WHEREAS Jews have served faithfully in the military, participating in the support and defense of the United States; and
WHEREAS Jewish members of the armed forces of the United States serve their country in distant locations, helping to bring peace to such places as Korea, Somalia, Kosovo, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central America.
WHEREAS the world’s poorest nations bear a crushing debt of more than $2 trillion borrowed from the world’s richest nations, from multilateral organizations and from private banks in the richest countries; and
WHEREAS the Rabbinical Assembly passed a resolution "On Educating Conservative Jews Regarding Organ Donations" at its May 1996 convention; and
WHEREAS every day as many as 200 people in the United States join the list of those awaiting organ transplants, with a death occurring every three hours as a result of a severe organ shortage; and
WHEREAS Jews do not constitute a proportional share of organ donors, possibly due to the misapprehension that Judaism prohibits organ transplants; and
WHEREAS almost six years have passed since the AMIA Bombing in Buenos Aires, an aggression against the Jewish community which resulted in the deaths of 86 people; and
WHEREAS the Argentine Government has been lax in investigation, trial and conviction of the perpetrators, ignoring numerous pieces of relevant information brought to them by family and community organizations; and
WHEREAS the Government of Ontario is constitutionally mandated to provide
for the education of every child in Ontario; and
WHEREAS the Government of Ontario currently funds the Roman Catholic
Separate School system in keeping with the historic Confederation Agreement
of 1867 in that province; and
WHEREAS independent denominational schools completely comply with Ontario
Secondary School Diploma requirements; and
WHEREAS no comparable governmental funding is provided to Jewish, Islamic,
Sikh or Protestant private schools; and
WHEREAS the needs of the Conservative Movement and especially of our youth are of utmost concerns to all Conservative Jews; and
WHEREAS staffing for our youth programs at the various Ramah camps and USY kinusim, conventions and encampments has been, and continues to be, an ongoing concern to the Movement; and
WHEREAS these youth programs are strengthened by a strong rabbinic presence.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Rabbinical Assembly encourage its members to devote one week each year voluntarily to the youth programs of Conservative Judaism; and