QUOTE OF THE
WEEK: “Population has
steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp,
the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness
of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years
with large increase of freedom.”
– Abraham
Lincoln, 1853 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Friday Wednesday Footnote #4 …
November 24, 2004
A
publication of The Baltimore Jewish Council.
Contents
1. They've done it again! NORC funds from Sen. Mikulski and Rep. Cardin.
2. Three Reminders.
3. Worth a Read.
4. Maryland Chamber of Commerce legislative wish list.
5. Handling the Holidays – A Church-State Perspective.
6. Thanksgiving Food for Thought.
Welcome, friends, to this special
Wednesday edition of the “Friday Footnote.”
I hope this Thanksgiving holiday will find you warmly in the company of
family and friends, carving up a big old bird, or whatever low-carb or non-meat
substitute suits your fancy.
We start off with some very good news from
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, and Congressman Benjamin Cardin, regarding our
community’s continuing efforts to make life more comfortable and dignified for
low-income seniors in our midst.
And in “Worth a Read” there’s an update on
Israel in the eyes of some of our Protestant friends, and an interesting look
at Jewish giving.
Have a quick and safe journey to wherever
you’re headed. And as always, a
pleasant and peaceful Shabbat – and a happy and grateful Thanksgiving!
- David
They’ve done it again! NORC
funds from Sen. Mikulski and Rep. Cardin
For the third year, Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Benjamin Cardin have come through with vitally needed support for the NORC project (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) run by CHAI, JFS, JCC, Sinai Hospital and the Edward A. Myerberg Senior Center. The project is known locally as Senior Friendly Neighborhoods.
Sen. Mikulski, along with Congressman Cardin, went to bat for this project and helped secure $706,000 in the federal budget to continue the work of providing coordinated health care, social service and group activities to help low- to moderate-income seniors remain living at home as independently as possible.
It would be wonderful if you could put in a call or send an
email to both Sen. Mikulski
(Baltimore office where you can leave a message: (410) 962-4510) and Rep. Cardin (same: (410)
433-8886) expressing the Jewish community’s appreciation for their work
on this wonderful and very effective project.
(See sample email below)
We worked through the unbelievably effective and professional Washington Action Office of United Jewish Communities, headed by Chuck Konigsberg. The NORC funding effort was overseen by Rob Goldberg in that office, who helped a total of 29 Jewish communities secure funding in what turned out to be a pretty competitive year for funding.
And just to put this in perspective … UJC secured
approximately $7.2 million to fund 29 grants (11 new and 18 continuation) in
FY2005. Based on the conference report
of the omnibus bill, the largest request was for $1 million. The lowest request was for $30,000. The average was $247,000 (up from $210,000
last year);
- 6 communities secured between $30,000 and $50,000;
- 11 secured between $100,000 and $200,000;
- 6 secured between $225,000 and $300,000;
- 3 secured between $400,000 and $500,000;
- and 3 secured between $650,000 and $1 million (that’s us!).
Three Reminders
1) For those of you who are involved in
our Government Relations Commission, please mark the date and let me know if
you can attend our next meeting, on Wednesday December 1, 12:00 p.m., at The
Associated. We’ll be tackling two
important policy recommendations, on stem cell research and immigration
reform. Reply to me or to Phyllis Gwynn
(and don’t forget to reserve a tasty buffet lunch at $8.00).
2) I really need to hear from folks who
have been affected by the life insurance issue I wrote to you about
before (see
issue brief below). We’ll need to show the Legislature as wide a variety of
individuals and businesses affected by this as possible.
3) Don’t forget about the Maryland
Jewish Alliance Advocacy Day in Annapolis.
Mark your calendar for Monday March 7, 2005. Optional meetings with legislators will begin
at 5:00 p.m.; legislative reception starts at 6:30 p.m.
Worth
a read
There was a lot of anger and angst generated when the Presbyterian Church USA issued a call this summer for selective divestment from Israel. But far less noticed was this slightly more hopeful and balanced move from the Episcopal Church this month. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports: “Episcopal view on Mideast conflict an improvement, Jewish groups say.”
