Dear Congregational Leader:

Reform Jews are ready to affirm the unity of the Jewish people across time and space. But as a great religious Movement, we know that ultimately our extended Jewish family is only as strong as its shared religious heritage. As a result, our primary task in the Jewish world is to support synagogues and to promote religious life wherever Jews are found.

We turn our attention in particular to the State of Israel, which has a special hold on our soul. Israel requires a religious response as well as a political one to the terror and turmoil that she faces. Our congregations are playing their part, offering Israel a Judaism that is egalitarian and accessible and that speaks the language of both ritual and justice, of both modernity and tradition. And in Eastern Europe, Reform synagogues are participating in one of the great miracles of Jewish history by drawing Jews back to their roots after seventy years of Communist oppression. But in difficult economic times, these growing communities do not have the resources that we enjoy here in North America. Therefore, because we are strong and live in freedom, we must lift our voices on their behalf and help them wherever we can.

In this spirit, I propose that we undertake to foster among our members a sense of mission and spirit of service to the Jewish people. I therefore suggest that we call upon every member congregation of the Union to adopt a specific project of support for a Reform Jewish community in Israel or in Eastern Europe. With your participation and support, the Union will train Reform Jewish leaders in Eastern Europe, send Eastern European Jewish children to Kutz Camp, build Reform synagogues in Israel, and sponsor the studies and outreach work of Israeli Reform rabbis. I believe that over the next ten years this Movement-wide, grassroots campaign will change the face of the Jewish world; will advance the cause of Israel and our people; will energize our Movement here in North America; and will renew our sense of shared kinship and shared fate with Jews everywhere.

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie
November 8, 2003/13 Cheshvan 5764