Pro And Con open, said Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center in Washington. "We are not doing as good a job as we need to in creating an atmosphere where discussion can be as expansive as possible," he said. - Esther Lederman, project director of UAHC's "Seeking Peace, Pursuing Justice" project, which is organizing the teach-in, said the goal is to provoke about the conflict. But Reform leaders insist the open conversation" about the Israeli-Palestinian teach-in is meant to educate American Jews, many of conflict in a setting that inspires respect and civility — the synagogue. whom feel confused about the complexities behind the conflict, and to get Jews more engaged and active To nudge the debate forward, organizers are send- in helping Israel and the peace process. ing synagogues a package of background material, including opinion pieces from hawks, such as Plans for Detroit area congregations are incomplete. Rabbi Dannel Schwartz said Temple Shir Shalom Binyamin Netanyahu and settler leader Yisrael won't consider the proposal until after the High Harel, to more liberal voices such as analyst Joseph Holidays. Rabbi Norman Roman said Temple Kol Alpher and Hirsh Goodman, the founding editor of the Jerusalem Report. Ami will participate, but is awaiting more informa- tion from the UAHC before making definitive plans. Part of the package focuses on Jewish settlements in Rabbi Joseph Klein said Temple Emanu-El will the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Using statistics gath- ered by Americans for Peace Nov — whose methodology often is criticized as partisan — the packets show a 53 percent growth in settlement housing since the Oslo process began in 1993. But Lederman and others insist they are not framing the debate from the left or hoping to shape a specific response. The teach-in material reflects a broad range of opinion, and reflects their mis- — Rabbi Eric Yoffie sion to provoke debate. Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, executive direc- tor of ARZA-World Union — Association of Reform Zionists of America, said there have Israel education programs on Sept. 22 and 29 is a "deep intellectual, and even greater emotional for the middle school grades in its religious school. need" among Reform's 900 congregations and 1.5 million members "to receive information and deal Opening Up with and study events in Israel." One of the forces propelling the teach-in, Reform officials said, is a kind of American Jewish tribalism "Everybody Wrong that has set in. At Temple B'nai Or in Morristown, N.J., one of the Those concerns surfaced after the April 15 Israel participating synagogues, congregants "are all over Solidarity Rally in Washington, when Paul the place, because there's valid moral points to be Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, was made on all sides," Rabbi Don Rossoff said. booed for mentioning Palestinian suffering and the need for compromise. "You've got a situation where everybody was wrong. The left was wrong in terms of misjudging Palestinian Too often, debate about the Israeli-Palestinian aspirations, which at this point are not to pursue conflict descends to "the lowest common denomina- peace, but to pursue a national liberation movement," tor" level, while in Israel itself discussion is far more Reform movement sets teach-in to stimulate debate about Israel. JOE BERKOFSKY Jewish Telegraphic Agency New York City T he Reform movement is organizing a nationwide teach-in to debate the Israeli- Arab conflict and mobilize support for Israel and the moribund peace process. Called In Search of Peace and Security: A National Teach-in on Israel," the push will also launch a Reform campaign to deepen ties between American and Israeli Reform Jews. So far, nearly 300 Reform syna- gogues across the United States and Canada have committed to conducting teach-ins either on the suggested date, Sept. 29, or shortly thereafter. Organizers said the teach-in, which coincides with the two-year anniversary of the Palestinian uprising, is meant to re- open debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — a debate they say has been sti- fled since the intifizda erupted. 'At a time when Israelis are getting blown up in the streets, it does tend to suppress criticism here, which I think is understand- able," said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Reform congregational umbrella group. "But in the long term, \Are need those vibrant dis- cussions. It's important to connect people if they feel that they can't enter the discussion. The question is, how do we emerge 0 from this morass we're in, and how do we do it in a way that's consistent with Jewish values?" One path to Mideast peace the Reform movement has long promoted, and continues to advocate with the teach-in, is a two-state solution. 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