Also less noticed was the reaction from Baltimore area Presbyterian leaders to their national group. In case you missed it in the Jewish Times in September, below is the text of an open letter to the Jewish community from local Presbyterian leaders, for which we express our deep appreciation.
A very interesting set of articles is in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, called “Jewish Giving’s New Era,” about the growing pains of an American Jewish community that is no longer as focused on giving primarily to Jewish causes as it used to be – and the challenges this raises for federations. Here’s a chart on who gives to Jewish vs. non-Jewish causes:
|
Donations
by American Jews: Where They Give |
|
|
|
|
|
Jewish
federations |
Other
Jewish causes |
Non-Jewish
causes |
|
Percentage
who donate to: |
30% |
41% |
62% |
|
Region |
|
|
|
|
Northeast |
30% |
45% |
60% |
|
Midwest |
37% |
41% |
71% |
|
Age |
|
|
|
|
35-44 |
22% |
41% |
67% |
|
45-54 |
29% |
45% |
69% |
|
55-64 |
39% |
48% |
73% |
|
Income |
|
|
|
|
Under
$25,000 |
14% |
24% |
36% |
|
$25,000-$49,999 |
24% |
35% |
58% |
|
$50,000-$74,999 |
28% |
34% |
64% |
|
$75,000-$99,999 |
32% |
46% |
71% |
|
$100,000-$149,999 |
35% |
50% |
75% |
|
$150,000
and above |
46% |
57% |
85% |
SOURCE: United Jewish Communities
Md. Chamber of
Commerce wish list
With the 2005 General Assembly session approaching, I’ll
try to share with you what various organizations will be trying to accomplish
in Annapolis. We’ll start with the
Maryland Chamber of Commerce’s 2005 Legislative Agenda.
The
Maryland Chamber’s key issues for the 2005 Session are:
· Closing the state’s structural deficit through fiscal responsibility, evaluation of current programs, avoidance of new spending mandates and authorization of carefully regulated slot machines in limited locations to fund public education;
· Keeping Maryland’s state and local regulatory and tax structure competitive to encourage businesses to locate jobs, invest and do business in Maryland;
· Adequately funding transportation infrastructure;
· Reforming the state’s civil liability laws to moderate medical liability insurance rates and ensure access to health care;
· Improving the state’s current market-based health insurance system to control costs, increase competition and provide customer choice;
· Passing unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation reforms to control cost escalation; and
· Promoting economic growth and environmental stewardship as compatible goals free of unnecessary legal or regulatory mandates and minimal adverse economic impacts.
For a
more detailed view of their agenda, which includes the major elements below,
click on this picture:
·
Fiscal Responsibility
· Transportation Funding
· Civil Liability Reform
·
Health Care Choice
·
Unemployment Insurance
·
Workers’ Compensation
·
Environment
Handling the holidays – a church-state perspective
“Every
December,” the Anti-Defamation League warns, “public school students, parents,
teachers and administrators face the difficult task of acknowledging the
various religious and secular holiday traditions celebrated during that time of
year. Teachers, administrators and parents should try to promote greater
understanding and tolerance among students of different traditions by taking
care to adhere to the requirements of the First Amendment.” Couldn’t agree more.
That’s the start of a very helpful
and comprehensive guide the ADL posts called “The
‘December Dilemma’: December Holiday Guidelines for Public Schools.”
The
guide also includes sections on:
… And finally:
Food for Thought
I hope you all
have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are
Jews, and we are also Americans, and despite all the challenges this country
faces, we have an awful lot to be thankful for. Here are a few thoughts about this non-Jewish holiday, and its
sources:
1) “Many Americans, upon seeing a decorated sukkah for the
first time, remark on how much the sukkah (and the holiday generally) reminds
them of Thanksgiving. This may not be entirely coincidental: I have heard that
our American pilgrims, who originated the Thanksgiving holiday, borrowed the
idea from Sukkot. The pilgrims were deeply religious people. When they were
trying to find a way to express their thanks for their survival and for the
harvest, they looked to the Bible for an appropriate way of celebrating and
found Sukkot. (Nifty facts they don't teach you in public school!) …”
From “Judaism 101”
2) “THE JEWISH THANKSGIVING
The world’s first Thanksgiving.
