Etgar 36: Summer 2008

By Sarah Gilbert

We woke up a little groggy from the full day we had yesterday. It had been a hard and fast day that had worn us down. I prayed that I had gotten enough rest for this day.

Our first meeting was with the ONE Campaign. They are an organization that fights poverty and disease in extreme third world countries in places such as India or Africa. One of the most important parts of the ONE campaign is that Bono, of U2, fronts the organization in the media. In the elevators on the way to their offices we whispered (maybe even yelled) about how exciting it would be to meet Bono. We decided that we probably would meet him. We didn’t. But it didn’t matter. Instead we met with Kim Smith, the Deputy Field Director of ONE. She explained that ONE is not like other organizations where people physically build wells, schools, etc. Instead, ONE acts at a higher level by building up a “grassroots army” to raise awareness and petition their representatives to devote a larger portion of the nation’s budget to helping these countries that need it. At this point in time, our government has devoted less than 1% of our budget to poverty relief in other countries. Actually, ONE accepts no donations of any kind but trains people to organize others to reach their congressional leaders.

After this we met with Folabi Olagbaju, the Mid-Atlantic region Director of Amnesty International. Amnesty International is all about upholding the rights that were made legitimate in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR was sparked by World War II and the Holocaust and the need for that to never happen again. Eleanor Roosevelt fronted the movement of the UDHR which was legitimized by the UN and signed by many nations in 1948. Peter Bereson, the founder of Amnesty International, was reading a newspaper and read about Portuguese students who were arrested for toasting freedom. This didn’t sit well with him so he asked people to write letters to the Portuguese government and got the students released. Amnesty focuses on individual human rights violations as well as bigger scale issues. Some of their campaigns are: abolish the death penalty, women’s rights, to abolish torture, and end the genocide in Darfur. Folabai also explained to us how people in the West thought that rights are something we own but in indigenous areas people think rights are your responsibility to the world.

After lunch, we met with Carinne Luck, the Chief of Staff for J Street. J Street is a brand new progressive lobby that is pro-Israel and pro-peace. They are searching for a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and aim to have a dialogue with Iran. J Street just celebrated its being in existence for 100 days. In fact we were the first school group they met with. We understand that J Street is not anti-semitic, they just wish for peace and promote democracy and diplomacy.

After that we met with NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. They would like for marijuana to be legalized. We met with R. Keith Stroup, the legal counsel for NORML. He made a lot of good points. The main one is that since marijuana is physically non-addictive, cannot be fatally overdosed on, and is not more harmful than cigarettes, why is it illegal while tobacco and alcohol are not? Think about it. He also brought up the question of what role should government have in our private lives?

After this we went to Temple Beth Sholom, the synagogue that Etgar member Hannah Goldstein goes to, for Friday night services. It is a modern Orthodox congregation so the men and women were separated. Other than that it was not so different from other services we had been to.

We then went to Hannah’s house afterwards for an amazing home cooked dinner! Afterwards, we did our wrap up at their house. While speaking about our response to NORML, Hannah’s grandfather, who is a judge, stood up and told us what he thought about our meeting with NORML. We realized how controversial many of the topics we have discussed on this trip are. It seems that everyone has an opinion about them. I hope this trip will help us form an opinion about many other issues we will face in the future.

By Aaron Wasser

We woke up to our first Washington DC morning. After a quick breakfast and sleep-filled bus ride, we found ourselves knocking on the door of the non-profit organization, Jubilee USA. Named after the Torah concept of the Jubilee year, this organization is focused on relieving the debt of poor developing countries.

Next we walked by the Supreme Court and Library of Congress on our way to the Cannon Building, where many Congressional leaders have their offices, and went to meet with Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta. Congressman Lewis recalled with vivid detail his role in both the Civil Rights movement and politics today. We had followed in his footsteps during the first few days of our trip in the South. He talked about the march in Selma that he helped organize. Perhaps what was most impressive was his calm disposition as he reflected upon the beatings he took on that day which is known as Bloody Sunday. He answered all of our questions about current issues and the lessons we had learned from the Civil Rights era.

outside the Capitol building

meeting with Congressman John Lewis in his office

Billy then took us out for the quality Chinese food that Washington DC is known for.

