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On the weekend of February 18th through February 21st, 2005, a diverse community of some 30 scholars, activists and students from the U.S. and Canada gathered at the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Nyack, New York, to affirm the human right of conscientious objection to all forms of war and oppose the reinstatement of a military draft in the United States.
This Gathering of Conscience and Courage affirmed, by consensus, the following statement:
We celebrate and declare our support of conscientious objectors because we value the sanctity of life, respect human dignity, and affirm the right of freedom of thought, as expressed in individual moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.
Conscientious objectors are those individuals who refuse to participate in, or otherwise directly support, the conduct of warfare and the killing and degradation of fellow human beings.
More specifically, following and expanding upon the statements of faith contained in various religious doctrines; as well as established declarations of secular law contained in the UN Charter and US Constitution, we support those who conscientiously object to participation in "war in any form", as well as those who object to:
Therefore, it is our hope that in so honoring conscientious objection, individual dignity, and human freedom we resist a culture of death and work for a world where war and violence are replaced by peace and justice.
February 21, 2005
The Jewish Peace Fellowship supports the following petition initiated by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. We urge all our supporters to download and print this out. Send the signed names to the Fellowship of Reconciliation PO Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960.
If you go to the FOR website www.forusa.org, you can download talking points and action suggestions.
Download the Petition to End the Occupation in Iraq
The Jewish Peace Fellowship, founded in 1941 to defend the rights of C0s, has continuously fought for peace and justice. We urge you to send a contribution to allow us to fight against any future draft and imperial dreams and endless wars.
Your gift happily accepted at JPF, Box 271, Nyack, N.Y. 10960-0271; jpf@forusa.org.
PRAYER FOR PEACE IN A TIME OF WAR
In all of our moods, God, we call out to You and You are there. When we are happy and when we are
sad, when we are lonely or afraid, when we want to say thank you for the blessings that we have and
when our hearts are bursting with good things we want to share, You are there. Just to say Your name
feels good and helps us to feel close to You. You have many names, God, a name for all of our many
moods. One of your names is Shalom.
We call to You now by Your name, Shalom. In this time of war we are often confused and afraid and we
need to find peace within ourselves. It is sometimes hard to know what is right and what is wrong.
In this time of war help us to remember how much Your world needs Peace. As we whisper Your name
Shalom with our lips, help us to hear Your name of Peace in our hearts and to make it real in the
world.
Spread over our soldiers Your shelter of Peace. Bring them home quickly, our soldiers who are sons
and daughters, husbands and fathers, brothers and sisters; our soldiers who are aunts and uncles,
nieces and nephews, cousins and friends and neighbors. They are just like us and were children not
so long ago.
As we pray for them, help us to pray for the Iraqis too. They too are people like us, people who
love and are loved, people who laugh and cry and sing and dance and hug their children. Yes, most of
all protect the children who are surrounded by war and bring home the people whose hugs make them
feel happy and safe.
You have taught us that You do not delight in the destruction of the wicked. That is why we pour off
a drop of wine for each of the ten plagues at the Pesach Seder, and that is why we read the names of
Haman's sons in one breath when we read the Megillah on Purim. Therefore, help us to find ways other
than war to stop those who hurt others in the world.
Help us to remember that war is not a sporting event or a video game, even though it seems like it
sometime, the way people talk about it. Real people suffer and die in war, including children, and
many things that people need to live are destroyed, including Your Creation, the earth itself.
As Rabbi Yudan son of Rabbi Yossi taught of You so long ago, may we also teach, Great is Peace, for
the name of the Holy One is called Shalom.
Blessed are You, God, Whose name is Shalom. Spread Your shelter of Peace over us, and help us to
make peace in Your world. And let us say, Amen.
Rabbi Victor Reinstein
Rabbi Victor Reinstein is
school rabbi of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston.
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JPF Executive Board member Ken Giles at the Washington, DC Interfaith Peace Walk, held March 8, 2003. JPF was a co-sponsor along with Buddhists, Moslems, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus and others. Rabbi Arthur Blecher of the Jewish Humanist Congregation Beth Chai said: This community of conscience agrees that this war is not justifiable. We must overcome fear, ignorance and poverty in order to make peace.
Draft Debate Continues; We Still Say NO DRAFT!
