By Kate Goldsworthy & Pierre Haou

Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Reubenstein certainly made some powerful impressions Wednesday night. She has recently been appointed the head of Temple Beth Israel Synagogue in Eugene. She is originally from Saratoga Springs, New York, and she has spent most of her time on the east coast. Rabbi Ruhi was born within a family of the Reconstructionist Movement within Judaism, and both of her parents are rabbis.

Her husband, Jacob Siegel, joined Rabbi Ruhi in our discussion. He is currently in rabbinical school, although he is a modern orthodox student while Rubenstein represents the Reconstructionist movement within Judaism. This brought up a discussion about the differences between these ways of approaching the practice and philosophies of Judaism. Siegel explained that Orthodox Jews are more conservative in their interpretation of religious texts than the more liberal Reconstructionists. This brought up a lively discussion about specific issues, and how both Reubenstein and Siegel interpret and handle those issues.

When applying for jobs, Rabbi Ruhi admitted that she had applied to Temple Beth as a practice for other application, as she was looking for employment on the east coast, a little closer to home. When she was offered the job, however, she realized she was drawn in by Eugene’s close-knit communal feel. During the conversation she would often come back to the importance that she and her husband place on community.

Rabbi Ruhi said one of her main goals coming to Temple Beth Israel is community building, which is something the Reconstructionist movement considers important. She also emphasized the importance she places on the environment. Eugene appealed to her because she is certain that when the earth starts to have environmental catastrophes, which she says swill happen in the next fifty years, she can take comfort in being able to hunker down in a small town with her community.

She takes this sense of community very seriously and this is what struck students most about her visit and discussion. Arguably one of the most poignant things she said regarding community was “We are all responsible for each other and the entire world. The world can only be saved by local communities.” This was stated in the context of climate change and peak oil. Her belief in the preservation of the world was really inspiring.

She talked a lot about compassion too. In particular, she spoke on compassion as a prerequisite for a functional society and said “Love your neighbor, but don’t let them get out of control hurting people.” She also brought up an example from her father when she said “the more annoying a person is, the more pain they’re in.” One of her self proclaimed greatest struggles is having compassion when people come to her with short sighted or selfish issues. In reference to this, she said “I do a lot of sharing of values.” As Rabbi, she explained that it is not her role to decide whether or not someone’s struggle is valid– her only duty is to show compassion for their struggles, no matter how small and no mater what her personal opinion of their struggle is.

In terms of ethics; she raised some interesting issues. Do we value what is ethical over what is pragmatic? Are the two synonymous? She best expressed her stance when she said “it is pragmatic to care for everybody.” In our discussion with her we delved into the issue of action versus intent, and often in our discussions intent wins out as the more ‘ethical’ frame; however she put an interesting spin on the issue. “In Jewish tradition, you don’t have the right to choose not to give. Giving isn’t charity, it’s an obligation.” In my mind, this seems entirely ethical, and action demonstrates much more intent to do good than someone who sits around all day and discusses all the good they want to do. I feel that the greatest thing she left us with, though, is a more ethically minded perception of pragmatism.

By: John Fritz & Xander Cuizon Tice

On Monday, February 1st the Carnegies were introduced to the Director of the Center for Democracy and Community Development, Walid Salem. Introducing him was Diane Baxter from the Anthropology Department and head of the University’s Middle East Studies program. Baxter gave us a brief background into Salem’s life story and his commitment to nonviolence that sends a message that all our struggles are one in the same. Salem then filled us in on the rest of his political activism and his international peacemaking efforts.

Salem explained his start into the political realms describing a turning point in his childhood. One day in 1967, Israeli troops stormed Salem’s elementary school out of a call that a few students were throwing stones. The troops did not take this lightly, and outright destroyed most of the school’s windows, including the classroom Salem was in at the time. It was at this moment when Salem considered his home country under occupation.

After living a childhood with tension of Israeli authority, Salem joined the Marxist-Leninist Party of Palestine in 1976. He explained his role primarily involved visibility, promoting the party in social and non-violent methods. He stressed that he never accepted to be trained on using weapons as he stated, “I do not believe in violence.” Yet despite being peaceful, he was thrown into solitary confinement for 56 days. The Israeli Government hoped this would make him confess names of members in the Communist Party. Salem refused. However he eventually left the party in 1995, wanting to focus more on the cooperation of Israel and Palestine.

Since 1996, Salem has been working with Israeli colleagues to salvage a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts he and millions have been living through for decades.

Salem talked about his involvement in the March 24th, 2004 meeting between Israeli members of Knesset and parliamentarians from the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries in Jerusalem to establish a joint forum. This initiative that he worked hard on was known as the Prague Forum. Salem explained that it began in February of that year with secret meetings of Israeli and Arab Countries sponsored by the Czech government. The purpose being to promote the Regional Peace Initiative, which is based on the Arab Peace Initiative. Salem was a key member in organizing this meeting. For more information about this inspirational man, you can see a 4 hour (16 page transcript) interview conducted by Just Vision.

Namratha Somayajula

Last spring, CGO students organized a speaker panel dealing with the issue of human trafficking in our community. The event took place in the L illis Business Complex at the UO during the evening of Tuesday, May 12, 2015.  The panel included Ms. Nancy O’Malley, Alameda County District Attorney, Ms. Diana Janz, director of Hope Ranch Ministries in Springfield, and Ms. Rebecca Purkey, a local advocate in Lane County who in the past had experienced human trafficking firsthand.

