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Settler Foe from page 40
full gamut of Israeli life rather than
just the political problems.
Trips To Israel
He said he often leads congregation-
al trips to Israel in which he brings
"hundreds of members — people
from the left and the right," enabling
them to "forge strong bonds" with
the people and land of Israel.
During his last trip, he said, the
group visited and studied with
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, a Modern
Orthodox rabbi who helped found
Efrat, a Jerusalm suburb in the West
Bank. He also takes congregants to
Arab neighborhoods, stressing that
education and dialogue are of prime
importance.
Westchester Reform has raised
funds to help Reform synagogues in
Israel, Rabbi Jacobs said, building a
library in one and donating a Torah
to another. These acts, he said, were
"to concretize what it means to love
Israel."
Turning to Israel's controversial
Conversion Bill, which is now on
hold because of non-Orthodox
Supreme Court Upholds
State Tuition Credit
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42
April 14 • 2011
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S.
Supreme Court rejected a constitution-
al challenge to an Arizona tuition tax
credit program that benefits parochial
schools, with all three Jewish justices
dissenting.
The court last week threw out a law-
suit against the program, which pro-
vides tax credits to those who donate
to "school tuition organizations" that
grant scholarships to private schools,
including religious schools.
The decision prompted the first
written dissent by Jewish Supreme
Court Justice Elana Kagan, who said
the 5-4 ruling "threatens to eliminate
all occasions for a taxpayer to contest
the government's monetary support of
religion."
Kagan used a hypothetical case
relating to Jews in her dissenting
opinion, writing: "Suppose a state
desires to reward Jews — by, say, $500
per year — for their religious devo-
tion. Should the nature of taxpayers'
concern vary if the state allows Jews to
claim the aid on their tax returns, in
lieu of receiving an annual stipend?"
She was joined in her dissent by the
other two Jewish justices, Ruth Bader
Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
The Anti-Defamation League called
the court's decision "a significant set-
back for religious liberty in America:'
"The Supreme Court has dramati-
cally undercut the ability of taxpayers
opposition to its attempt to give
Israel's Chief Rabbinate responsibil-
ity for all conversions, Jacobs said it
is a sin that the Jewish people have
not yet found a way to convert as
many as 300,000 Russians who have
been living in Israel for years.
"I'd love to see a broader definition
of the conversion process," he said. "If
there are official [conversion courts]
with narrow parameters, there should
be others" with a broader definition.
Each would have standards satis-
factory to the different movements
of Judaism, and the State of Israel
would recognize them for the pur-
pose of marriage.
Jacobs said he "stands very com-
fortably" with where the Reform
movement has been regarding Israel.
"Mine is not a foreign voice he
said. "I have spent lots of time there
and that positions me to understand
the challenges and opportunities it
faces. I'm in a position to strengthen
that connection and to bring [Israel]
to more of those in our movement
and to those outside of it. I look for-
ward to building on it." E
to protect religion and government by
intervening when government money
is improperly spent:' Robert Sugarman
and Abraham Foxman,ADI:s national
chair and national director, said in a
statement.
The Orthodox Union, which sup-
ports educational vouchers for paro-
chial schools, applauded the decision.
The OU had joined several other faith-
community representatives in filing a
friend-of-the-court brief in support of
the constitutionality of the program.
"The high court upheld school
choice today:' said Nathan Diament,
director of public policy for the
Orthodox Union. "The principles
of government respect for private
choices in education and government
neutrality in programs which can aid
and support such private choices is a
critical issue for the Orthodox Jewish
community and other American faith
communities:'
Japanese Official
Tours Field Hospital
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Japanese
Deputy Foreign Minister Makiko
Kikuta toured the Israeli army's
medical clinic in the city of Minami-
Sanriko.
Kikuta said that the good relation-
ship between Israel and Japan will be
strengthened due to the arrival of the
medical delegation to help in the after-
math of the earthquake and tsunami
that devastated Japan in March.