when Mordechai ’egged; her on, day, ‘bring forth abundantly telling her that perhaps she was meant to be queen for just this Which Came First: The Chicken or the Egg? foil that may fbabove the EGGcelent purpose, did she muster earth,‘ before we have read, ‘Be the courage and ’scrambled’ to This question keeps people guessing, talking, arguing, and fruitful multiply and let appear before the king.” debating. It’s garnered answers from believers in the theory of fowl multiply in the earth’? R. Reb Roosta stated, ”Speaking evolution as well as religious advocates believing in the theory of Darwin was of the general of birds, I heard that a Heavenly creation. Perhaps the least philosophical answer comes from chefs in opinion that the chicken has not voice once announced: ’A Robin their home kitchens and in their restaurants. existed forever, thus implying Redbreast in a cage puts all Heaven I often felt like a goose preparing to be served as foie gras the existence in the particular of in a rage’” (William Blake, Auguries when I was force-fed my Hebrew education in Howard Beach, an ancestral creature that of Innocence). Reb Chicka New York, back in the late 1960s. My tutor taught that as staunch evolved into the chicken. The responded, ”Not to EGGxaggerate, adherents to the theory of creation, we believed that on the fifth but, as British comedian Spike day the chicken was formed. As with all of the Almighty’s fivst arosefrom an Mulligan stated, ’If a robin creations, this chicken was formed intact and in a mature state. but the egg was an redbreast in a cage puts all The egg was laid later. egg. This is conclusive, but both heaven in a rage, how feels Every chef worth his box of kosher salt knows that our most ofthem may agree as one would heaven when, dies the billionth famous of all Jewish foods is chicken soup. It is the cure-all of most want to have a little pasta egg-laying hen?”’ Reb Poultrie ailments known to humanity. Forgot your flu shot this year? Have anyway. R. Atkins raised the stated, “Since Queen Esther was some chicken soup. Have a head cold? Chicken soup. Pneumonia? following objection: this doesn’t a vegetarian to avoid violating Yup, Chicken soup. Eggdrop soup never made it to such esteemed really matter anyway as eggs the dietary laws while hiding her status because of that “e” word in its title. are parve and better without the Jewish identity, and since our The debate between evolution and creation will continue for as esteemed editor, Judah the long as both theories are taught. However, as a chef, my concern is pasta. of course, we adopt the Prince, was stricken with pain for that the eggs are delivered on Mondays and Wednesdays and fresh more stringent ruling that many years because he callously chicken is delivered every day by 1O:OO a.m. I don’t care which one discounts any opinion that treated a frightened calf, perhaps comes first, as long as they are delivered to my restaurant when I involves evolution. we should egg on to protest need them. Let my recipes be pleasing, let the reservations be taken, against current horrible treatment and let’s all sit down to a beautiful meal with chicken and eggs and Joanne Niewood is a Senior of chickens?” eggs and chicken, surrounded by family and friends and nachos, (oops, Scientist at BASF Bioresearch I mean nachas). Amen. Corporation in Worcester, MA. Richard H. Schwartz is author of and Vegetarhism, Judaism JefNathan is co-owner and executive chef ofAbigael’s andAbigael’s Her-two children want to grow up and Global Survival, and On Broadwav restaurants in New York City. He is also Chefmost of- to be biO1O@ts de@te tkfact tht Mathematics and Global Survival. the public television series, New . their dad is a rocket scientist.