January 27, 2003
As we told you in our last Urgent Action Alert, US representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) is convinced that if Congressional Members' children were going off to war, Congress would be less likely to send the military to Iraq. He is concerned about the fundamental fairness of the current economic conscription of poor (and often poorly educated) people who see enlistment into the military as one of the few ways to advance in today's society. So a delegation representing the Center on Conscience & War, the Washington Peace Center, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Mennonite Central Committee met with Rangel and his staff to discuss concerns that led to his introduction of HR 163, the Universal National Service Act of 2003, to reinstate the military draft. [The bill has been introduced in the Senate (bill number S 89) by Fritz Hollings (D-SC). Both chambers have referred the bill to their respective Armed Services Committee.]
In addition to bringing to their attention the bill's horrible CO provision, we pointed out that during the Vietnam draft, not one child of a Member of Congress was drafted and sent to Vietnam. We explained how people of wealth would be able to circumvent this draft, leaving the economic character of the military the same. We asked: What is the bottom line intention of Mr. Rangel's bill?
His reply: To get people engaged in the discussion and thinking seriously about the course the US government is taking. The country is drifting towards war without serious consideration. The churches and regular people are not engaged and vocal. He was pleased that this proposal had generated a lot of discussion, and pointed out that we would not have been in his office having this discussion had it not been for this proposal.
Of course, many people have been active around this issue --ˆä the overwhelming majority of Congressional offices reported getting an incredible volume of mail expressing opposition to the war -- but Congress was not listening.
This bill has already led to negative consequences. Had we not been in Rangel's office at that moment talking about the draft, we would have been in a different office talking about Iraq. In addition, our work to stop HR 3598, the bill that would have required every young person to spend six months to a year in the military, even COs, was undone. Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) who introduced the bill last session is going to reintroduce that bill in response to Rangel's.
There are far better ways to bring the question of the morality of war and economic fairness in the military into the public arena than reinstating the draft. CCW is working to reintroduce the Military Conscientious Objector Act, which would broaden the legal definition of conscientious objection and facilitate the separation of soldiers who qualify for CO status during times of war. We will release an Urgent Action Alert regarding this bill soon.
Rangel expressed a willingness to work with us on fixing some of the more objectionable parts of HR 163, but is not willing to withdraw it.
Contact the offices of your Senators and Representatives and those of Representatives Nick Smith and Rangel, and Senator Hollings. Alert them to the growing opposition to war against Iraq and that a draft will not solve the military's or the nation's problems.
To contact your members of Congress, write to:
House of Representatives
The Honorable (Name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington D.C. 20515
Senate The Honorable (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
To find out who your Representative or Senator is:
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
http://www.house.gov/
http://www.senate.gov
For more information, contact the Center on Conscience & War
1830 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009-5706
(202) 483-2220 Fax (202) 483-1246
E-mail: nisbco@nisbco.org
URL: http://www.nisbco.org
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New Draft Proposal Intended to Slow the Rush to War
January 8, 2003
Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) wants to hear from you, but has chosen a rather unusual way of drawing out the public voice. He introduced a bill to the House on January 7 that if passed, would reinstate the draft, and establish "Universal National Service." Rangel, who voted against granting President Bush the authority to invade Iraq, said in a New York Times column last week that "the Congress that voted overwhelmingly to allow the use of force in Iraq includes only one member who has a child in the enlisted ranks of the military." He believes "that if those calling for war knew that their children were likely to be required to serve...there would be more caution and a greater willingness to work with the international community in dealing with Iraq."
While this proposal may have a certain logic to it, CCW doubts a draft would really have such an effect on the US governmentˆïs move toward war. Many of us remember how it appeared to be the middle class opposition to the draft that brought the end to the War in Vietnam. The same logic would tell us that opposition to our children coming home in body bags will work as a brake on the war that seems looming just over the horizon now. But the draft that was in place prior to the Vietnam War did not prevent that war, just like the draft prior to the Korean War did not stop that conflict. In fact, conscription ended three years before US involvement in Vietnam did. President Nixon thought that ending the draft would end the massive opposition to that war--but he was wrong. Ending the draft neither ended the war nor the opposition.
The peace movement is active and vocal, and is being heard now more than in the recent past. The fact that war in Iraq was opposed by a strong third of the Congress and the majority of Democrats is a sign that we are being heard. Somehow, Rangel doesnˆït think so and envisions the best way to get us to shout louder is to create a national crisis, which is just what might come of this. The threat to Conscientious Objectors under this proposal is particularly bad. COs who are drafted would go into the military as non-combatants. As the bill states, "Any such person whose claim is sustained may, at the discretion of the President, be transferred to a national service program for performance of such person's national service obligation under this Act."