The world’s first pilgrims.
But, there were no Indians.
No, our English/American Pilgrim ancestors at Plymouth Rock were not the
first. They get full credit on the last Thursday of every November for
having brought to the shores of the USA an ancient harvest festival, which was
first celebrated by the Israelites after they completed their forty year desert
track.” … From Jewish
Outreach Institute
3) Finally, this from a U.S. President who
knew a thing or two about serving in difficult and divisive times, and more
than a thing or two about the most economical and powerful use of the English
language. I hope you’ll take a few
moments to read it.
Lincoln's Thanksgiving
Proclamation
Washington, DC—October 3, 1863
|
|
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled
with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties,
which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from
which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that
they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually
insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has
sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression,
peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws
have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in
the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly
contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful
industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or
the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as
well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more
abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding
the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and
the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is
permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand
worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High
God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless
remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently,
and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole
American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the
United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and
observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise
to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them
that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular
deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national
perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have
become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife
in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of
the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon
as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace,
harmony, tranquillity, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
Sample thank-you emails to Sen. Mikulski and Rep. Cardin:
Dear Senator Mikulski/Congressman Cardin:
I write to thank you for your continued
support of the NORC (or Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) project run
by CHAI and other agencies of The Associated.
I was excited to hear about the success of your efforts to secure
federal funds to continue this project, which is becoming a model to the nation
for dignified care of our seniors.
This project is of particular concern to
me because __________________________.
Once again, I want you to know how much
your efforts on behalf of the Jewish community are appreciated. I hope you have/had
a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Senator Mikulski’s email address: [email protected]
Congressman Cardin’s email address: [email protected]
Back to where you were
Back to contents
Life
Insurance Anti-Discrimination in Travel Act
PROPOSED LEGISLATION: 2005 Maryland General Assembly
House Sponsor: Del. Adrienne Mandel
Senate Sponsor: Sen. Lisa Gladden
Background
The freedom to travel is a
liberty afforded to all those who live in a democratic society. Whether traveling for pleasure, for
business, or for religion, Americans deserve the right to travel abroad without fear of denyying themselves or their families
basic life necessities and benefits. Life Insurance policies provide this
security by ensuring that those who travel
will be able to care for their loved ones should the unforeseen and unfortunate
occur.
The Problem
Life Insurance companies
have been denying coverage or raising the rates of policies for those who have
traveled or plan to travel abroad to countries listed on the U.S. State
Department’s current “Travel Warnings” list, among others. Coverage is already
excluded for death from acts of war. This
policy of denying life insurance is not based on sound insurance practice or
actuarial data, but rather is based upon fear and misinformation.
The impact of this policy is
widely felt: Families are discouraged from visiting loved ones abroad.
Ø Maryland companies are hampered in their efforts to
do business around the world.
Ø Those involved in philanthropic organizations are
hindered in their efforts to spread American goodwill.
Ø People of faith must choose between making religious
pilgrimages or providing for their families.
Sadly, violent acts are
no longer restricted to a short list of foreign countries. While
incidents abroad that have harmed Americans are still extremely rare, we are as
much at risk in New York, Madrid or Washington, D.C., as we are in Mecca or
Jerusalem. Marylanders deserve the freedom to travel without fear of losing
their life insurance.
The Solution
Ø The “Life-Insurance Anti-Discrimination in Travel
Act” would prohibit a life insurance company from refusing to insure,
refusing to continue to insure, limiting the amount or extent or kind of
coverage available to an individual or charging an individual a different rate
for the same coverage for reasons associated with an applicant’s or insured
lawful travel experiences.
Ø Two other states, Illinois and New York, have passed legislation to prevent life insurance companies from denying coverage based on past lawful travel experiences. It is time for Maryland to take the next step and end this discriminatory practice entirely.
Back to where you were
Back to contents
An open letter to the Baltimore Jewish Community
September 3, 2004 - Last month the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) met in Richmond, VA. The General Assembly is the highest deliberative body of the denomination, and speaks to and for the national church.
