Miriam Yosef – From Abused Wife To Domestic Violence Activist
Posted 8/29/08 At the age of 11, Miriam Yosef left home and began the treacherous trek to Sudan in order to get to the land of her dreams. In the refugee camps, she watched her close friend, Tezeta, perish from malnutrition. Although she made it to Israel, young Miriam was separated from her parents for nine long and lonely years. “As children, we had to see things we shouldn’t have seen,” says Miriam. She went on to feel things no woman should have to feel: she married a man who abused her. “When I look back, I think, how did I cope?” Miriam asks. “It’s a miracle. I tell my kids, it’s possible to overcome every obstacle that we meet on our path. I’ve always had to fight and I survived. And now I fight for others.”
A Jewish Mother's Plea
Posted 8/29/08 Goor of Temple Judea in Tarzana, CA, forwarded this video to a colleague of mine. Called "Jewish Mother on Proposition 8," it features 88-year-old Molly Pier, the mother of a gay doctor who passed away in 1989, as she recounts the story of his love for his partner - whom she considers a fourth son. This November, Californians will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that, if passed, would amend the state constitution to define marriage as being solely between a man and a woman. Two other states face similar initiatives: Florida's Amendment 2 and Arizona's Proposition 102 would both amend their state constitutions to ban same-sex marriage.
Government Moves Route Of Separation Fence Near Ma'ale
Posted 8/29/08 The Israeli government has decided to re-route the planned Security Fence in the region of Ma’ale Adumin southeast of Jerusalem. Some 1,000 acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank, which would have been placed on the Israeli side of the Fence, would have been inaccessible to Palestinian villagers. The government made this decision in the wake of a Supreme Court petition by the Palestinian residents of Abu Dis and Suahra e-Sharkiya. The residents of these East Jerusalem neighborhoods, which are outside of the Security Fence, were assisted by veteran NIF grantee Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights, whose architects and town planners wrote an expert opinion for the petition on the planning aspects of the Fence’s route.