Rep. Nick Smith who introduced HR 3598, the Universal Military Training and Service Act as a bill last session has announced his intentions to reintroduce the same flawed bill in response to Rangelˆïs. But the Pentagon has said recently that it has plenty of troops for an invasion of Iraq. Furthermore, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "We're not going to re-implement a draft. There is no need for it at all... The disadvantages of using compulsion to bring into the armed forces the men and women needed are notable."
Rangel argues for fairness, saying "service in the armed forces is not a common experience and that disproportionate numbers of the poor and members of minority groups compose the enlisted ranks of the military." It is true that in modern war, minorities have suffered a disproportionate share of the deaths in war. But the disproportionately high percentage of minorities in the military at low rank was not created by the all voluntary military, it was merely inherited by them. A draft would not solve this problem. Conscription would not be any less discriminatory of a system than recruitment is today. Exemptions for such reasons as medical conditions and hardship, and recognition of conscientious objectors would still be granted to those who could define their situations in a manner that the Selective Service System would recognize, but the racial and class biases would influence that recognition. That means that well educated, middle class whites would likely be afforded the most opportunity to be granted exemptions and CO status, as was the case under previous drafts.
Tell Rep. Rangel and your own Representative that no child should be an involuntary sacrifice to encourage Congressional caution. The draft is as wrong now as it was last year and the year before. Don't sacrifice our children on the altar of good intentions. Tell them to vote no to any proposals by Rangel, Smith or anyone else.
Contact your members of Congress
House of Representatives
The Honorable (Name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington D.C. 20515
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
-- The Center on Conscience and War (formerly NISBCO)
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Restoring Draft Is One Daft Idea
By Murray Polner
Murray Polner, an Army veteran, wrote "No Victory Parades: The Return of the Vietnam Veteran" and co-authored, with Jim O'Grady, "Disarmed & Dangerous," a biography of Daniel and Philip Berrigan
January 8, 2003
Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of Manhattan, a certified, anti-Iraq war liberal, wants to draft your son and possibly your daughter and will soon introduce a bill in Congress to do just that. "A renewed draft," he says, "will help bring a greater appreciation of the consequences of decisions to go to war" since everyone - including Washington's pro-war politicians, media pundits and editorial writers - would then know their own loved ones will "be placed in harm's way." Apparently, he hopes to transform Americans into opponents of war lest their own be forced into going to war.
Yet there is absolutely no evidence that having potential draftees in your families makes you anti-war. The draft was in place before the Korean and Vietnam wars and never deterred the war makers. Nor, despite claims to the contrary, is there any proof that the conscription led middle- and upper-class families to close down the draft and the Vietnam War. The draft and that war ended when the foreign policy elite decided it could not be won.
Rangel's proposal could just as easily have other unintended outcomes, such as tempting Washington's hawks into new adventures abroad with the influx of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of conscripts. More realistically, it would place the onus of post-Sept. 11 sacrifice onto young Americans, while everybody else can go about their everyday business.
Still to be answered by Rangel are where reluctant, short-term draftees are to go, what they will do and - given that an invasion of Iraq will cost $60 billion to $200 billion, depending on whose estimate you believe - how American taxpayers are going to bear the enormous cost.
Close to 4 million Americans turn 18 each year. What will this gigantic multitude actually do in today's high-tech military? KP duty? Mow lawns near officer billets? Chauffeur VIPs? Invade North Korea and Iran?
Over the years, some proponents of compulsory service have alternately proposed make-work, universal, mandatory service (supervised by the military? A vast new bureaucracy?), whereby young male and female conscripts will be put to work in nursing homes, hospitals, forestry, construction and the like, thereby stealing jobs from people already close to the poverty line and, perhaps, inciting union members afraid of losing their jobs.
If truth be told, there will never be shared sacrifices, since those with contacts and the means to do so will always be able to elude active military duty (as did many of today's most pugnacious hawks and politicians) or get plum military jobs.
So why do politicians continue to flirt with so widely despised a law? For too many liberals, a draft means allegedly "democratizing" the military by forcibly inserting "plain Joes" (and perhaps "Janes," too) into barracks, thus removing the gap between a volunteer military and civilians that they speculate - with utterly no evidence - is a potential danger to American democracy. Others are also keen to use the military as a prep school-job center for minorities and poorer whites.
