Brit Tzedek v'Shalom

Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2005

Holy Land is Focus of Brit Tzedek National Conference

Some of the Israeli religious right assert that the entire land-for-peace concept is a violation of the Torah, but in his upcoming workshop at the Brit Tzedek v’Shalom national conference, Rabbi Seidler-Feiller, lecturer in the Departments of Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA, and Hillel Director there for 28 years, will challenge this assertion.

Brit Tzedek’s 3 rd National Conference, will take place February 19-21, 2005 at Temple Israel of the City of New York, 112 E. 75 th Street (between Park and Lexington). The “Holy Land, Sacred Space: Land for Peace in the Jewish Tradition ” workshop, plus others with religious themes including “Leadership for Peace in Jewish Congregations,” “Human Rights and Judaism,” and “Jewish-Christian Relations and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” are just a few of the more than 40 workshops that will be led by a host of distinguished speakers. For a complete conference agenda, including descriptions of the workshops to be presented by leading scholars and activists, go to www.btvshalom.org

The conference’s keynote speakers will be Yasser Abed Rabbo and Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, architects of the Geneva Accord, which provides a model for a negotiated, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Among the workshop presenters will be: Susannah Heschel, Sidra Ezrahi, Rabbi Brian Walt, Rabbi Balfour Brickner, Rabbi John Friedman, Rabbi Andrew Hahn and Cantor Michael Davis. Other leading scholars and activists will present workshops covering everything from strategizing for peace, to the narratives of both Israelis and Palestinians, to the past, present and future of Zionism.

Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, is a national organization of American Jews deeply committed to Israel's well being through the achievement of a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Brit Tzedek has a network of 24,000 members and supporters and 30 chapters in cities across the country. To learn more, go to: www.btvshalom.org