By bringing in speakers with various backgrounds and experiences in the effort to eradicate human trafficking, the CGO students hoped that students around the University of Oregon would be able to use what they learn to seek creative options to engage in the effort. Lauren Frei, a CGO ‘15, noted that although “many times, human trafficking is approached as an issue that occurs abroad…it has substantial roots within our local community. Our goals in organizing a speaker panel are to raise awareness of the local nature of human trafficking and to focus on prevention. We hope these speakers will inspire our local community to become active in prevention efforts to deter human trafficking along the West Coast and to expand these efforts to reduce [its] impacts on the global community.”

Most certainly, the speakers were inspiring to those who attended the event. The panel was open to students and faculty from the university, and was well attended. We were very glad to see that so many students from around the U of O took the time to come and listen to this panel on such a pertinent and urgent issue. Each of our panelists spoke about her experiences advocating against human trafficking. Specifically, Ms. O’Malley spoke about her experiences in law making and in creating the Human Exploitation and Trafficking (H.E.A.T.) Watch program in Alameda County, an organization that works to combat human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. The program has developed a toolkit for communities working to eradicate human trafficking, and continues to develop comprehensive responses to the phenomenon. Ms. Janz spoke about the program she leads at Hope Ranch Ministries: the program’s mission is to lend a voice and support to those who have been silenced through the horrors of human sexual trafficking, and to help those individuals empower each other. Ms. Purkey, who concluded the panel, shared her personal story and spoke about the work she does–some of which is at Hope Ranch–in offering support to others who have experienced sexual trafficking and in trying to end its occurrence in our local community. In response to an audience member’s question about the criminal justice system as it relates to human trafficking, Ms. Purkey shared her thoughts on how we can compassionately and mindfully address the root causes of human trafficking. In doing so, she encouraged us to both protect those who have been/may be exploited and also to eradicate some of the conditions that may cause someone to choose to exploit others in the first place.

The next evening, all three of our panelists attended the CGO’s weekly class in the Ramey Room. After briefly re-capping what they had spoken about the night before, they led us through a workshop that allowed us to think about ways in which community members like us can address the factors that contribute to human trafficking. Both the workshop and the panel the night before were very valuable, and we are very thankful that our speakers were willing to take the time and effort to travel to the University of Oregon and share their experiences with us.

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Note: Before returning to California, Ms. O’Malley also left with the CGO a packet of information and resources developed by the H.E.A.T. Watch program. Thanks to Ms. O’Malley’s vision and efforts, and the commitment of the District Attorney’s Office, H.E.A.T. Watch has become an award-winning program that serves as a model in the local, regional, and national spheres. For more information about H.E.A.T. Watch and to find out how to join the effort against human trafficking, please visit the website: http://www.heatwatch.org/

Oscar Maciel, a 34 year old San Francisco native, has recently arrived to the Eugene area. With a degree in Broadcasting and Electronic Communication Arts he has taken on the role of KEZI’s newest news reporter. But before finding his way onto the TV screen, Oscar was a teacher. After his teaching days, he became a writer for the KRON 4 News in San Francisco which led him to discover his passion as a news reporter.  

Although prepared for the job and ready to satisfy his curiosity, the novice reporter was never told of “how much the job pushed him to the brink.” Only three months after being employed by KEZI, he was assigned to report on the Umpqua Community College shooting. While others both locally and nationally were focused on getting the highlights of the tragic story, Oscar struggled with the trauma of the event and his own ethics of what is an appropriate story in such an extreme context. Along with other reporters, he was offered the opportunity to go to into a victim’s relative’s house. After weighing the decision, he refused, feeling it was too exploitative. He does understand the other side, in that is gives the story a human face, but he had to follow his own feelings. This experience brought Oscar to the realization of what’s ethical to show to viewers and it was his job to discern what news was and what was important.

Holding respect for those who are being interviewed and those watching the news is of utmost importance to Oscar. While at UCC campus, another local journalist approached the story in what he felt was an invasive way. She often appeared to shoved the camera in the their face and asked questions until the subject responded. Oscar perhaps obtained less footage than the other journalist, but instead of playing up the aesthetics of victims of the tragedy, Oscar asked victims individually if they were comfortable being filmed and if they wouldn’t mind sharing their story.  It was only when a victim agreed that Oscar would then bring in his film crew and begin the process. Again, Oscar recognized that there were two sides to this, however. The other reporter felt like she would get a more raw and emotional response to events. Oscar simply felt that this was inauthentic to his own nature. 

Oscar says the fairest way to do the job is to “keep integrity by sticking as close as possible to the truth.” Even local news stations, like KEZI, have fairly large demographics and as a result the ratings of the station depend partially on making the viewers happy. Whether that be adhering to sponsors or mentioning Kim Kardashian’s latest fashion line, the reality is that it’s important to include these topics to allow leeway for items of a more serious caliber like racism, tragedies, politics. He discussed the reality of what stories ore selected, and how the personalities of the newsroom and ratings all influence what we see produced each day. 

Oscar says he really enjoys the news during this time because the news is evolving, and it is exciting to be a part of telling the stories.