For many conservatives, a draft means recapturing the mythical ethos of World War II and the fabled pre-1960s years. In that imaginary Eden, there was no racial, gender or religious discrimination, no wartime profiteers, and no support for despots and thugs abroad in the sacred name of "national security." And, when young men were called to the colors, they supposedly went willingly to fight for country, God and freedom, sentiments often belied by the many combat veterans who fought mainly for survival and who have written about their horrifying experiences.
There is also another contemporary breed of pro-draft males, both liberals and conservatives: wannabe veterans who escaped military service but now think they missed something heroic and manly in their otherwise ordinary lives.
Except for a genuine national emergency - which the projected invasion of Iraq is not - the anti-war Rangel might have served us better had he been able to persuade liberal New York colleagues like Rep. Gary Ackerman and Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton not to vote to give President George W. Bush carte blanche in Iraq.
Now he could turn his attention to encouraging and supporting alternative and peaceful foreign policies, rather than targeting young Americans and making them pawns in his political gambit.
Rangel's bill also overlooks the Pentagon, which has no interest in a draft and instead takes great pride in its restructured, voluntary and technologically efficient military, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well. Asked recently about the possibility of a draft, Rumsfeld was adamant: "Absolutely not. Absolutely not. No. We've got people serving because they want to serve, because they care about the country."
A draft now would trample on our individual freedom, which should never be sacrificed for improbable, unrealistic political gimmicks. Rangel's proposal is a very bad idea in a very troubled time.
Copyright (c) 2003, Newsday, Inc.
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Why the U.S. Should Not Invade Iraq
The Bush Administration argues that the U.S. must go to war because Iraq represents a danger to our country. We should reject that call to arms since it is unjustified by credible evidence. Indeed, it may well create many more problems than it is likely to solve, not to mention the inevitable civilian and military casualties.
One of the oldest examples in human history of taking unjust action for reasons of national security is found at the beginning of the Biblical book of Exodus. The Pharaoh of Egypt announces: "Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them so that they may not increase; otherwise, in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us" (Exodus 1; 9-10) This is how the king of Egypt justified his enslavement of an entire people and eventually his attempted genocide by murdering newborn baby boys.
Throughout history governments have used "national security" as an argument to convince their public that actions that cause harm and suffering are necessary. Rome insisted all of its empire-building wars were defensive wars. Hitler manufactured an incident on the Polish border in order to justify conquering Poland. Soviet Russia invaded Czechoslovakia to maintain its dominance in Eastern Europe. Japan claimed it had to attack Pearl Harbor because the American embargo threatened its security. In this country late 19th Century American imperialists used an explosion on the battleship Maine attributed to an "enemy" as justification for war against Spain so that Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines could become American colonies. Lyndon Johnson lied to Congress and the American people about the Bay of Tonkin to justify American involvement in the civil war in Vietnam, a war that began soon after the end of World War II with U.S. support for the French colonialists, John Kennedy's dispatch of 16,000 "advisors" to Indochina and in the end 58,000 dead Americans plus millions of dead Asians and hundreds of thousands more wounded in body and mind.
Now we are being told that Iraq is an extreme and imminent danger to our nation's security despite the fact that Saddam Hussein has taken no action against our country and was, until the invasion of Kuwait, backed by the U.S., especially during its war against Iran. We do not doubt that Saddam Hussein is a brutal dictator who has shown he is willing to use chemical weapons and possibly, nuclear weapons. What is at issue, however, is whether he still has them and the means and will to deliver them. Only the UN's effective, impartial inspections can determine that. Saddam Hussein must know that any use of such weapons would bring instant and devastating retaliation.
Some point out that Iraq would use its weapons against Israel. That is why the Israeli government favors the war. This feeling may be understood by many on several counts, including several missile attacks during the first Gulf War. Still, it is by no means clear that an American invasion of Iraq or even a "regime change," will benefit Israel more than the present situation.
Jewish law and tradition allow for the institution of war, but place limits on the reasons for going to war and especially on the conduct of war. While a government might make a war for reasons of state for almost any reason, there is a requirement that a peaceful settlement must first be sought. In prosecuting a war there must not be any intentional destruction of the environment or of basic infrastructure. Noncombatants must be allowed to leave the arena of combat. Given the destruction wrought in Iraq by Desert Storm a decade ago, it is likely that another American assault will result in further destruction and death.
