Briefs

JUDGE ORDERS YESHIVA UNIVERSITY TO RECOGNIZE LGBTQ ORGANIZATION

The New York County Supreme Court ruled that Yeshiva University must recognize a campus LGBTQ pride group.

Judge Lynn Kotler directed the Modern Orthodox university to provide the YU Pride Alliance “full equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges afforded to all other student groups at Yeshiva University.”

The decision caps a dispute that dates back at least to 2020, when seven LGBTQ student activists and allies filed a complaint with the New York City Commission on Human Rights charging the university with discrimination. Administrators had overruled a student government decision to recognize the gay pride group.

In her ruling, Kotler said that YU is chartered as a non-religious organization and as a result is subject to New York City Human Rights Law.

In its court filings, Yeshiva University acknowledged that while it was incorporated as non-sectarian, it was guided by its religious beliefs. “The court’s ruling violates the religious liberty upon which this country was founded,” a YU spokesperson told The Commentator, a campus newspaper.

Gay sex is forbidden by nearly all Orthodox interpretations of Jewish law, although attitudes toward individuals who identify as queer have eased somewhat in Modern Orthodox settings in recent years.

The Manhattan-based university intends to appeal the decision.

Jewish Queer Youth, a nonprofit representing the interests of gay Orthodox Jews, hailed the ruling as “a victory for human dignity, mental health and safety on campus,” Rachael Fried, executive director of JQY and a YU alum, said in a statement. (JTA)

TEXAS RABBI WHO FOUNDED UNDERWEAR NONPROFIT NAMED CNN HERO

A Houston rabbi was named a CNN Hero for her work as the founder and CEO of Undies for Everyone, which provides underwear and dignity to children in need.

Rabbi Amy Weiss founded the project in 2012 to assist the majority of students in Texas’ largest school district, Houston ISD, who are economically disadvantaged. She initially ran underwear drives from her home.

Undies for Everyone has provided more than two million pairs of underwear to children across the country who are living in poverty. In times of natural disaster, Weiss’ organization has stepped up to include adults in need, too.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey claimed the lives of more than 100 people and destroyed more than 150,000 Houstonarea homes, including Weiss’ own home. In the days following the natural disaster, Weiss learned that underwear was a high-demand item at evacuee shelters and guided the efforts of her nonprofit there.

Weiss’ friend and neighbor, social worker and public speaker Brené Brown, uploaded a video to her Facebook page at the time asking her followers to consider donating to Undies for Everyone. Over four months, more than 1.4 million pairs of brand-new underwear were sent to people affected by Hurricane Harvey.

In 2019, Undies for Everyone expanded to eight other states. This year alone, the organization has distributed 1.1 million pairs of underwear to children in need.

“Ten years later, through the vision of my incredible board and leadership team, Undies for Everyone now serves communities throughout the country helping kids stay in school and reach their potential,” Weiss said in a statement.

CNN Heroes honors ordinary people who lead charitable causes. Every week, a different CNN Hero is profiled on CNN and CNN.com and viewers vote online for their top 10 heroes. At the end of the year, another online vote is held for the CNN Hero of the Year.

Weiss, who was ordained as a rabbi from Hebrew Union College, has also worked as a chef for Shabbat and holiday meals at Houston Hillel, where her husband, Rabbi Kenny Weiss, is the executive director. Houston Hillel serves the Houston area’s Jewish university students. (JTA)

‘NAZI HUNTER’ ELI ROSENBAUM TAPPED TO HEAD DOJ TEAM INVESTIGATING WAR CRIMES IN UKRAINE

Eli Rosenbaum, a Justice Department veteran known for his work tracking and deporting former Nazis residing in the United States, will lead a team working to identify and prosecute people responsible for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment in a statement on Tuesday, June 21 while in Ukraine.

“There is no hiding place for war criminals. The U.S. Justice Department will pursue every avenue of accountability for those who commit war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine,” Garland wrote in the news release.

Rosenbaum will lead the DOJ’s War Crimes Accountability Team. Starting in 1979, Rosenbaum had led a team through the Office of Special Investigations, or OSI, that over decades deported over 95 war criminals and their allies.

Amid reports of war crimes by Russian soldiers as the invasion continues, Rosenbaum is expected to work with both domestic and international offices regarding crimes over which the United States has jurisdiction, including the killing of American journalists.

“Working alongside our domestic and international partners, the Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable every person complicit in the commission of war crimes, torture, and other grave violations during the unprovoked conflict in Ukraine,” Garland added. (JTA)

CONTROVERSIAL TEXAS GOP PLATFORM WOULD ‘PROHIBIT’ PALESTINIAN STATE

The Texas Republican Party approved a platform that supports the “prohibition” of a Palestinian state in lands that Israel now controls.

The platform approved by 5,100 delegates in Houston on Saturday, June 18, supports the “prohibition of a Palestinian state within the historical borders of Israel, as it would jeopardize Israel’s security and it would force Israel to give up land that God gave to the Jewish people as referenced in Genesis.”

In outright suggesting a “prohibition” on a Palestinian state, the platform goes farther than the 2016 national GOP platform, which withdrew Republican support for a two-state outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian outcome, arguing that any solution should be left to the two parties involved.

That platform did not include a biblical reference, but called Israel an “exceptional country that shares our most essential values.”

The Texas platform also supports a “prohibition” on the movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israel.

Party platforms do not necessarily shape government policy even when a party controls all branches, as Republicans do in Texas. Platform conventions are dominated by activists who often stake out positions more extreme than average voters. Republicans who are very popular among Republicans statewide, such Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. John Cornyn, were booed at the convention.

Still, the platform has been garnering headlines because its positions signal how far right the party has drifted.

Among other positions, the platform proposes a referendum on seceding from the United States; rejects Joe Biden’s presidency; calls for the repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed Black voters representation; calls homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice”; and supports the repeal of a law mandating direct voting for U.S. senators, preferring a return to their appointment by a state’s legislature. The party banned a gay Republican group, Log Cabin Republicans, from having an official presence at the convention.

“We can’t compromise with Democrats who have a different and incompatible vision for our future,” Matt Rinaldi, the Texas GOP chairman, told the convention. “We need to be a bold and unapologetic conservative party, ready to go on offense and win the fight for our country.” (JTA)