It may be true that there is a lot to be said for the chicken. But it is an undeniable fact that there is a lot to be said for the egg. The egg’s superior qualities all point to its having come before the chicken in the order of Creation. Creation, after all, was the world in its perfect state, and what food is more perfect than the egg? Certainly not the chicken. An egg is structurally perfect -the shape of its shell and the laws of physics dictate that it is impossible to break an egg by pressing on its two ends without applying a huge amount of pressure. In a vice, an upright egg would withstand far greater pressure than, say, the head of a chicken, which, as my research indicates, would break almost immediately. As a cook, I know that it is of course possible to break an egg more easily by dropping it, but the same could be said of a chicken. The egg is perfect in other ways - nutritionally, of course, as well as aesthetically. In its asymmetry it is imperfect, which makes it more perfect, since of course only God is perfect. Anyway, no one would call a chicken aesthetically perfect. Of all foods, only the egg could have come straight from the hand of God. And who knew it would go and grow into a chicken?

loan Nathan is author of the award-winning cookbook, Jewish Cooking in America and host of the public television series by the same name. For more on this important qrsestioa, please see page 6!

Sh’um Purim2000 http://www.shma.com Why Too Kosher, or, Y2K? Dan Messinger

recently attended a conference, ’Why or so we’re told.” Conservative representatives, it’s possible to be too kosher,” or, for short, willing to consider the new policy, stipulated that it IWhy2K.” The conference, held in a posh hotel would not be for the Orthodox alone to decide outside of Los Angeles, focused on a number of ”what in fact tastes like chicken.” For them, ”who different aspects of keeping kosher in a non-kosher is to chew” is the main issue. The delegates from world. Representatives from the major movements the Reform movement officially commented on the attended: strictly kosher, kosher in the home but decision at a press conference held at the local not out of the house, kosher-style, and eat trayfbut Sizzler. ”Today ’tastes like chicken,’ tomorrow, feel @ty. ’tastes like whatever’!” The four-day gathering featured a number of Reactions from Israel were also divided. Most interesting and innovative presentations. of the religious parties condemned the decision. Noteworthy sessions included a heated debate Shas, however, was willing to accept the decree if between Mrs. Adler and Mrs. Manischewitz on the -in return for their cooperation -Shas was given gravity of gefilte-goo, an inspiring political the ministry of shnitzel and shwarma. Barak‘s discussion with a panel of noted Hebrew government is said to be considering the offer. Peace Nationalists, and a moving lecture by the Pillsbury Now delightfully accepted the policy and formed a Dough Boy on accepting the ”0-U.” (Though in new commission called ”piece of ostrich now.’’ The private he admitted to me that he really does miss immigrant party’s statement indicated an apparent lard!) error, and translated ”chicken” into the Russian On the final day of the conference, the American word for lettuce. Committee on Kashrut (ACK) made its now Perhaps the most surprising reaction came from idamous declaration. In a six to four vote the cross- the three major movements’ combined Sisterhood denominational agency decided that from that day branch. In a letter to the ACK, Goldie Horowitz forward, not only is chicken a kosher animal but in complained, ”Do you have any idea of the impact fact ”anything that tastes like chicken is acceptable that this will have on Sisterhood cookbooks across to eat.” The announcement was met with shocked America? It might take years before we’re able to faces and growling stomachs. Reaction was properly supply the American Jewish household certainly mixed. Samuel Goldenheim, of with tasty recipes for alligator.” Goldenheim’s frog legs and other body parts, What had started as a calm conference on applauded the decision, declaring ”no longer will culinary practices closed mired in controversy and frogs be seen only as the second plague!” dispute. Once again the Jewish community has Representatives of the Orthodox Union of proven that while we may have all left Egypt America were not as pleased. One rabbi from the together, we didn’t all stop at the same restaurants. 0-U declared, ”Are you kidding? By the same logic pork would be acceptable since it is the other white Dan Messinger is the Youth Director at Sinai Temple in meat! And pork doesn’t even taste like chicken ... Los Angeles.

