In celebration of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year for trees, Jewish National Fund (JNF) has partnered with EL AL Israel Airlines for an exciting raffle. Everyone who plants a tree with JNF between January 24 and February 8, 2012 at 11:59 pm EST will be entered to win two round-trip tickets to Israel on EL AL.

While in Israel, the winner will have the opportunity to plant a tree with his own hands with a complimentary trip to the JNF-Harvey Hertz Ceremonial Tree Planting Center at Neot Kedumim.

Some restrictions apply. Trees may be planted by visiting jnf.org or call 800-542-TREE for details and to enter.

Jewish National Fund (JNF) began in 1901 collecting coins in blue boxes to purchase land and return the Jewish people to their homeland. In over 110 years, JNF has evolved into a global environmental leader and become the central address for partnering with the land and people of Israel. JNF has planted 250 million trees; built over 1,000 parks and recreational areas; constructed security roads; educated students around the world about Israel; created new communities so that Jews from around the world would have a place to call home; discovered new means of growing plants under arid conditions, bringing green to the desert; and built nearly 220 reservoirs and water recycling centers, increasing Israel’s water supply by 12%. Today, JNF is supporting Israel’s newest generation of pioneers by bringing life to the Negev Desert, Israel’s last frontier.

A United Nations NGO, JNF sponsors international conferences on desertification, shares afforestation techniques, and funds research on arid land management. JNF is a registered 501(c)(3) organization and continuously earns top ratings from charity overseers. For more information on JNF, call 888-JNF-0099 or visit www.jnf.org.

Nadav Weinberg shared his experience in the IDF with 75 people who attended his presentation at the new CU Chabad House on the Hill on November 30. Sponsored by Stand By Israel, the talk centered on ethics and the IDF, focusing on the special training all Israeli soldiers undergo and the challenging environment in which they are forced to operate.

Sergeant Weinberg was trained in the Orev special forces, an elite special forces unit of the IDF tasked with counter-terrorism in the West Bank. He now goes around the country giving interactive talks on college campuses, for high school students, and Jewish and Christian organizations about the high ethical standards of the IDF.

His insights into the IDF’s emphasis on ethical codes of conduct framed the conversation. But the heart of the evening was his role-playing with the audience. Using videos of combat situations, he asked the audience, almost half CU students, to make split-second decisions just as a real Israeli soldier would have to make in the moment.

In one video clip, an armed Palestinian combatant is fleeing during a deadly confrontation. You are a sharp-shooter and your commander has given you the command to shoot. As the Palestinian runs toward a crowd, the man grabs a young boy by his backpack, using him as a human shield as he flees. Do you take the shot? Why? Why not?

In another video taken during combat, a group of armed Palestinians flee by getting into a waiting UN ambulance, in complete violation of international law. Do you shoot to stop the ambulance or let the men in your sights get away? One person says they would shoot. “Oh my God,” Nadav says. “You just shot a UN ambulance!” “I would shoot the tires,” says another. “Oh my God,” Nadav says again. “You just shot a UN ambulance!”

In these and other real-life scenarios, the point was not about determining what the right decision might be. Rather, Weinberg was demonstrating how difficult it is for the IDF soldier faced with ethical dilemmas to make these decisions. Weinberg asked the audience to raise their hand if they could identify an American soldier. All hands went up. An Israeli soldier? All hands go up again. A Palestinian soldier? No hands.

Since there is no Palestinian army, no uniform and no code of military conduct, Israel must abide by international law when engaging with their enemy. That means when a person takes up arms against you, he is a combatant. The minute he puts the weapon down, he’s a civilian.

How do you fight a war like that? It’s a rhetorical question Weinberg asked often. When a combatant uses children, women, clerics and even “peace activists” as human shields, how do you fight that enemy? When a mentally disabled Palestinian child attempts to cross a checkpoint with explosives strapped to his chest, what do you do to ensure you and your men’s own safety, as well as the safety of the Palestinian crowd within the potential radius of the blast, and save the child’s life?

There are no easy answers. Israel does its best. It trains its soldiers to prepare for all eventualities. Each debrief from every operation includes copious discussion of what went wrong, and of what might have gone wrong, so that the next operation is better.

Sergeant Weinberg is the first to admit that Israel is not perfect, and has made mistakes. But Israel faces an enemy sworn to its destruction that does not abide by the same code of ethics. By putting the audience in the shoes of the soldiers on the ground, Weinberg made his point. What would you do?

Daniel Sokatch, CEO of NIF

Daniel will discuss this summer’s social protest movement which swept through Israel. Nearly half a million Israelis took to the streets with the rallying cry: “the people demand social justice”. Among the topics he will raise:

•  How do we ensure that the people’s call for change is translated into positive social policies?
• Can we defeat the campaign by extremists to pass anti-democratic legislation and silence progressive voices in Israel?

The New Israel Fund — working since 1979 for a better, more just and compassionate Israeli society — has been supporting this grassroots movement while leading the fight against ultranationalist and religious extremist trends in Israel.