Our next stop after lunch was my favorite of the day which was with the environmental group, Greenpeace. As I walked in I found myself overwhelmed by solar panels, daylight sensors, compressed straw furniture and other progressive eco-friendly appliances. We met with Deputy Executive Director, Bill Richardson, who told us about Greenpeace’s inspiring origin of a single ship that gained global support as it set sail to stop nuclear testing. Greenpeace gave us a refreshing and progressive view that promoted action over advocacy. Their devotion and dedication is inspiring.

We ended our meetings that day by coming full circle on a debate that had opened nearly a month ago. The issue of this debate is abortion. We met with NARAL Pro Choice America. As I walked into their offices I recalled my fierce Pro Choice view I had when meeting with the Pro Life group in Dallas. I listened to the facts and points that Adam and Kim, the NARAL Pro Choice staff members who met with us, made, and I realized that I would have followed it blindly before coming on Etgar 36 but now I found myself a skeptic. I realized that if I have learned but one thing on Etgar 36 it is to question everything including one’s strongest convictions.

speaking with the NARAL staff

the NARAL Executive Director stopped by to chat with us

outside the White House

talking with protesters in Lafayette Park by the White House

By Hannah Goldstein

We started the day with one of the best breakfasts of the trip. We had heard about it from the lady at the front desk but, in the morning, when Billy told us to hurry up and not miss it we took it seriously.

Our first stop of the day was the Constitution Museum. After being greeted by someone who is clearly a morning person, we went into the theater to see what Billy called a “mind boggling” experience. His passion touched me. I could see how much this play means to him. It was cheesy as we had anticipated but still pretty phenomenal. They walked us through America’s history starting with colonization and ending with current events. It was interesting to see the development of checks and balances as well as their modern applications.

When we exited the theater, Billy introduced our theme for the final days. The preamble of the Constitution was on the wall and Billy pointed out the words, “a more perfect union.” The point of these words is that while the United States can’t ever be perfect, we should always strive for perfection. He then let us go through the museum.

The museum is very high tech. It is a circular exhibit with the history on the outside and interactive political activities on the inside. There were such things as voting for president and passing a bill, so everyone was entertained. The exhibit concludes with a collection of bronze statues of all the signers of the Constitution. We all “signed the Constitution” and then went to the gift shop.

From there we walked to the Liberty Bell. Ezra taught us about its origins. It was originally rung to announce big occasions and it’s last usage was in 1846 on George Washington’s birthday. It was an important symbol during the Civil War because of the quote from Leviticus, “proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all its inhabitants.”

We then had a speedy version of the other Philadelphia landmarks such as Independence Hall, Ben Franklin’s house which was not the high tech museum Billy said it would be but, rather, a museum built in the 70s that has not been updated since.

meeting “Ben Franklin” outside his house

We then passed by some Jewish landmarks such as Mikveh Israel Synagogue. This was one of the first Sephardic synagogues in America. They had a memorial dedicated to Jonathan Netanyahu. He went to school in Philadelphia and then moved to Israel. On July 4^th, 1976, when hijackers attacked a commercial jet, they landed it in Uganda and separated the Jewish and Israeli passengers from the others. Israel put together a rescue mission in which only one Israeli soldier, Jonathan Netanyahu, and one hostage was killed.

At the Jonathan Netanyahu memorial

We also visited a sign explaining Haym Salomon, a Jewish person who helped fund the Revolutionary War. Our final stop was at Ben Franklin’s grave.

Carlton drove us to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. It is full of stalls with just about every food you can imagine.

On the way out of Philadelphia, Billy gave us a driving tour of the rest of the city. Naturally we couldn’t leave without racing up the steps at the Art Museum famous from the “Rocky” movies. Adam Nesenoff won the race and then we were on our way to Baltimore.

As soon as we landed in Baltimore to the tune of “Good Morning Baltimore,” we headed to a meeting with Neil Rubin, editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times. He began by introducing journalistic dilemmas that we debated. He introduced the idea of self censorship, which led into a discussion about which stories are newsworthy. In the true life case presented, an inspirational Holocaust survivor’s story was exposed as a fabrication, so we argued about whether or not it was necessary to expose such an inspiring figure. Neil believes that all good newspapers create debate. He also acknowledged the need to change with the times, meaning he knows most print will become electronic. He believes it is important to read multiple sources on every topic so as to better understand the situation.

After this riveting debate, which continued outside of the conference room, we went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. There we were able to walk around and have dinner. Afterwards, we drove to our hotel in Washington DC to rest up for some upcoming packed days. Overall, today was a nice combination of meetings, free time, and good food.