January 2011 Blog Posts (4)

Dear Friends

Eight years ago, I traveled to Brisbane to serve the UPJ local congregation on the High Holy Days. I’m looking at the pictures from the city and the rest of Queensland on the TV screen and it is hard to capture the might of the water and the tragedy. We share with you the grief for the life that was taken. I hope your congregants are safe and that this is also the situation of the synagogues in the city and on the coast. Please let us know if there is any type of support…

Floods left parts of Australia's third-biggest city on Thursday looking like a war zone in need of years of reconstruction, the state premier said, while fresh threats loomed with a cyclone forecast offshore. The floods across the state of Queensland have killed at least 19 people, 12 of whom died in the Toowoomba area inland, and 61 were missing, the state government said.

Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley region, west of state capital Brisbane, were devastated by tsunami-like flash…

Once again, the Rotem Conversion Bill has become a subject of concern. And once again, our colleagues in Israel, led by Rabbi Gilad Kariv and counsel at IRAC, in cooperation with ARZA USA, the Conservative Movement and the Federations of North America, and with the support of Natan Sharansky, Chair of the Jewish Agency, have addressed the issues.

There is a moratorium to which the Government has agreed, to permit a negotiated solution to the problem, now extending until July 2011.…

As many of you are aware, the Carmel fire left many people without food, clothing, property and their homes. It also left the environment devastated and in desperate need of renewal.

The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) and its many affiliates, including Keren B’Kavod, Noar Telem, IMPJ’s Or Hadash Community, IMPJ’s Ohel Avraham Community, Leo Baeck Educational…