To: Rep. Janice Schakowsky (IL-9) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Mast (NV-1)
Step by Step toward Shalom with Iran - The Shalom Center
I strongly oppose Senate Bill 1881 and any other such bills that would put us on the road to war against Iran.
My opposition grows from the Biblical and Rabbinic commitment to “seek peace and pursue it” and my deep sense of what is beneficial to the peoples of the United States, Israel, Iran, and all our world.
I strongly support this call of 120 Rabbis and other Jewish clergy, as published in the Congressional Record of January 10, 2014, on page E43:
Step by Step toward Shalom with Iran
We urge the US and Iran to move swiftly to agree on a step-by-step process of reducing and ultimately ending sanctions against Iran in accord with steps by Iran to make its nuclear research transparent and to allow verification that its research is directed wholly toward civilian uses of nuclear energy. We believe that such a step-by-step process is the best way to guarantee that both parties are fulfilling their commitments.
We urge Iran to make clear its full acceptance of Israel as a legitimate state in the fabric of international relations, protected like all other states from aggression and attack.
We urge the peoples of the United States, Iran, and Israel to reject and oppose all statements and actions from whatever source that undermine the swift and thorough achievement of agreements to ensure the civilian nature of Iran’s nuclear program and to end sanctions against Iran.
We believe that this combination of governmental acts and public rethinking and re-feeling can move American society, the entire Middle East, and the world toward the shalom that Judaism yearns for.
Why is this important?
Dear friends,
Some powerful Senators and Members of the House of Representatives are pushing a bill (Senate Bill 1881) that would almost certainly torpedo the negotiations between Iran, the US, and the other Great Powers. The White House has said the bill will put the US on the Road to War.
The negotiations are aimed at, step by step, setting up a tough verification system to prevent Iran from making nuclear weapons – while at the same time, step by step, bringing Iran into the world community as a peaceful member. Senate Bill 1881 would impose even more severe sanctions against Iran and nullify the negotiations.
The strongest pressure to pass Sen. 1881 has come from AIPAC and a few other powerful, top-down Jewish organizations, supporting the policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, who has denounced and poured contempt on the negotiations.
But these groups do NOT speak for the American Jewish community. Indeed, 120 Rabbis and other Jewish clergy have joined in a Rabbinic Statement calling for moving “STEP BY STEP TOWARD SHALOM WITH IRAN’.’
Luminaries of the Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal, Conservative, Modern Orthodox, Kohenet, and Humanist streams of Judaism have signed. Among them are Rabbis Leonard Beerman, Aryeh Cohen, Amy Eilberg, Sue Levi Elwell, Everett Gendler, Dan Goldblatt, Marc Gopin, David Gordis, Sharon Kleinbaum, Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Mordechai Liebling, Michael Lerner, Ellen Lippmann, Andrea London, Gerry Serotta, David Shneyer, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Jonathan Slater, Susan Talve, Arthur Waskow, and Sheila Weinberg, Cantor Steven Puzarne, and Rabbi/Kohenet Jill Hammer.
One Jewish Member of Congress, Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, has praised the statement, introduced it into the Congressional Record (Jan. 10, p. E43), and has urged its signers and supporters to contact their Members of Congress to oppose Sen. Bill 1881 and any similar bills.
Given the pressure from AIPAC, it is crucial for American Jews to let Congress know that the grass-roots Jewish community opposes Senate Bill 1881. We therefore invite you to sign the following petition to Senator Harry Reid and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
In the petition, you will see a few paragraphs of the Rabbinic Statement. To see the whole text and especially to let us at The Shalom Center know that you are signing the petition, please go here
<https://theshalomcenter.org/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=4&reset=1>
Thank you!
Shalom, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center