by Shari Eshet, director of NCJW's Israel office

Last night I went to the movies. Here, in the center of Israel we go to work and school as usual. The theatre was packed. I assume that everyone there, just like me, could not watch the news any more. I saw a great film called, Australia. I thought it was going to be a mushy film about love. It was and it wasn’t. It was the story of two nations, or three actually, and how fear of the other can turn into hatred. It was about how love conquers all. I thought I was getting away from it all. I have spent the past few days contacting the projects in the South that NCJW has provided funds for over the past few years. Most of what I hear in their voices is defeat. "Again?" they seem to be asking. Israel is 60 years old and we have gone through 10 wars -- some big, some small. Again? Two years ago it was up North, now it is down South.

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by Shari Eshet, director of NCJW's Israel Office

It was touch and go there for a while. The Israeli High Court of Justice -- or the BAGATZ, as we call it -- had to step in to make it happen, but it happened.

On November 13, 2008, the Property Division Amendment passed.

Finally, after a 35 year injustice to women, Israeli couples who are divorcing will now be able to separate their finances and go on with their lives within the civil court system, even if the divorce, or get, is held up in the rabbinical courts. This amendment is therefore a notable victory for women because it takes away the power of blackmail and coercion from men who must divorce their wives in Israel.

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by Jenny Nathan, Grassroots Administrator

Since Barack Obama was elected president on November 4th, water-cooler conversations in Washington, DC, have shifted from the latest polls and electoral maps, to the makeup of a new administration. At this point, President-Elect Obama and his transition team have selected only a handful of the 8,000 staff members and appointees who will make up the new administration; however, we are already pleased to report the presence of several long-time friends and allies of NCJW in the Obama White House.  

On November 24, President-Elect Obama announced the appointment of Melody Barnes to the prestigious job of director of his administration’s Domestic Policy Council, which convenes regular meetings of all the cabinet secretaries whose portfolios include domestic matters. As director, Ms. Barnes will work closely with many of the executive departments. NCJW worked with Barnes when she was on the Hill as chief counsel to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and before that to Rep. Don Edwards (D-CA) when he was chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. Barnes was honored at NCJW’s Washington Institute 2001 for her outstanding work as a legislative staff member. 

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by Special Guest Contributor Nan Rich

NCJW and the world, especially its children, lost a dear friend and powerful advocate with the death on October 14 of Dr. Avima Lombard. Avima created and promoted the highly acclaimed Israeli educational program known worldwide as HIPPY, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. HIPPY was designed to assist at-risk parents to become the first educators of their children, and to prepare their children for success in school and beyond. Launched in 1968 from NCJW’s Research Institute for Innovation in Education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, HIPPY now numbers more than 250 programs in countries across the globe, including the US.

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Before there were long lines at the polls on Election Day, there was hard work. And now, after the polls have closed, there is still hard work – the work of organizing. Making social change – advancing any cause – requires the hard work of organizing. Volunteers organized in their communities to register and turn out an impressive number of voters on Election Day.

So what's next? A new President and Vice President have been elected. Store-front campaign offices are closed, lawn signs are clearing out, and volunteers are headed back to "everyday life." Many campaign workers were people who had never volunteered in a political campaign before – never phone banked, never canvassed, never spent their free time advocating for a candidate or a cause.

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There are only 535 members of Congress, but when they go home somehow Washington seems a bit emptier – traffic eases a bit, seats open up on the Metro, and cab drivers complain about slower business. This fall, Congress stayed in DC a bit longer than planned, overstaying their target date for adjournment and foregoing a day or two of electioneering at home. Instead they pulled a few all-nighters in the Capitol to hammer out a financial package that would garner sufficient votes to pass the House

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When President Bush signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act on October 3, 2008, he also signed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity bill which was added as an amendment. At long last, private insurance plans must treat mental health and addiction treatment on the same basis as they treat physical health issues. Championed by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), this bill was supported by NCJW from its earliest days.

On September 25, 2008, President Bush signed the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Amendments Act into law. The bill restored protections to disabled workers that had been eroded in a series of court decisions over the years. The new law, which enjoyed bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, reinstates the important anti-discrimination protection of the landmark ADA -- a major civil rights bill for the disabled that was enacted in 1990. NCJW worked hard to win passage of the ADA and this newest restoration bill.