We believe it is imperative to ask questions and if need be, dissent nonviolently while making our voices heard.
The people of Iraq suffer from death from malnutrition, easily treatable diseases, and poverty. American military men and women will die, as will countless numbers of Iraqis. This need not be so. Neutral weapon inspectors and honest negotiations over weaponry, disarmament and sanctions offer possible alternatives. As our Rabbis taught us, "Who is a hero? One who changes an enemy into a friend."
Rabbi Philip Bentley for the Jewish Peace Fellowship
| PAUL WELLSTONE When Senator Paul Wellstone died in an air crash on October 25th, together with his wife, daughter, staff members and pilots, it is fair to say that all Americans lost a friend and ally. By every measure, he was my political conscience and role model, an unapologetic liberal who refused to allow polls and focus groups ignore his roots and the people whose interests he represented. The commentator Adrianna Huffington once asked him what sort of person would make a good president. "A great president," said the former professor turned politician, "is one who successfully calls on all Americans to be their own best selves." I remember him speaking at our National Jewish Fast for Peace and Justice in Washington in 2001. His staff, one of whom I knew and another I did not, spoke about him in human terms. He was one of us, they agreed. And indeed he was, calling for a peaceful, fair compromise between Israeli Jews and Palestinians, opposing the Gulf War of 1991 and the current rush to invade Iraq and always acting and voting on behalf of the most vulnerable in our country. "The body has died; the spirit it housed will never die." Murray Polner |
On War and Terror: A Statement by the Jewish Peace Fellowship
In response to the ghastly violence of the Napoleonic Wars Francisco Goya produced a series of etchings depicting the stark reality of war. The most famous of these is called "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters." I cannot think of a better description of what is taking place in Israel/Palestine. The leadership of both peoples labor under the delusion that the application of enough violence will cow the other side into submission to its will. Most of the population on both sides is angry and frightened enough to believe that this is so.
Each act of violence, whether Palestinian or Israeli, only justifies more and worse violence in the minds of the other side.
The only hope today is in the efforts of those who are working for dialogue and reconciliation. The Israeli peace movement is far from dead. The current situation has given rise to a new movement of conscientious objection among Israeli soldiers. Among the Palestinians too there are those who understand that terrorism and violence work against Palestinian aspirations.
As peace
activists it is vitally important that we not be seduced into taking sides.
It is easy to advocate for victims, but what do you do when both peoples
are victimized? To help make peace we must support those working for peace.We condemn, without reservation, the attacks of terrorists as the criminal actions they are. We must condemn, without reservation, Israel's use of its military to try to resolve political and diplomatic issues. We must reject the arguments of those Palestinians who call for the destruction of the Jewish State and of those Israelis who call for the expulsion of the Palestinians and the annexation of the Occupied Territories. Such extremism does not represent the views of most people on either side.
If we want peace and justice we must awaken Reason and send the monsters of war and terror to oblivion.
----Rabbi Philip Bentley, Honorary President, JPF
Our Readers Respond
Dear friends,
I find this statement lacking. The war is actually in our hands. The cycle of violence is firmly rooted in the fact that Israel has agressively more or less annexed the territories through the use of military bases, settlements, settler violence, economic oppression bordering or apartheid, the use of torture, administrative detentions of thousands over the years, checkpoints that humiliate, refugee camps festering for 50 years, stealing water and land. Do we not have the courage to see this is NOT a balanced situation? Of course we call on non-violent approaches and reason. But, we must also call on Israel to immediately withdraw, to end the occupation, to begin dismantling settlements, to bring in international peace keepers, to call on the US to use all its power to force the sides to come together. This is the direction the national movements of Jewish activists is taking. Where is our voice? What do we have to offer that speaks to the reality of the current moment and puts Jewish pressure on Israel/Sharon who is day by day leading the world closer to war.
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Expressing grief, etc. among ourselves, as JPF suggests, is fine, but I think most of us do that anyway, and what is most needed right now is for all this to be expressed movingly, peacefully and articulately to the media and the powers that be - by phone calls, e-mails, letters, peaceful (in some cases even totally silent) vigils and rallies. Tikkun suggests an Apri 11 public presence/protest; I suggest we also all go to D.C. April 20, even though I'm weary and wary of going through all this again - but peaceful and plentiful presences will be needed, and possibly even heeded (though somewhat too late, as usual).
