Within 48 hours of the historic protest for women’s rights on Jan. 23, President Donald Trump put millions of people around the world at risk with a stroke of his pen. Late last month, he reinstated the “global gag rule,” which forbids the U.S. from giving global health assistance to any overseas organization that provides abortions, counsels …
Read More“America has established for itself a tradition of fine, open-handed generosity in its response to appeals for help that come from beyond its borders. The respect for human rights, the understanding of the dignity of the individual, the reverence for personality, which are part of the American way of looking at life, carry with them …
Read MoreMore than 20 Democratic Jewish members of the House of Representatives called on President Donald Trump not to sign an executive order that would exempt religious organizations from adhering to nondiscrimination protection. The letter sent Thursday was in reaction to news reports that Trump would sign the order allowing federally funded, faith-based organizations to discriminate …
Read More“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” These are the powerful words of Frederick Douglass, the 19th century African American who escaped slavery to become an historic leader of the abolitionist movement. His words bear repeating. I’ve been thinking again and again about their profound relevance today, when the need to make progress …
Read MoreSunday’s ice and cold weather did not deter New Jerseyans from trekking into Battery Park to protest President Donald Trump’s now-stayed ban against U.S. entry of Muslim immigrants from seven nations. “Considering all that the Syrian refugees have gone through, standing outside in bad weather for a few hours was not so much of a hardship,” …
Read MoreOver 100 years ago, Barnett Levine was greeted by the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty as he arrived in the United States, having fled anti-Semitism and pogroms in his native Poland. On Sunday, his grandson saw those very same sights when he joined about 700 others in this city’s Battery Park downtown …
Read MoreJewish groups welcomed a federal appeals court ruling upholding a stay on President Donald Trump’s ban on the entry of refugees and of travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries. “We applaud the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, and hope that it sends an important message to the nation and the world that the United States is a nation …
Read MoreThe Jewish resettlement agency HIAS is planning a national day of Jewish action on refugees with rallies planned in nearly a dozen states. Rallies are scheduled to be held in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver and San Francisco, among others. The New York rally will be held in Battery Park, in view …
Read MoreWith not much to smile about since Inauguration Day, it has been heartening to see the nearly undivided reaction of the American Jewish community to Donald Trump’s January 27 Executive Order (EO) on immigration and refugee admission – widely considered to constitute a Muslim ban. With one or two glaring exceptions — to which I’ll …
Read MoreRabbi Samuel Gordon of Wilmette’s Congregation Sukkat Shalom was named a 2017 Global Justice Fellow by the American Jewish World Service and visited the Dominican Republic, studying the plight of Dominicans of Haitian descent, whose citizenships have been stripped from them. He spoke Feb. 1 about his trip.
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