More than 500 rabbis and other prominent Jews are calling to kindle the lights of peace ahead of next week’s Israeli-Palestinian peace meeting. The Chanukah-themed appeal calls on Jews to remember that hope and courage are vital, even when circumstances appear grim. “For the Annapolis talks to become something other than a well-meaning gesture, it is essential that we, as a community, make clear to the current administration and the one that will succeed it that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is vital to the interests of all those who live in the region and the American people,” said Rabbi John Friedman, the chair of Brit Tzedek V’Shalom’s National Rabbinic Cabinet who helped circulate the appeal. Among the letter’s 517 signers are Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, former chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council; Rabbi Burton Visotzky, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary; Rabbi Paul Menitoff, the executive vice president emeritus of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; and Rabbi Toba Spitzer, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.
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