INSIDE Purim Sh’am INSIDE Sh’ma Jeffrey Nathan: NiSh‘ma ...... 1 Sudan Introduction ...... 12 Dan Messinger: Why Too Kosher, or, Y2K? ...... 2 Nina Shea: Sudan’s Genocide and U.S. Indifference .. 12 Vanessa ochs: Amdca on Kosher Chicken ...... 3 Elie Wiesel: A Letter to President Clinton ...... 13 Grape Jewz ...... 4 William J. Clinton: A Response to Elie Wiesel ...... 16 JoanLeegant: Creating Community ...... 4 Nigel Savage: Why Did the ChickenCross the Road? .... 7

Sh‘am Purim 2000 @ http://www.shma.com Minhag America on Kosher Chicken Vanessa Ochs

ho is in charge of promoting and ”Compared to a kosher chicken, an ordinary maintaining Jewish traditionalpractices chicken doesn’t have a prayer.” Such a reading leads W in America? Our modern-day Houses of one to conclude that while a kosher chicken has a Hillel and Shamrnai are not just . Today, our prayer, an ordinary chicken has no prayer. tradition keepers include the wise men and women One wonders: What does it mean for a chicken, from the Houses of Empire Kosher Poultry, kosher or tray5 ordinary or extraordinary, to have Manischewitz, Post, and Golden. Not only do these or not have a prayer? Do Jews believe that chickens modern-day Houses fulfill the role of traditional pray, and if so, what do they pray for? Does God transmitters -they do so at considerable expense, hear and answer the prayers of chickens? Are only if you reckon the cost of full-page glossy color kosher, Jewish chickens required to pray three times advertisements in nationally distributed magazines. a day? But it’s a , so we won’t dwell upon cost or Of course, a kosher chicken only becomes sacrifice. kosher at the moment it is slaughtered according Now, lest you think it is improper to derive to the laws of kashrut. So a chicken who mesumes religious edification from an it may be kosher Gows that advertisement, a document - whatever happens once intended for the Cornpared to [a] kosher the guys in the beards and marketplace, keep in mind yarmulkas show up - its that Jews take the [chicken], ordinary chicken prayer is in vain, for the only marketplace seriously. Why kosher chicken is a dead do we read on doesn’t kosher chicken. Mondays and Thursdays? have a According to the Empire Because these were the big advertisement, “The kosher shopping days of antiquity, prayer. process is more than rabbis when people either blessing chickens.” This displayed their wares, did suggests that while the their marketing, or both. I kosher process may indeed believe the ancient rabbis must have loved extend beyond rabbis who bless chickens, in the shopping, as their teachings are full of shopping most minimal scenario a rabbi does bless a chicken. imagery. For instance, the rabbis stipulated the time Those of us who went to Hebrew school will recall period for lighting Chanukah candles as being from our rabbis and teachers telling us year after year, sunset ”until the passersby vanished from the ”Rabbis don’t bless chickens the way priests bless marketplace” (BT Shabbat 21b). Thus, we see the holy water!” rabbis even set their sacred clocks according to the So what were the rabbis doing if they were not shopping habits of their constituents. blessing the chickens? They were blessing God for I offer some commentary on just one ”tractate” giving them permission to kill chickens according of Minhag America: the Empire chicken to specific laws so people could eat meat. It’s not a advertisement. (Had Sh’ma not been denied blessing that goes from God to the rabbi to the permission to reprint it, you would see more clearly chicken to the Jewish chicken-eater. It’s a what I mean. Now, you’ll have to trust me, or pull conversation between the rabbi and God that has 3 out a copy of any glossy Jewish magazine.) consequences: 1. A chicken dies. 2. The rabbi gets The advertisement begins with an axiom: paid. 3. A will eatjleishig. ”Compared to kosher, ordinary chicken doesn’t This advertisement suggests we forget the have a prayer.” Since, in the reading of , one teachings of our Hebrew school rabbis if we want is required to add words to decipher the mega-terse to understand the meaning of kashrut in the year text, one might imagine that the text ought to read, 2000. The Houses of Empire and Hebrew National

