News from the JULC - Issue 2

Dear Friends:
Several months have elapsed since we last met electronically. In all likelihood, a number of good things have happened in your communities that you would like to share with us, but have been unable to do so due to time constraints. Please, do not feel bad about it, and just drop us a line or send us an e-mail to vitiailana@hotmail.com

  Meanwhile, the Board of Directors is planning a September meeting , as agreed to in our last encounter in El Salvador (Feb. 2000). One of the main items on the agenda is going to be our upcoming Fourth Encounter on Feb. 2001. There is much to discuss, as we are a vibrant conglomerate of small communities, each with its own particular concerns and aspirations, but all united in our desire to maintain and enhance Jewish life in Central America and the Caribbean.

COSTA RICA: From our friends there we have learned that they are extremely busy as they prepare for the official inauguration of their new B’nei Israel Synagogue and Jennifer Sossin Hebrew
School. This is an extraordinary accomplishment, since they have procured the necessary funds by means of an intensive campaign, in which members and friends participated, “buying” bricks, or donating of their time and effort. Their hard work has paid off, and now B’nei Israel can look forward to the realization of a several years old dream. We at UJLC wish them much success, lots of personal fulfillment, and many more achievements they can rejoice in.

PANAMA: The Isaac Rabin School is a new pluralist and progressive Jewish school, striving for academic excellence and an integral education of the highest level. It is the brainchild of the homonymous foundation, created to stimulate the teaching of Jewish cultural values in Panama, and to promote civic values in the Panamanian society. It is an answer to the needs of the more progressive sectors of Panamanian Jewish society, who want to instill in their children tolerance and full respect for differences in backgrounds and roots. This school is a remarkable achievement, which we at UJLC salute. If you would like to get more information about this project. You
can contact them at http://www.cirabin.org/, or at cirabin@sinfo.net

CURACAO: Next year congregation Mikve Israel -Emanuel will be celebrating a very special event: the 350th. Anniversary of the foundation of the Jewish Community of Curacao. This historic landmark will have great repercussion in the Jewish world, and it will be covered by CNN and news agencies from around the world. The commemoration week will be from April 22 to 29, 2001, and it will include the dedication of the Beth Haim cemetery as an historical site, a special commemoration service, lectures by Prof. Leonard Fein and famed author Chaim Potok, an international musical event, and much more.
We hope that all UJLC member communities will be sending delegations to this celebration, which is ours too, for it marks the beginning of Judaism in the New World. We advise you to make hotel and airline reservations well in advance, since there is great demand and limited capacity Mikve Israel -EmanueI was established by Sephardic Jews who fled the Inquisition, and found religious freedom in Curacao. Its present members continue to follow western sephardic rites. For more information, please contact our member, Rene Maduro, President of Mikve-Israel Emanuel at effinop@cura.net,

CURACAO: Another very important milestone for the Mikve Israel-Emanuel congregation: on May 7, they passed the equality in ritual proposition by an almost absolute majority, and, on June 24th, , they held their first egalitarian service. We congratulate the community on their resolution, and wish them great fulfillment with the full participation of women in ritual.

HONDURAS: Phil Gelman, President of the Jewish Community in Tegucigalpa, represented it at a worldwide vigil in memory of those who died of AIDS, and in solidarity of those who are HIV
positive. Although this is the third year that the vigil has been observed, this is the first in which the organizing committee decided to make it an interfaith event. The widely respected Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Monsignor Oscar A. Rodriguez, was very pleased to learn that there was a Jewish community in the city, and expressed a desire to share activities with its members. Monsignor Rodriguez asked Phil to make sure he approached him so that he could lend his full support to combat racism and causeless hatred. We are enclosing excerpts of Phil’s message:
I think the essence of our task is in Psalm 118:

5. In distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me
And brought me freedom
19. Open for me the gates of justice
that I may enter them
And praise the Lord.
20. This is the gateway to the Lord –
the just will enter through it…