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CZNO The
Norman Itckwell

The Power
Of Knowledge

Washington, D.C.

T

his is a time of tremendous
crisis. It's also a time of tre-
mendous opportunity. Big
changes are coming — for better or
worse, or perhaps both. That was the
message, or at least the subtext, of
almost every speech and panel discus-
sion and informal conversation at last
week's meeting in Washington of the
Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
The JCPA is the national umbrella
organization representing 125 local
Jewish community relations councils
and committees and the public affairs
arms of 14 national Jewish agencies
and religious movements. Several hun-
dred lay leaders and staff professionals
gather each year at the JCPA "Plenum"
to learn about and talk about the public
affairs issues confronting the Jewish
community. Major political figures and
experts representing a variety of view-
points are always on the agenda. The
Plenum delegates also debate and adopt
public policy statements representing
the Jewish community's consensus on
major issues, and they spend half a day
on Capitol Hill advocating on behalf of
American and world Jewry.
Martin Indyk, two-time former U.S.
ambassador to Israel, headlined the
opening session on Israel, saying that
with Hamas remaining in power in
Gaza and the Palestinian Authority
struggling to retain legitimacy and
effectiveness in the West Bank, Israel
has no viable negotiating partner and
the peace process is, for the moment
at least, practically nonexistent. Add to
that the festering presence of Hezbollah
and Syria on the north and, behind
them, the ominous threat of a soon-to-
be-nuclear-armed Iran, and the security
outlook for Israel is precarious at best.
During our Hill visits, the Detroit
Jewish Community Relations Council's
delegation encouraged Rep. Gary
Peters and staff members in the offices
of Senators Carl Levin and Debbie
Stabenow and other members of
Congress to ensure that U.S. humani-
tarian assistance to the Palestinians is
channeled through non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and kept out of
the hands of terrorists.
Later, our message to Michigan's
congressional delegation was that
the Hate Crimes Prevention Act must

provide expanded pro-
tection and prompt fed-
eral action when local
authorities fail to act.
Predictably and
with good reason, the
economic crisis and
especially its impact
on vulnerable popula-
tions was the talk of the town. The
current situation was described as a
"perfect storm" in which government
is stretched and social service agencies
are struggling with increased demand
for services and reduced resources for
responding to that demand.
President Obama's budget radi-
cally changes priorities, most notably
focusing on health care reform, energy
independence and global warming,
and fiscal policy. Robert Greenstein, the
founder and executive director of the
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
a nonpartisan research organization,
labeled it a "tikkun olam budget"
And Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar
predicted that the "ET (energy tech)
revolution" will generate jobs across the
workforce, unlike the information tech
(IT) revolution that primarily created
upper-education jobs.
We encouraged our representa-
tives in Congress to support quick
passage of social service funding
measures, and we began planning for
Child Nutrition Seders in April that
will draw attention to our country's
and our world's food insecurity prob-
lem. We also made special mention
to Senators Levin's and Stabenow's
staffs of the need to make changes
in Housing and Urban Development
regulations that would allow Detroit's
Jewish Apartments and Services to
convert vacant studio apartments to
badly needed one-bedroom units.
We returned home from Washington
with expanded knowledge, innova-
tive ideas and especially energized
and inspired by the organized Jewish
community's commitment to repairing
the world. Truly, the crises of our time
offer us great opportunities, and our
Jewish values command us to respond
to them. --

Robert Cohen is executive direc-

tor of the Bloomfield Township-based

Jewish Community Relations Council of

Metropolitan Detroit.

Asvel in Itykwell

EXPERIENCE THE WORKS OF AN ICONIC AMERICAN STORYTELLER.

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Norman Rockwell. American; Artist Facing Blank Canvas (The Deadline) (detail),1938; oil on canvas. Cover illustration for The
Saturday Evening Post, October 8,1938. From the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum. 1938 SEPS: Licensed by
Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.

N Ei A

American ChranicfekThe Art of Norman Rockwell has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
American Chronicles has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Masterpieces Program. In
Detroit support has been provided by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the City of Detroit. Publication support has
been provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Media sponsorship has been provided by the Curtis Publishing Company and by the
Norman Rockwell Estate Licensing Company.

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March 12 2009

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