Seruv Get Listing

We call upon the community to pressure the following Jewish men denying divorce from their wives:
1. Kurt Shmuel Flascher (Brooklyn)
2. Dennis Buch (Eretz Yisrael)
3. Samuel Rosenbloom (Gaitersburg, Baltimore)
4. Jacob Moses Binson (Montreal)
5. Ariel HaCohen (Queens)
6. Joseph Dayan (whereabouts unknown)
7. Leroy Melech Krantz (Brooklyn)
8. Yisroel Meir Briskman (whereabouts unknown)
9. Abrahem Kenig (Brooklyn)
10. Yehuda Ben Litton (Lakewood)
11. Shimon Knopfler (Brooklyn) 
 
(As of February 13, 2010)
*This list was compiled by the Jewish Press

Organically Grown Food!
Whether you like it or not, if you eat food, you are eating genetically engineered food.  More than 85 percent of U.S. corn and 91 percent of soybeans are genetically modified.  Many wonder about the long-term health effects of GE food, but testing is not mandatory in the US, and therefore has not taken place.  It is necessary for us, as consumers, to demand that our government takes precautions to ensure the safety of our food, which is integrally tied to the health of our families, communities, and environment.
The USDA recently came out with a report which sweeps under the rug many of the concerns of individuals who wish for organic to remain a legitimate food option.  Please take the time to learn more about this issue here.


Foreign Assistance Reform!

Now is the time to make U.S. foreign assistance programs more efficient. Please take a moment to jon our AJWS partners and ask New York Senator Schumer to co-sponsor the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act (S. 1524), before the Senate begins discussing it next week.

S. 1524 complements the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act, which now has over 100 co-sponsors thanks to the support of people like you. Together, these bills are critical to improving the capacity of foreign assistance programs to combat hunger, poverty and disease, while promoting a comprehensive approach to international development.

The Responsible Restaurant Act

The Responsible Restaurant Act bill (RRA) will help to protect the rights of restaurant employees in New York City. According to recent research, employment law violations are pervasive throughout New York’s restaurant industry, which are harmful to workers and also undermine responsible restaurant owners. By passing the RRA, a strong message will be sent to the restaurant industry that compliance with basic employment laws is not optional, and will encourage more restaurants take basic employment laws more seriously. Through passing the RRA, we can help level the playing field for responsible restaurant owners who are placed at an unfair competitive disadvantage for playing by the rules today. Please call your New York state representative today to advocate for the RRA!

Join Uri L'Tzedek in Health Care Advocacy

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 90 million Americans went without health insurance at some point last year, a number that is quickly rising with the unemployment rate. There is clearly an urgent need for drastic health insurance reform, and this fall, Congress has the opportunity to pass strong and comprehensive reform.

Jewish tradition is emphatic about the importance of the community providing health care for its vulnerable members. When members of a society at large are ill, our responsibility expands to ensure that medical resources are available at an affordable cost to those who need them. It is our responsibility to lift up the moral voice for health insurance reform, and to tell Congress to ensure swift passage of strong, comprehensive health insurance reform this year.

You can call Congress toll-free at 1-866-279-5474 to tell your Members of Congress that health care is a right that must be available to all, not just those who can afford it.

Workers’ rights: Right to Sick Time Off!

Currently half of private-sector workers have no paid sick time, and most workers cannot take paid time off to care for a sick child or dependent.  The Healthy Families Act will ensure that workers will no longer have to suffer the indignity of having to choose between their families’ health and a day’s pay.  The HFA will provide workers with paid time off from work when they fall ill, or when a child or elderly dependent needs care. The Act also provides time off for preventative care and for care related to domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault. Uri L'Tzedek is proud to join Interfaith Worker Justice and many other organizations in signing a letter of support for the Healthy Families Act to help ensure that families no longer have to choose between their health and their wages.