Sh’arn Purim2000 @ http:/ /www.shma.com - our long-trusted high priests of kosher meat - them to the laws of kashrut. They suggest the inspire our deep and unquestioned allegiance. They’re following logic: if you eat such a ”blessed” chicken, saying: All the people of Empire, and not just the you too may be worthy of being blessed with Empire rebbes who bless chickens, are committed to radiant health! a sacred Jewish vision. ”It’s the painstaking pursuit What could a chicken, keen on living, pray? I’d of perfection that helps Empire create the cleanest suggest, ”Oh God, let hem feed me stoebought food!” [mikvah?],healthiest [annual physicals?], best-tasting [beats me] chicken.’’ Empire now embraces Vanessa Ochs teaches in the Department of Religion at contemporary popular belief about homegrown the University of Virginia, and is the editor of CLAL’s chicken feed and growth hormones and is appending Sacred Days series.

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Creating Community Joan Leegant

adies & Gentlemen: Once again, as in random a. a male Purims past, we beg your indulgence as we b. a female L interrupt the evening festivities. We are the c. neither of the above consulting firm of Sturm & Drung and have once again been commissioned by this worship group to conduct vital 2. Evidence of my chazan’s piety is important to jnstitutionaldWewillbemadingtoyouthisevening me. Thus, the following shoes are acceptable for from a brief ques-tionnaire,which will be sent out in hard my choice of chaaan on Yom Kippur: copy just as soon as we get hold of some clean envelopes. a. Those little flat canvas things with straps, provided they are not made in china, hdia, or Section One: Who shall daven on the high holidays? Pakistan,wh~childlaborisusedforsoccerballs b. Reebok, Adidas, or New Balance running 1. I am extremely concerned about gender shoes, provided they have only a kazayit equity when it comes to the High Holiday of leather on them and the kazayit is daveners. Therefore, I prefer that the person facing the aron davening Kol Nidre be: c. Those pastel-colored espadrilles your mother

Sh’arn .Purim 2000 http://www.shma.com gave you in Florida when her corns got too big We’re interested in updating our demographic for her to be able to wear them anymore profile of the community. Please answer the following, based on your ancestral history. 3. The most hportant qdtyfor the neiM davener is: a. The ability to convey a sense of urgency 1. For the Yom Kippur break-fast, our Ashkenazi b. The ability to stay focused family adheres to the following tradition: c. The ability to stand up a. The Litvak tradition, which features a sturdy cheese kugel good for all hours of the day 4. The best way to choose the chazanim/chazanot for b. The Galitziana tradition, which serves kugel the holidays is: with enough sugar and candied cherries to a. By secret ballot, which shall be preceded by induce diabetic shock primaries,thevoters dividedinto districts according c. The Poultrynitz tradition, which slips boiled to neighborhoods, zip codes, and area codes chicken wings into the noodles, thereby b.By hiring a talent scout, like the guy who accounting for the wholesale disappearance of discovered Stevie Wonder, and have them its cuisine discreetly sit in on Shavuot, looking for talent c. By public auction, with the choice of davener 2. On the other hand, for our (classier) break-fast, going to the highest bidder OUT Sephardi family sticks to the following: a. The Moroccan tradition, which features pine Let’s address rules for celebrations in shul. We all nuts and sultanas folded into a delicate rice- know there are rules. Some of us even know what filled pastry that has only the good, or trans- the rules are. But do we know what the consequences fatty acids are for breaking them? No. That’s because there are b. The Ymenite tradition, which serves an equally no consequences. Once and for all, let us resolve this healthy pilaf confaining orange peel, coriander, a issue swiftly and without pity: hint of rose-blossom honey and all nine hundred spices mentioned in the Sung ofSungs 1. Overcrowding. For the sin of overcrowding caused C. The remote Poultrysfard tradition, which by inviting too many guests to your simchah, the buries chicken pieces under mounds of rice, penalty shall be: hoping nobody notices a. Sittingfor the rest of the year on the 1,000,000 BTU radiator against the back wall 3. Lastly,for those of us in this counfrytoo long to know 6. Standing fm the rest ofthe year by the light switd~es whichendisupinternof ancestryourYomKippur against the wall, worrying that you will turn them bd-htfollows this CUIKEEY hditi01~ on or off if you should accidentally breathe a. The Maine Yankee, serving up blueberry c. Standing in the 4 x 6 hermetically sealed alcove off pancakes, blueberry muffins, and blueberry the hall for the rest of the year inhaling the tea, with lobster on the side hormones emanating from the 12- to 14-year- b. The California Lite, presenting arrugala salad, old boys who congregate there no dressing, bagel halves with all the breading pulled out, 1/32 of an ounce of imported brie 2. Invitations. For the sin of failing to invite everyone in per person, and white wine in obscenely tall the comtmmity to yom tximchhr the penalty shallbe: glasses a. Personally licking envelopes for the next 10 c. The Kentucky Fried, featuring robust chicken organizational mailings parts proud at last to be out of the closet, b. Writing on the blackboard 100 times arriving complete with cardboard buckets and “Everyone’s invited, everyone’s invited, three sides, with a gallon of Jolt Cola thrown everyone’s invited.” in for every twenty-five pieces of bird c. Apologizing for your ways on our E-letter and asking for a discussion of the matter online Our community uses electronic mail for informal

