The Israel Connection
News about Progressive Judaism in Israel	News about Progressive Judaism world-wide
Bridgeport Community Mission to Israel	Birthright Trips to Israel
Recommended Reading	Israel, the Conflict and Peace F.A.Q.
Israel Links	ARZA/WORLD UNION, N.A.
Media Links	Kehillat Yozma
The IRAC Site	The Israel Current Events Ethicist

Strangers, a short film by Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv
Winner of the Online Film Festival Viewers Award
at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival

Israeli artist Noa and Palestinean artist Mira Awad
singing Israel's entry to the 2009 Eurovision song competion
"There Must Be Another Way"

An interview with Noa and Mira on Dutch Television

Kehillat Yozma is B'nai Israel's sister congregation in Modi'in, near Jerusalem. The members of Yozma are helping to provide relief to Israelis in the north, where things are especially rough right now. Click here to see what they are doing and how we can help them.

Last Tuesday, laden with supplies and hugs from the YOZMA community, volunteers led by Lior Zagury (our in-house recreational leader) and Yossi Aud (YOZMA's Executive Director) spent the entire day and into the evening visiting the families in the bomb shelters throughout the North of Israel; to Tzfat, Naharia, Haifa, and elsewhere (while hearing the shells falling all around). Bearing gifts and greetings from the YOZMA school children, they visited soldiers on the front lines and wounded comrades recuperating in Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat. Our intention was to strengthen their resolve, and yet our resolve was strengthened. The experience was emotional, difficult and rewarding, while also being enormously frustrating confronting our incapacity to meet the basic needs of these families, suddenly thrust into impossible circumstances.

Click here to get a list of links to a variety of Israeli news sources on line.

Who is a Jew? Urgent call to action on the Rotem Bill

Israel, the Conflict and Peace:
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

From the Embassy of Israel Web Site

The Conflict·

Peace

Delegitimization and Antisemitism·

Basic Issues·

The Israel Current Events Ethicist

• Click here to visit the Lookstein Center Site, where they have questions based on current events in Israel and links to web sites to help you formulate your answers.

SPOTLIGHT ON ISRAEL

The dedication of American Jews to the concept of Tikkun Olam, healing the world, is well-documented. (You are reading this newsletter, aren't you?) Despite the importance of Tikkun Olam to Judaism, it may be hard to believe that in a country such as Israel, where human atrocities occur on a regular basis and the population is under a constant state of siege, social action still is alive and well.

This newsletter has primarily focused on social action initiatives here in the Bridgeport area. In this issue, we'd like to highlight the wonderful mitzvot being performed in Israel, in part to let you know that, despite the war, Tikkun Olam goes on and you can be a part of it. You'd never know this by reading the conventional press. We also encourage you to consider supporting these organizations with your donations.

Now more than ever, Israel needs your financial support. For the three organizations mentioned below, all donations are tax-deductible, as they have established US-domiciled organizations for the specific purpose of fundraising from US citizens.

The New Israel Fund (NIF) works to strengthen Israel's democracy and to promote freedom, justice and equality for all Israel's citizens. For twenty-five years, NIF has been a leader in building a just and strong Israel, believing that Israel's strength depends as much on its commitment to democratic principles as on its ability to defend itself against physical and military threats. Not only are these principles guaranteed in Israel's Declaration of Independence, they are central elements of the Jewish tradition.

A philanthropic partnership of Israelis, North Americans and Europeans, NIF is today the leading funder of social change in Israel. NIF has planted the seeds for much of the country's vibrant public interest sector, and is providing the financial and technical support to help hundreds of national and community-based organizations grow.

NIF works in three areas: fighting for civil and human rights, promoting religious tolerance and pluralism, and closing the social and economic gaps in Israeli society. To promote these goals, the New Israel Fund pursues an integrated strategy of grantmaking, technical assistance and coalition building. NIF builds institutions by nurturing and developing grassroots organizations that become the backbone of Israel's civil society and it partners with funders who share this vision of strategic philanthropy in support of democracy and social justice.

Since its founding in 1979, NIF has granted over $120 million to more than 700 organizations in Israel - organizations dedicated to safeguarding civil and human rights, bridging social and economic gaps, and fostering tolerance and religious pluralism. The goal is to build institutions able to stand on their own, while constantly investing in new organizations and taking on new challenges.

This month, NIF marks its 25th anniversary, and to celebrate, there will be a reception and dinner on Monday, May 10, featuring former President Bill Clinton, at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. For tickets and information about the anniversary celebration, call 212-750-2333. For more information about NIF, call 202-842-0900, or visit the web site at www.nif.org.

Yad Sarah, the largest voluntary organization in Israel, provides a spectrum of free or nominal cost services designed to make life easier for sick, disabled and elderly people and their families.

Today, only 27 years after it was founded, Yad Sarah has 100 branches throughout Israel run by some 6,000 volunteers. Yad Sarah's best-known service is the lending of medical and rehabilitative equipment on a short-term basis free of charge to anyone who needs it, from crutches and wheelchairs to oxygen concentrators and electronic monitors.

In addition, Yad Sarah provides a wide range of other services, including transportation and day care centers for the disabled, drop-in centers and minimum-charge dental clinics for the elderly, personal computerized emergency alarms monitored 24 hours a day, and guidance/exhibition centers which help disabled people choose the assistance devices most suited to their needs.

The organization also provides equipment and services for new mothers, infants, recently discharged hospital patients and others in need, and a wide range of volunteer-run creative, recreational and rehabilitative activities for homebound people.

One out of two Israeli families has been helped by Yad Sarah; over 380,000 Israelis use its services yearly. Yad Sarah's annual operating budget is financed almost completely by donations, over 70 percent of which are raised within Israel. No government assistance is received.

For more information, call 212-223-7758 or visit their web site at: www.yadsarah.org.

ARMDI, organized in 1940, is the exclusive fundraising organization in the United States for Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's equivalent to a Red Cross Society. ARMDI supports the MDA National Emergency Medical, Ambulance, Blood and Disaster Services, which benefit Israel's entire population.

MDA dispatches ambulances and EMT's 24 hours each day, 7 days a week. First on the scene within minutes, they respond to every medical emergency - births, heart attacks, roadside accidents and acts of terrorism. Consequently, MDA requires 80 new MDA Ambulances each year.

MDA also maintains the National Blood Services Center in Ramat Gan, which consists of the MDA Blood Bank and the MDA Fractionation Institute. The MDA Blood Center supplies 100% of the blood needs of the Israel Defense Forces and 98% of the blood requirements to all the hospitals throughout Israel.

Recently the Israeli government has requested MDA to organize and develop a Bone Marrow Center, which is critical to the treatment of such life-threatening diseases as aplastic anemia, various leukemias and a variety of other malignant disorders. In addition, this Center will have the potential to provide a source of therapy for genetic defects.

To learn more about ARMDI and MDA, call 212-757-1627, or visit www.armdi.org.

The KESHER Israel Connection is a free, ten-day tour of Israel run in conjunction with birthright israel. This program is open to 18-26 year olds who have never been on an educational study program or organized peer group tour of Israel.