The event will be held at 7:00 pm on Thursday the 8th of December at the University of Denver at 2201 South Gaylord Street, Denver in the Sie Cheou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, Ben Cherrington Hall, room 150.

For questions or to RSVP to the event please contact elan@nif.org

JFNA CEO Jerry Silverman

DENVER, CO — The 2011 General Assembly of The Jewish Federations of North America wrapped up today with a rousing call from JFNA President and CEO Jerry Silverman for the participants to go out and keep working towards “a vibrant and fresh future for the Jewish people.”

Silverman said the GA has been “the singular platform for current and emerging thought leaders” for eight decades, and urged the Jewish community to make room for young Jewish leaders in MASA and Taglit-Birthright to become activists and advocates in every community.

The GA reminds us of our collective strength as a Jewish people. But despite all we have to celebrate, there is so much more we can do, and we have to do it,” said Silverman.

l-r: Wayne Firestone, Ami Eden, Peter Beinart, Julie Bernstein

There were several great sessions today, including “Israel: Have We Lost That Loving Feeling?,” a panel with Peter Beinart (yes, the author of the scathing essay in the NY Review of Books last spring); Julie Bernstein, Associate Managing Director, JFNA/JCPA Israel Action Network; Wayne Firestone, President and CEO, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life; and nimbly moderated by Ami Eden, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of JTA.  The audience had a very broad mix of elder statesmen to college students, and featured a very lively discussion of variations on the theme “can we love Israel without loving the government and its policies?”

BJN will have more stories and pictures over the next few days as we catch our collective breath. Meanwhile, here is a photo collage of day two from BJN photographer Bruce Shaffer:

Ambassadors Oren and Shapiro held an onstage dialogue, led by former IDF and Israeli government spokesperson, Col. (Ret.) Miri Eisen. The discussion touched on everything from the diplomats’ shared heritage of American Jewish summer camps and youth groups to their joint dream that, as Oren put it, the time is not distant from “that day when Dan and I can witness a signing ceremony” at the White House for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

There were many intense and diverse topics covered at today’s GA session: integration of the Haredi and Arab-Israelis into the mainstream of Israeli society (two different sessions); Welcoming Interfaith Families (which featured Denver/Boulder’s Stepping Stones program, featuring Rabbi Steven Foster); and the Jewish Futures Conference, exploring trends and new approaches to Jewish education, which included Boulder’s Chidush Program materials, just to name four sessions.

We continue to be surprised and proud at the number of Boulder community members attending the GA.  Here are some of today’s pictures from Bruce Shaffer, David and Cheryl Fellows:

Here are Bruce Shaffer’s pictures from Sunday night’s Matisyahu concert:

The opening Plenary session featured Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, the GA’s scholar in residence, who asked the question “What is Jewish continuity about, if not to continue Torah and Torah values?”  Kathy Manning, Chair of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)’s Board of Trustees, talked about the GA’s theme as the original Jewish social network: “Social connections are one of the things that bind us together as Jewish people” and drive us to be a part of something deeper, the Jewish need to show care and compassion for Jews in need.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz also spoke at the opening plenary, and lauded the vital role of the Jewish Federations, saying “the amazing work you all do embodies the notion that the world will be a better place when each of us does our own small part to make a positive impact.”  Together the Congresswoman and JFNA have launched Jewish American Heritage Month, challenged insurance companies who denied life insurance for people who travel to Israel, promoted breast cancer education for young women, supported the over 125,000 elderly, low-income Holocaust survivors in the US so they can live in dignity, and led the effort to build a Jewish Chaplains memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.

She also praised the Obama administration’s commitment to the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel, pointing to how the administration has increased foreign aid during a challenging budget era. But she also emphasized bipartisan backing for Israel, saying that “Democrat or Republican, we can all agree on the importance of strong U.S. support for Israel.”

The GA continues through Tuesday in Denver.

Pictures from our photographers covering the GA (Bruce Shaffer and David Fellows):

We’ll update with links to interesting articles as the story continues to develop. This quote from Noam Shalit sums it up though:

You can say this is one of the happiest days of my life,” from Haaretzonline

 

 

Sgt. Gilad Shalit in 2006

JERUSALEM, October 12. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted early Wednesday morning to approve a prisoner swap that will see Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier who has been in Hamas captivity for the last five years, return to Israel.

Deal passes 26-3 in cabinet vote; Israel to release 1,000 prisoners in two-stage process, including 1/3 serving life sentences; Netanyahu: “My heart is with the families of terror victims.”

Exactly 1,934 days after Hamas kidnapped Gilad Schalit near Kerem Shalom on the border with Gaza, the cabinet met in a dramatic meeting Tuesday night, approving a deal for his release.

Twenty-six ministers voted to approve the prisoner exchange deal signed with Hamas, with only three voting against the deal. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon and National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau voted against the deal.

Haaretz Coverage.

Jerusalem Post Coverage.

Ynet News Coverage.

Jewish Telegraph Agency Coverage.