The Second Conference starts...

The conference is now in full swing. Last night Avram Burg spoke mentioning among other things that if both the Arabs and Jews can't get out from the domination of a small minority in each of their respective communities that is determining its relationship with the other side, we are in for trouble.

Also I heard there is more then one blogger (me) at this years conference. Fantastic! The more the better.

1st Posting for the Second Conference...

Before our 2nd conference begins the New York Times has an article on recent events in East Jerusalem.  Given our efforts there last conference (we helped to pay for recreating a house that was demolished), it looks like interesting times are ahead.  The story is entitled "New Tensions in Jerusalem's Arab Neighborhoods" can be found here.

The Conference In the News...

The conference also received coverage in the regular press:

Larry Kohler-Esses wrote a story you can read about by clicking here.

JJ Goldberg wrote an article in the Forward that you can about by clicking here.

Since this blog is about what you have to say...

Since this blog is about what you and others have to say about the conference here are links to their thoughts:


Rabbi Barry Leff says:

See my blog for my reflections on the conference. It was great!Rabbi Barry Leff


Rabbi Jeff Marker Says:

I've blogged about the conference at my blog. To view it click here. Rabbi Jeff Marker

Conference Begins with Prayer, Learning & Community Building

Starting with a prayer of "welcome home" Rabbis from all over America and Israel, and from all the different denominations began to create a stronger movement of Rabbis for human rights.

Some of the highlights of the opening session:

The mixing and sharing of ideas from Rabbis (Gerry Serrota, Brian Wilt, Melissa Weintraub) Jewish institutional leaders (Ruth Messinger, John Ruskay), professors (Dr. Moshe Halbertal), secular Jews (Ken Roth from Human Rights Watch) and even non-Jews (the Imam of Georgetown University [I will update this with his name shortly]).

Given there is no net access at the conference and I am filing this from home at 12:30 at night I will post more tomorrow on what was said.

Welcome to this blog...

This blog is of the first North American Rabbinic Conference on Judaism and Human Rights. The conference is now taking place from December 10–12, 2006 / Kislev 19–21, 5767. The conference schedual and details are on the web on the Rabbis for Human Rights web site so I will not repeat them here. This site is for participants who want to comment and share their thoughts with others at the conference and for those not able to make it who want to add their thoughts.