Ann Davidon
I am heartsick about the way only one segment of the Jewish community is being represented in the media. I would like to see an attempt made at peace which means that Sharon will have to withdraw from the West Bank and negotiations will have to begin for some space for the Palestinians. Justice means that each side must compromise in order to ensure Israel not be an isolate in the region. What can one do to put pressure on someone to end the terrible blood letting.
Susan McKeon (my mother was Jewish)
The current actions of both the Israelis and the Palestinians are not only morally wrong but foolishly self-destructive. Their war will inevitably end the same way the Lebanese civil war ended. At some not-so-distant future time, the world will be so disgusted with both sides that no one will say a word when another country quietly marches in and takes over, putting an end for centuries to come to both Jewish and Palestinians nationlist aspirations.
Morris Fried
This a wonderful statement: one suggestion--why not cite all the groups you have given peace awards to (which are still out there working) as examples of what you mean in the statement.
Carolyn Toll Oppenheim, Director of Friends of Open House
The Jewish Peace Fellowship wishes to express its anguish and horror at the death and destruction wrought by terrorists on September 11th. It is a crime against humanity. As it always has, the JPF accepts no justification or rationalization for acts of terror against civilians. At the same time, we believe that vengeance and military retaliation can do little to eliminate the sense of vulnerability many Americans now feel. Nor do we believe that violent counterstrikes will necessarily make this country safer against other possible future acts of terrorism, such as biological and chemical attacks. We pray that those responsible will be brought to justice, that the healing process can begin, and that peace, justice and reconciliation will finally prevail.
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| Dear Friend of the Jewish Peace Fellowship: Right now our need for funds is DESPERATE! We are almost out of money and we need your help badly so as to continue as a viable organization in these trying times of war and terrorism. We have no wealthy patrons, no one but those of you who have always supported the JPF. As we write this, the war goes on even as hard-liners are demanding that the war be expanded to Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, North Korea, and who knows where else? And if any of these new wars should occur, who can be confident that the draft will not be reinstated? Recently, we published Wrestling With Your Conscience: A Guide for Jewish Draft Registrants and COs. It should be in synagogue libraries, Hillels, and Jewish and secular schools and colleges, but isn't because we don't have to the money to advertise or distribute even as we have volunteers willing to be trained as draft counselors should the need ever arise. Should there ever be a draft, we will counsel young Jewish men who wish to know their legal rights if they decide to consider CO status, as we have since 1941, the year of our founding. Meanwhile, while we (or thus far, anyone else for that matter) can't solve the Israeli-Palestinian civil war, we are among the few American Jewish organizations, together with the majority of Americans, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, who support an end to mutual violence, a Palestinian state and a freeze and reduction of settlements. We've joined a coalition urging our Congress to accept the recommendations of the Mitchell Commission because we believe the killing has to be stopped. We co-sponsored Uri Avnery's speaking tour while supporting as best we can those Israeli draftees and reservists who refuse to serve in the savage civil war. And we've celebrated and publicized Israeli peacemakers, most recently at our Heschel Award ceremony. We could do far, far more but cannot because our budget is so limited. Other than one part-time assistant we are all volunteers. No fancy offices. No huge salaries. No generous perks for our officers, or Executive and Advisory Committee members. No donations from corporate sponsors or foundations. Still, we carry on as best we can. We practice what we preach and believe ever more firmly in Zechariah's "Not by might and not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." Please send us what you can. The donations we receive go entirely for our work. Thank you. Shalom, Rabbi Philip Bentley, Naomi Goodman, Stefan Merken & Murray Polner P.S. Here's an added incentive. Contribute $200 or more and we'll send you a free copy of "Challenge of Shalom: The Jewish Tradition of Peace & Justice" edited by Murray Polner & Naomi Goodman plus "Wrestling With Your Conscience: A Guide for Jewish Draft Registrants & Conscientious Objectors." |
Welcome to the Jewish Peace Fellowship Website
More About the Jewish
Peace Fellowship
Recent Statements
Who We Are - Including the People in our Organization
Our Concerns
Our Tradition Teaches
Jewish Peace Fellowship is a Jewish
voice in the peace community and a peace voice in the Jewish community.
We are a nondenominational Jewish organization committed to active nonviolence
as a means of resolving conflict, drawing on Jewish traditional sources
within the Torah, the Talmud and contemporary peacemaking sages like Martin
Buber, Judah Magnes and Abraham Joshua Heschel.
