2010 Social Justice Trip to Israel
REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS AUGUST 12!
Start thinking about joining us on an upcoming trip to Israel. The trip will explore GLBTQ issues and community, rights of minorities, security issues, economic justice, and other social justice issues, visiting Tel Aviv, the Negev Desert, and Jerusalem.
In the Declaration of the State of Israel (1948) David Ben Gurion read these famous words:
"...THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations...."
CBST has long supported the State of Israel and its struggle to live up to this vision. It is as difficult for Israel to live up to its highest ideals as it has been for the United States.
We are going to Israel December 22, 2010-January 2, 2011 to tie our dreams of social justice here in the US to those who share similar dreams in Israel. CBST has been focusing on strengthening our social justice work with our Koleinu work and other efforts. This is a natural extension.
We believe that those who struggle to fulfill this vision of Israel are the new Halutzim/pioneers who are doing the hard work of this generation which matches earlier struggles to drain the swamps and make the deserts bloom. We Jews believe in miracles!
The study tour would focus on depth rather than breadth. We will spend time in Tel Aviv, in the Negev Desert and in Jerusalem doing off the beaten track kinds of things. Our touring will include small gems of Museumsand sites that most tourists never see. We would meet with and learn from the giants in Israel right now who are making the society come closer to fulfilling the words of Israel's Declaration of Independence. We will meet with Jewish settlers on the West Bank. In earlier trips, we have gone to the north, but this trip will spend several days in the Negev Desert combining fabulous hikes and studying Bedouin culture and issues.
We will learn about GLBTQ issues and community (both politically and socially); Palestinian GLBTQ community; larger questions of civil society and the rights of minorities (when we Jews are the majority!), security issues, civil rights, economic justice, human rights and social justice.
Join us! Renee Goutman, Israeli guide extraordinaire, will once again be our guide.
Click here for a detailed itinerary and to register.
