout the summer. These outstanding young men and women make a true Kiddush Hashem in the halls of power of the United States. College Campus Program For students at many college campuses around the USA today, it is never an easy thing to feel comfortable in their Jewish identity, let alone in their observance. Several years ago, Rabbi Menachem Schrader, who teaches Talmud at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel, began working with the OU to place Orthodox couples in residence on various campuses. Coordinating their activities with the campus Hillel, the couples serve as a resource for Orthodox students, bolstering their commitment to observance in the face of so many other influences. The program, which now covers Yale, Cornell, UCLA and Brandeis, will be expanded in the coming academic year to include Penn and Brooklyn. New Edition of "Choosing a College" Booklet OU/NCSY has just published a new edition of Choosing a College: A Guide for Observant Students. Written by Rabbi Joseph Polak, Hillel Rabbi at Boston University, the booklet graphically describes the challenges Orthodox students face in college dorms and campuses generally. Through vignettes and "what if" situations, Rabbi Polak sets out the choices students will inevitably have to make and the possible compromises they may be faced with. By presenting the criteria that Orthodox students should consider in a college before making it their home for the next four years, he enables them to make an informed choice and to muster all the resources they will need to maintain their emunah, their learning and their observance. This publication, which should be required reading for all high school juniors and seniors, may be purchased at a nominal cost by calling 212.613.8233, or by visiting www.ou.org. OU Gratified Over School Voucher Decision The decision by the United States Supreme Court declaring the City of Cleveland's school voucher program constitutional was warmly welcomed by the OU. In a statement issued by the IPA, Harvey Blitz said: "The Orthodox Union and its constituency are thrilled with this court decision. We are proud of the role we have played in the school choice movement over the last four decades. Today, the scores of "friend of the court" briefs and other activities in support of placing educational decisions in the hands of parents have paid off. We look forward to working with all who support educational excellence, religious liberty and parental empowerment to craft and implement school voucher programs throughout the nation." OU Honorary President Accepts New Community Role OU Honorary President Julius Berman (president, 1978 - 1984) has become Chairman of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which works to secure compensation and restitution for survivors of the Holocaust and heirs of victims. Since 1951, the Claims Conference-working in partnership with the state of Israel-has negotiated for and distributed payments from Germany, Austria and other governments, as well as certain industries, recovered unclaimed German Jewish property, and funded programs to assist the neediest Jewish victims of Nazism. News from the Seymour J. Abrams OU Israel Center On any given Thursday afternoon in the Israel Center's lower level, you can find a band of volunteers collating, folding and stapling thousands of copies of Torah Tidbits, the Center's hugely popular weekly parsha publication. Later that day, bundles of copies find their way into the hands of other volunteers who transport them to shuls in cities, towns, and yishuvim all across Israel in time for Shabbat. Written, edited and produced by Center educational director Phil Chernofsky, Torah Tidbits just celebrated its tenth anniversary with a luncheon for all the volunteers. To read Torah Tidbits yourself, you can view and download it each week on the OU's website, www.ou.org. It's a highly original, informative and entertaining mix of divrei Torah on the parsha and other related subjects, with lots of eye-opening statistics, riddles and other features thrown in. Kharkov Over 400 parents, students and guests gathered on May 30th for the high school graduation, reports Rabbi Shlomo Asraf, director of the OU Joseph K. Miller Torah Center in Kharkov, Ukraine. Unlike previous years, only four or five graduates (out of twenty) are making aliyah which means, says Rabbi Asraf, that he will now have to expand the center's activities to do more work with college students. A three-week day camp was held immediately after the end of the school year with 80 children participating. >From July 25 through August 8, over 300 youngsters will attend summer camp in Vasishevo, with the help of 35 NCSYers traveling to Kharkov and then to Israel on the JOLT program. AROUND NCSY Rabbi Steve Burg, NCSY West
Coast Regional Director, recently received the following letter from a
former NCSYer who traveled to Israel with NCSY's TJJ program in 2000: |