Sh‘am Purim 2000 0 http:/ /www.shma.com and formal communications. But, deciding who reads which email communications is a family matter. To help with these decisions, we propose the following Chair, Sh’ma Committee of Jewish Family & Life! rating system to be attached to each email: Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin 1. AJl emails concerning lost tallis bags, your mother-in- Editor, Susan Berrin law‘sapartmentfor rent inFlorida, andmeetingsof the Publisher & Executive Editor, Yosef I. Abramowifz mvcommittee. Rated PB-@ ”WdyBoring.” Founding Editor, Rabbi Eugene Borowitz Art Director, Jefiey Rosenbaum 2. All emails concerning volunteering, opportunities Proofreader, JudithAntonelli to engage in social action and justice work, and all Rabbi-in-Residence, Susan Fendrick possible forms of adult education: Rated MBG: Israel Representative, Jay Shofet Moderately Boring with a high Guilt factor. Assistant Editors, Ronnie Friedland, Gabi Soble Chair, Jewish Family & Life! Board, 3. Personal assaults, however veiled and indirect, Martin Kaminer aimed at shoe size, toothpaste preference, or any Sh’ma Committee, Ed Case, Caroline Harris, other personal matter, including whether or not Susan Laden, Carl Sheingold, Larry Yudelson you believe in God: Rated NPN -Nis pasnishf.The consequence for this sin shall be a committee of Contributing Editors: Michael Berenbaum, Elliot Dorff, technical nerds coming to your house under cover Arnold Eisen, Leonard Pein, Barry Freundel, Rela M. Geffen, Neil Gillman, Irving Greenberg, Joanne Greenberg, Brad Hirshfield, of night and pulling all of your plugs. Lawrence Hoffman, Paula Hyman, LoriLefkovitz, DeborahDash Moore, David Nelson, Vanessa Ochs, Kerry Olitzky, Riv-Ellen Joan Leegant lives, writes, and maks jobin Newton, MA, Prell, Harold Schulweis, Elie Wiesel, Amold Jacob Wolf, David Wolpe, Walter Wurzburger, Michael Wyschogrod. where she’s a member of the Newton Center Minyan. Sh’ma Amitim/Fellows: J~~thanGolden, Jo~thanRei& Joshua Stein, Rebecca Wartell, Dinah Zeltser. Sh’ma welcomes artides from diverse poinfs of view. Hence, the opjnionsexpmseddonotnecesdlyrenectthoseof theeditors. Jb More on the Chicken the Controversy nations to Sh’ma a tax deductible. Sh’m is available in mimh and Egg fmm University M.iml?lms Jntemational, Ann Arbor, and in au- dio format fmm the Jewish BraiUe Institute, New Yak, NY. heintmctabiity ofthisproblemisduetothevaguenessof Address all editorial correspondenceto: Sh‘mu, 56 Kearney odmylanguage. Solution:apurifiedsymbolicformat, Road, Suite B, Needham, MA 02494. Telephone: (781) 449-9894 Fax: (781) 449-9825 Emaik [email protected] all TLet ‘c’ be the chicken and ‘e’ be the egg. The fog of subscription queries to: Sh’ma P.O. Box 1019, Manchester, NH confusion and uncertainty be- to lift a little. But what of 03105-1019. (877) 568-SHMA. tempodprhity-the ‘came first element? 0nesolution:throw Sh‘ma (ISSN 0049-0385) is published by Jewish Family & in our lot with those who deny the reality of time. That would Life! 56 Kearney Road, Suite B, Needham, MA 02494, monthly except July and August. Application to mail at periodical-class dissolve the problem but leave us with a wofse one: everything postage rates pending at Needham MA 02494. POSTMASTER would be happening at once. Far better to dehe a two-place Send address changes to Sh‘ma, P.O.Box 1019, Manchester, NH relation ‘B,’ and let ‘Bxy’ stand for ‘x came before y.’ We now 03105-1019. Subscriptions: $29 for two years in U.S.;$18 for one only need to replace the problematic ‘or’- with its annoying year; $21 for one year overseas; $35 for two years overseas; bulk subscriptions of 10 or more to one address, $12 per subscription; inclusivdexclusive ambiguity -with the ‘v’ symbol so beloved students, the retired or those of restricted means may subscribe of logicians, to arrive at our mncep-on: ‘Sce v Bec?” for one year at $9; Institutional subscriptions and libraries, $36. Have weindeed solvedtheproblemyet? Notquite, buttheroad Please notify subscription office, in writing, if you prefer your is clear; ‘mopping up’ is left as an exercise for the reader. (NB: name not be given out on rented lists. Visit our website at www.shma.com or partiapate in our The famous chickenaossing-road problem yields to a similar interactive discussion group available through any online ser- vice that can exchange with the Internet. ”The Best of Sh’mu can be found on the Jewish Community Online at America online. Jerry Sat,a philosophy professor at Brandeis University, Type in keyword “Jewishnews”and look for Sh’m. loves introducing the uninitiated into the mysteries of Copyright 0 2000 by Jewish Family & Life! philosophy. Reach him at [email protected] deeper February 2000 initiation and to request tkfill solution to this problem