You can act here:  http://www.iwj.org/template/page.cfm?id=29

The Employee Free Choice Act - EFCA Tool Kit (PDF)

The Employee Free Choice Act is an exciting new piece of legislation that that will help to ensure the right of all workers to form unions in order to negotiate decent wages, provide for their families, secure fair benefits and decent working conditions, and have a voice in the workplace. Halakhah has a strong history of supporting workers' rights, and both Rav Kook and Rav Uziel encouraged labor unions as a means of protecting workers from unfair labor practices. Uri L'Tzedek is proud to join Interfaith Worker Justice and other faith-based organizations in signing a letter of support for the Employee Free Choice Act letter as a demonstration of solidarity with our nation's laborers. You can learn more here: http://www.iwj.org/template/page.cfm?id=203

The following letter was delivered by email to the Legislative Director of each Congressional House member and each Senate member.

April 27, 2009

Dear Senators and Members of Congress,

As leading religious organizations and denominations representing people of faith throughout the country, we are committed to promoting and uplifting the dignity of working people and particularly low-wage workers. We therefore urge you to support the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will help to ensure the right of all workers to form unions if they so choose, in order to negotiate decent wages, provide for their families, secure fair benefits and decent working conditions, and have a voice in the workplace.

Whenever people stand together in mutual commitment and for the common purpose of promoting and protecting their most essential dignity - a dignity that issues directly from God - then we as people of faith and good conscience have a moral responsibility to stand with them. We have a responsibility to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. We make this appeal to the conscience of every Member of Congress.

The Employee Free Choice Act presents us with an opportunity to pass legislation that is at once economically and morally efficacious for the people of our nation and our economy. Even as unions serve as vehicles by which poor workers lift themselves from poverty and into the middle class, the increased purchasing power of union members provides an effective and consistent stimulus for the general economy. When workers form unions, they have an opportunity to empower themselves and provide security for their families. They have a meaningful voice on the job and participate in a collaborative effort with their employers to fashion mutually beneficial working conditions. At its best, a union is a community of women and men devoted to one another's wellbeing and dignity, working together to secure their rights as employees, as human beings, and as children of God.

The right of workers to freely associate and form unions without fear of intimidation or retaliation is a cornerstone principle of our civil society and our modern economy. It is a principle that promotes and sustains the health of our middle class, ensures quality of life for all working people, and empowers even those in low-wage jobs to achieve dignity and a decent standard of living. Presently, however, this right is fundamentally threatened. Workers who attempt to form unions are too often met with unrelenting opposition from their employers and have little or no effective legal recourse by which to protect their democratic right to organize. The Employee Free Choice Act will provide sound and vitally necessary reforms of current labor law which does not effectively protect workers' rights.

As people of faith, we urge you to stand with us in our support of hardworking families. We urge you to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Sincerely,

Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Churches USA, American Friends Service Committee, American Islamic Congress, Apostolic Catholic Church, Catholic Labor Network, Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice, Catholics United, Center of Concern, Church of the Brethren, Church Women United, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Disciples Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ), Friends Committee on National Legislation, Interfaith Worker Justice, Irish Apostolate USA, Jewish Labor Committee, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Muslim American Society Freedom (MAS Freedom), Muslim Public Affairs Council, National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, The Network of Spiritual Progressives, Pax Christi USA: National Catholic Peace Movement, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington Office, Progressive Jewish Alliance, Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., Sikh Council on Religion and Education, Sojourners, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Tikkun, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries, The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society, Uri L'Tzedek (The Orthodox Jewish Social Justice Movement), We Are Family

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Advocate for Immigration Reform

More than 12 million undocumented immigrants live as members of our communities across the country. We can no longer delay comprehensive reform of our immigration system. Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP) aims to overhaul the nation's broken immigration system by addressing the root causes of its shortcomings, ensuring our nation’s security and economic well-being, and creating a path for undocumented immigrants to pursue citizenship. This legislation protects workers, promotes family unity, ensures due process for all, and offers educational opportunities to youth. The Torah commands us 36 times to protect the stranger in our midst. This is our Divine call to action!
Urge your Representative to support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (H.R. 4321). The Capitol Switchboard can be reached at 202-224-3121.