Last week I had the wonderful opportunity of leading a group of members of our congregation to the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington D.C. If you have never attended an AIPAC policy conference, I must tell you — you are absolutely missing out on one of the most energizing and powerful events that exist in the realm of Israel activism, not only in the United States but throughout the world.

I am always fascinated by the amount of people who attend the conference. This year over 7,000 people came to Washington D.C. with the sole purpose of better understanding how to bring our voices together and make sure that a clear and undivided message is delivered to our elected representatives. What is the message? Israel matters! It does not only matter to us as Jews but Israel matters to the world because of its message of democracy and freedom in a region where fundamentalism, radicalism and anarchy seem to be the norm. 

Every year, there more people who join me and make the journey to the AIPAC policy conference from Temple Beth Sholom. This year alone, over 40 of our congregants found their way to Washington D.C., and I hope that next year we can grow stronger in number and in spirit. My goal for next year is to have our congregation see at least 100 of its members at the AIPAC Policy conference. Why? Well, when it comes to lobbying, numbers do matter and they matter a lot! Short of visiting Israel every year, this is probably the next best thing that we can do for Israel. This year, we heard from the then three presidential candidates, we heard from the Prime Minister of Israel and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — among other very distinguished, prominent and powerful speakers. 

On a personal note, I was requested to do Hamotzi at one of The Washington Club luncheons that take place during the AIPAC Policy Conference. I was extremely honored and proud because AIPAC is an organization that is close to my heart and that matters tremendously to me. Having been born in a foreign country, it is an amazing experience for me to see the “power of The People” in action. As Americans, we take for granted the blessings of a true democracy such as ours. For me to know that I can make a difference in the way America supports Israel is a very powerful thing.

We must all take advantage of our right to let our elected representatives know how we feel about certain issues. I have included a video of my Hamotzi at AIPAC below — it is a little blurry, but I include it just in case you want to hear what I said.

 © Rabbi Felipe Goodman, all rights reserved.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 9:02 am and is filed under Israel, Uncategorized, religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.