Sh’um Purim2000 @ http:/ /www.shm.a.com Between the humor of Purim and the Megillah's lessons about hatred and genocide, we pause. The following pages explore seriously the current genocide taking place in Sudan.

Sh'm February 2000 @ http:/ /www.shma.com rom the merriment and absurdity of Purim, we travel halfway around the world to focus our consciousness and conscience on Africa’s largest country, Sudan. In this exclusive to Sh’ma, we offer an exchange between FNobel Laureate (and Sh’ma contributing editor) Elie Wiesel and President Bill Clinton. We hear, reverberating in the genocide of millions of innocents who do not follow the fundamentalist Islamic laws of the land, echoes of the death sentence to the Jews in the Purim megillah. For 17 years the Sudanese government has slaughtered millions without an Esther to save them. And, we, citizens of the world, have stood by silently as if not being able to recognize the difference between good and evil. Jews have a special responsibility to follow in Mordechai’s footsteps and seek intervention. We know what it is to have a death sentence against an entire people. And the current regime in Sudan came to power in the aftermath of Operation Moses, the miraculous airlift of the Jews of Kush (Ethiopia) in 1984, in which Sudan was the transit point. General Numeri’s moderate Sudanese government was toppled after helping the Zionistsbring Jewsto Israel, unleashing the forces of hatred and genocide that continue to enslave, rape, maim, ”destroy, kill and exterminate” (Esther 3:13) an entire people. Elie Wiesel calls on President Clinton - and all of us -to act. -YIA

