IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 222 
Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Religious Action 
Center of Reform Judaism. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 12, 2011 
Mr. NADLER (for himself, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. 
DELAURO, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. FILNER, Mr. HOLT, Mrs. 
LOWEY, Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. VAN 
HOLLEN, and Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) submitted the following resolu-
tion; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 
Reform 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the founding of the 
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. 
Whereas the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism was 
established in 1961 by the Union of American Hebrew 
Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism) and 
the Central Conference of American Rabbis as the social 
justice arm of the Reform Jewish Movement; 
Whereas President John F. Kennedy dedicated the Religious 
Action Center in a special tribute in the White House 
Rose Garden during which he spoke of the lasting con-
tribution of Jews to the moral fabric of American society 
and the ‘‘happy relations which exist between all religious 
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groups and must continue to exist in this country if we 
are to be worthy of our heritage’’; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center building was officially 
dedicated in Washington, DC, in the presence of guests 
including Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg, Union of 
American Hebrew Congregations President Rabbi Mau-
rice Eisendrath, Howard Metzenbaum (later Senator 
from Ohio), NAACP Board of Directors Chairman 
Bishop Stephen Spottswood, (soon to be) NAACP Presi-
dent Kivie and Mrs. Emily Kaplan, Directors of the Com-
mission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eu-
gene Lipman and Al Vorspan, and the Center’s first di-
rector, Rabbi Richard Hirsh; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center was home to multiple 
civil rights and public interest organizations, including 
the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, American Jew-
ish Committee, American Jewish Congress, the Leader-
ship Conference on Civil Rights, and the Citizens Cru-
sade against Poverty; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center participated in the plan-
ning of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Civil 
Rights; 
Whereas the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 
Voting Rights Act were drafted in the Religious Action 
Center’s conference room by African-American, Jewish, 
and other civil rights leaders; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center building was the oper-
ational headquarters for the 1987 March on Washington 
for Soviet Jewry, one of the largest demonstrations in 
United States history and which contributed to the re-
lease of the Soviet Union’s Prisoners of Zion; 
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Whereas in 1995, Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond 
Tutu addressed the Religious Action Center’s Consulta-
tion on Conscience and thanked the Reform Jewish 
Movement for its role in the battle to end apartheid; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center hosted a 1997 Passover 
Seder in honor of the Dalai Lama and the struggle for 
Religious Freedom and Human Rights in Tibet; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center has perpetuated the Re-
form Jewish commitment to social justice through its 
programs training new generations of leaders, including 
the Eisendrath Legislative Assistant Program, the 
Machon Kaplan program, the L’Taken Teen Social Jus-
tice Seminars, the England Rabbinic Student Seminars, 
and the Rabbi Balfour Brickner Rabbinic Seminars; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center has been led for nearly 
four decades by Rabbi David Saperstein, who is a leading 
voice in support of religious freedom and social justice 
and a trusted counsel to Members of Congress and Presi-
dents; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center is the home of the Com-
mission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, which seeks 
to apply the insights of Jewish tradition to such domestic 
and foreign issues as human rights, world peace, civil lib-
erties, religious freedom, famine, poverty, intergroup rela-
tions, as well as other major societal concerns; 
Whereas the Religious Action Center’s biennial ‘‘Consultation 
on Conscience’’ conference has, for more than 30 years, 
been the flagship public policy conference for the Reform 
Jewish Movement, featuring a bipartisan array of Presi-
dents, Members of Congress, public policy experts, and 
human and civil rights leaders; 
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Whereas the Religious Action Center’s biennial ‘‘Consultation 
on Conscience’’ conference this year takes place May 1, 
2011, through May 3, 2011, and celebrates the Religious 
Action Center’s 50 years of activism and advocacy for so-
cial justice; and 
Whereas the Religious Action Center continues to be a lead-
ing advocate for civil rights, human rights, religious lib-
erty, and economic and environmental justice in the 
United States and around the world: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives recog-
nizes the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the 
Union for Reform Judaism, and the Central Conference 
of American Rabbis on the occasion of the 50th anniver-
sary of the Center’s founding. 
Æ 
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