A number of its actions spoke about Israel and Judaism. We are acutely aware that these actions have been painful to many within the Jewish community and have called into question our friendship and support. Many of us Presbyterians were surprised by these actions and wish to go on record stating that they do not fairly represent our views.
The General Assembly stated its “opposition to the construction of a wall and other barriers,” “welcomes the possibilities for peace contained in the ‘Geneva Accord,’” described the “horrific acts of violence and deadly attacks on innocent people, whether carried out by Palestinian ‘suicide bombers’ or by the Israeli military, as abhorrent and inexcusable by all measures,” and authorizes exploration of a selective divestment of church funds from those companies whose business in Israel is found to be directly or indirectly causing harm or suffering to innocent people, Palestinian or Israeli.”
What troubles us is that taken as a whole, these statement were not even-handed or adequately analyzed -- especially in the call for our denominations to proceed with “selective divestment” of companies that do business with Israel and the expressed concern for the plight of Palestinians without an equal concern for the terror inspired by the actions of the Palestinian Authority or the jihadist terrorist groups. On the domestic front, the assembly called for a re-examining and strengthening of the relationship between Christians and Jews while at the same time it refused to suspend the funding of a Presbyterian congregation in Pennsylvania that calls itself “Avodat Yisrael” and whose minister calls himself a rabbi. Many in our denomination and those who sign this letter feel that the approach of this congregation in Pennsylvania is deliberately deceptive and contradictory to the theological commitments of our denomination.
Furthermore, the Presbytery of Baltimore has gone on record rejecting efforts to proselytize Jews by removing just such a Messianic congregation from its membership more than a decade ago. We are sorry that our denomination has not suspended this funding. We share in the Jewish community’s dismay at this insensitivity, and will continue to take steps to communicate our disagreement with these actions.
Although previous General Assemblies have expressed strong support for Israel, and described Jews and Christians as “partners” who both stand in covenantal solidarity with God, the actions of this assembly dealt a disturbing setback to the vitally important relationship between our two communities. In our opinion, these actions failed to convey a sense of balance and fairness in regards to the struggle between Israel and the Palestinian people. It also failed to recognize the inappropriateness of a Presbyterian congregation expropriating Jewish symbols and rituals for the purpose of bringing Jews into Christianity.
We, the undersigned, disagree with these actions by the national church but find some hope in the assembly’s call for a new dialogue between Presbyterians and Jews. We pledge ourselves to work within our denomination for increased sensitivity to the concerns of our Jewish neighbors regarding Israel, while seeking to work as true partners to hasten an end to the conflict that has caused so much pain for Jews, Christians and Muslims.
In the coming weeks and months, we will seek greater dialogue with our Jewish brothers and sisters and will work within our presbytery to take actions opposing both the divestment proposal and further funding for congregations that adopt Jewish symbols and rituals for the purpose of evangelism within the Jewish community.
Rev. Peter Nord – Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of Baltimore
Rev.
Thomas W. Blair – pastor, Second Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Wayne G. Boulton – pastor, Roland Park Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Christa Burns – pastor, Faith Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Andrew Foster Connors – pastor, Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church
Rev.
George R. DeMass – pastor, Perry hall Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Mary D. Galt – pastor, Maryland Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Alison Halsey – pastor, First & Franklin Presbyterian Church
Rev.
David Harris – parish associate, Govans Presbyterian Church
Rev.
William L. Hathaway – pastor, 1st Presbyterian of Annapolis Church
Rev.
James G. Kirk – pastor, Harandale Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Kenneth E. Kovacs – pastor, Catonsville Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Christopher Leighton – executive director, Institute For Christian and Jewish
Studies
Rev.
Terry Martin-Minnich – associate pastor, Roland Park Presbyterian Church
Chaplain
Ronald Martin-Minnich – chaplan, Maryland Army National Guard
Rev.
Brett Porter Morgan – pastor, Ashland Presbyterian Church
Rev.
C. Edward Richardson – director of Christian education, Govans Presbyterian
Church
Rev.
W. Terry Schoener – pastor, Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church (Severna Park)
Rev.
John R. Sharp – pastor, Govans Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Timothy S. Stern – pastor, Ark and Dove Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Gretchen van Utt – pastor, Springfield Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Herbert Valentine – moderator of the 203rd General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church