Sudan’s Genocide and U.S. Indifference Nina Shea

ur policy makers anguish over searing new launched a cruise missile attack on its capital in 1998. reports about how the United Nations and Inexplicably though, the Clinton Administration had 0the Clinton Administration failed the 800,000 been silent about the genocide in Sudan. Its Sudan victims of the1994 genocide in Rwanda, and how the policy was based on concerns about terrorism, not international community should have acted to save genocide. thousands of Bosnian Muslims massacred in the UN- Last year, many churches and human rights declared ”safe haven” in 1995. Even as they offer their groups began to speak out against the genocide in apologies, they fail to recognize or try to stop a Sudan and document reports of massacres, religious and ethnic genocide now occurring in Sudan government-induced starvation, scorched-earth that has destroyed more lives than Bosnia, KOSOVO, policies and slavery. On June 16,1999, the U.S. House and Rwanda combined. of Representatives adopted a resolution with only one Triggered by the government’s attempt to dissent that had been introduced by Representative forcibly convert and impose Islamic law on the Don Payne (D-NJ), condemning the government of Christian and animist south, a civil war has been Sudan for ”deliberately and systematically committing raging in Sudan for 16 years. Last June, Congress genocide.” Five days later, the new US. Commission officially recognized that conflict as genocide. In on International Religious Freedom, an independent south and central Sudan, the homeland of the panel created by Congress, targeted Sudan as an Christians and African traditional believers, two ”egregious and ongoing” persecutor of religious million people had been killed, and five million believers. A few months later, on October 6, the displaced. More than 100,000 died from the deliberate Administration followed suit and included Sudan in starvation policies of the regime in 1998 alone. its first designation of ”countries of particular concern” Sudan should have been an easy human rights for ”egregious” religious persecution. case for the Administration. It is already on the US. The Commission presented a set of policy list of terrorist nations and thus subject to recommendations for Sudan in a meeting with President comprehensive economic and trade sanctions, and Clinton on October 19. Among the poliaes, it urged the severed diplomatic relations. The White House had President to use the bully-pulpit of his office to raise

Sh’ma February 2000 @ http://www.shma.com

A Letter to President William Jefferson Clinton Elie Wiesel

July 13,1999 The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton President of the United States The White House Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I write this letter with a heavy heart but also with hope, based on my confidence in the depth of your commitment to human rights. With many other Americans, I have been moved by your leadership and resolve to achieve a just peace in Kosovo. I have also admired your expressions of regret over America’s failure to act against the Rwandan genocide, and for your resolve to avoid such tragedies in the future. Last year’s ”never again” speech at the Kigali airport, and your recent commitment to ensure that Rwanda-like massacres do not happen again in Africa, express views that I know you deeply hold. Combined with your remarkable post-Kosovo pledge to marshal American power against tyrants who ”come ...after innocent civilians and try to kill them en musse because of their race, their ethnic background or their religion,” they reflect America at its noblest. If these commitments are based on a nonutopian realism and acted on with firmness, they will usher in an enduring legacy of your tenure. This brings me to Sudan, site of the world’s most long-lasting religious persecution and genocide. I have never visited this country but I know people who are deeply involved with trying to end its tragic upheavals. How could I not respond to their appeal for help? I have spent the past few days reading such documents as the U.S. Committee for Refugees report, ”Quantifying Genocide in Southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains 1983-1998” and the House of Representatives Resolution of June 16, by which it powerfully condemned the government of Sudan in a remarkable 416-1 vote. The U.S. Committee on Refugees report, endorsed by the House Resolution, calculates the following stunning toll of the past decade against a population of no more than 12 million residents of South Sudan and the Nuba Mountains: the death of almost 2 million and the ethnic cleansing and mass displacement into refugee camps of at least 4.5 million more. By way of indicting the escalating horrors besetting the people of Sudan, I am informed that the U.S. Committee on Refugees will shortly revise its ethnic cleansing estimate to a figure in excess of 6 million victims. I have also read eyewitness reports of the government’s deliberate policies of enslavement, rape, water-supply poisonings, undefended aerial bombings, torture, and the mass destruction of unarmed villages, churches and refugee camps. They sear the conscience, the soul, of anyone with a heart. I have learned of what Senator Frist has described as the regime’s policies of ”calculated starvation’’ - how it uses Western-provided food to accomplish that end. I have learned from the Vatican News Service that at least 700 people die of starvation every day in one region of Sudan. I have learned how the regime in Sudan dares commit mass murder and the destruction of Christian communities in the name of one of the world’s great faiths, Islam. It seems that the Khartoum regime now profits from an ultimate, cruel irony - the fact that it has been permitted to commit acts of mass genocide over an extended period of time. In light of your recent pledges to the world, Mr. President, no similar ”success” can be permitted to occur in Sudan. I do not know the precise policies that will best use America’s power to end the tragedy in Sudan.