JPF was founded by in 1941 to support Jewish conscientious objectors to
the military, to help educate local draft boards --accustomed only to
the Christian roots of conscientious objection--of the theological basis
of the Jewish position on conscientious objection, grounded in Torah,
Talmud, and other sacred and religious texts.
JPF continues to support Jewish resistance--individual and communal--
to the arms race in the United States and Israel and throughout the world.
We actively oppose capital punishment, conscription,
the Israeli occupation, and U.S. armed interventions
including the former Yugoslavia (1999).
We support individuals who serve prison time for civil disobedience against
Selective Service registration or in antinuclear actions. We monitor changes
in Selective Service law in order to alert our membership and friends
by our participation in National
Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors (NISBCO)
and with other anti-draft organizations. As one of the many interfaith
religious peace fellowships affiliated with the national religious pacifist
organization, the Fellowship
of Reconciliation, we work in interfaith coalition with others. We
have recently affiliated directly with the International
Fellowship of Reconciliation in order to expand our membership to
the international Jewish community. We support and link local group initiatives
anywhere with our archive on Jewish peace sources
and Jewish draft counseling.
JPF is committed to renounce participation in war
and other forms of violence. We recognize that there can be no peace without
justice, and no justice without reconciliation, so we also support and
work with groups in social justice activities
as well as peace, reconciliation, and non-violence.
About The Jewish Peace Fellowship
When the Jewish Peace Fellowship was founded in 1941 by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach, Rabbi Isidor Hoffman and Jane Evans, it established the right of Jews to be recognized as conscientious objectors to war and provided counseling for objectors, especially in regard to Jewish religious training and belief against war. What began as counseling and spiritual identification soon expanded into a program of publications, meetings and actions. Many Jewish leaders, such as Rabbi Leo Baeck, Albert Einstein, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel have been our associates.
Counseling conscientious objectors has remained a central activity. We have worked against the draft, for ending capital punishment, for prison reform, opposed all use of nuclear power, fought the encroachment of the military into our lives, and supported religious, political and social equality for women. We have worked to help end the Vietnam War, for the freedom of Jews in the Soviet Union, in Syria, Argentina and Iraq, for the rights of Ethiopian Jews and conscientious objectors in Israel, for a political solution and peaceful reconciliation in the Middle East. We work for peace in a threatened world.
Who We Are
The Officers and Committee Members of the JPF
Members of the Jewish Peace Fellowship are a diverse group of people, religious and secular Jews from all our traditions and all branches of Judaism. All believe deeply that Jewish ideals and experience provide inspiration for a nonviolent way of life.
We see Jewish tradition as a continual calling toward peace, justice and compassion, a tradition whose goal is to bring all people to the consciousness that peace and not war is where we should direct our vision, energy and lives.
We feel the rising tensions in the world today which can lead to the nuclear destruction of the planet. We are distressed by the increasing military presence and spending--and the decreasing commitment to human needs. Committed to nonviolent social activism and Jewish teachings, we are concerned with the problems facing the Jewish people and, indeed, all people.
Our ConcernsWe WORK to abolish war and to create a community of concern transcending national boundaries and selfish interests.
We REFRAIN from participation in war or military service.
We RESPECT the common humanity in each person, male or female, affirming the differences in religion, ethnic background, national loyalties ... all these are transcended by belief in the sanctity of life.
We SEEK to avoid bitterness and contention in dealing with controversy and to maintain the spirit of good will while trying to achieve nonviolent solutions.
We STRIVE to build a social order that will utilize the resources of human ingenuity for the benefit of all, in which our concern for the future will be shown by respect for the precious resources of the earth.
Our Tradition Teaches
Thou Shalt Not Murder
(The Decalogue: Sixth Commandment)
Nation shall not life up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore.
Isaiah 2:4
They shall sit, each one under his vine and his fig trees and none
shall make them afraid.
Micah 4:4
One person alone was brought forth at the time of creation in order
to teach us that one who destroys a single human soul is regarded as
the destroyer of the whole world, while one who preserves a single human
soul is regarded as the preserver of the whole world.
Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5
Just to be is a blessing
Just to live is holy.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
© 2007 Jewish Peace Fellowship
Box 271 - Nyack, NY
10960
(845) 348-4601
jpf@forusa.org