Sh’ma February 2000 @ http:/ /www.shma.com I do know, however, what your leadership has been able to accomplish in Kosovo under circumstances almost certainly more difficult than those in Sudan. I also know that your personal attention to events in Sudan will engage the world’s conscience over the policies practiced there. Some have used racial considerations to explain our engagement in Kosovo and our disengagement from even greater acts of ethnic cleansing and murder in Sudan. I know how profoundly abhorrent you find that idea, how contrary it would be to everything you have worked for, were America seen by the world as deeming black Africans less worthy of prayer or concern or human dignity than white Europeans. For that reason, a concerted effort to deal with events in Sudan, coming as it would after the great victory for human rights you led in KOSOVO,would establish a human rights legacy of historic dimensions. I am haunted by what I know of Sudan. I write to you because I know your readiness to confront the evil now taking place in that tragic country, and your power to abate it. I hope we may meet shortly, if you so wish, to discuss this urgent matter further.

Very truly yours,

Elie Wiesel

A Response to Elie Wiesel William Jefmson Clinton

Dear Elie:

Once again your eloquent voice has captured the compelling tragedy we are now witnessing in Sudan. I share your concern and am conscious of our responsibility to provide leadership in responding to the unparalleled cruelty of the regime in Khartoum. Although we are actively engaged on Sudan, the political situation there makes our job very difficult. We have invested a billion dollars in humanitarian relief over the past ten years attempting to alleviate the suffering in Sudan, carefully channeling none of it through the government. The United States Government has spent $110 million in the last year alone on programs to improve economic and social conditions in areas controlled by opposition forces. We are also actively supporting the regional peace effort led by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, which aims not only to end the war, but also to bring about peace with justice. Together, we all must continue to make clear to the regime and the international community that Khartoum’s human rights abuses will not be tolerated. And we are stepping up our efforts. I recently named a Special Envoy to Sudan, former Congressman Harry Johnston, who will focus on the humanitarian situation, the human rights problems, and the regional peace process. I know you are planning to come to Washington in the near future to help with an important humanitarian program. While you’re here, I’d like to invite you to meet with Sandy Berger, who can bring you up to date on what we are doing. Again, thank you for writing and for your continued support.

Sincerely, 0 Bill Clinton

Sh’m February 2000 @ http://www.shma.com Life On the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Toward Traditional Rabbinic Ordination by Haviva Ner-David Foreword by Blu Greenberg Now available. $21.95 (plus $3.50 for shipping and handling) To order call: (888) 458-8535 or visit: www.JFLBooks.com

Hebrew College's Campus in Cyberspace is pleased to offer 5 new online courses. Participate in a dynamic learning community with "virtual classmates" from all over the world. For information visit http:// hebrewcollege.edu/online, send e-mail to online- [email protected], or phone (617)278-4929.

Jewish Family & Life! and the Jewish Theological Seminary are co-sponsoring an online mini-course about morality for parents and children (grades 6-8) using everyday dilemmas and Jewish sources. The three week course begins on February 15th. For more information, or to register, visit http://courses.j tsa.edu/registration.