November & December 2011

Newsletter of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

Dear Members and Friends,

As youve noticed, weve had a lot of new faces joining us these past weeks. I want to take a moment to thank you for your warmness and for how welcoming youve been. Ive seen you greet people coming in the door, chat it up with new parents before platform begins, lean over to talk with a newcomer during the gathering activity, and get to know people during lunch with the bunch. Keep it up! Im so proud to be a part of a community that is so friendly when new people walk in the door. Have you found yourself wondering who is that guy who has been fiddling with the sound at every platform since 9/11? Some of you have asked and Im happy to share that his name is Ben Halberstam. He is our new communications associate, and hes been testing systems to get us up to speed with the podcasting world! If you havent met him yet, please do introduce yourself. With peace, Catherine

Dear BSEC Members,

Greetings from the Board Walking for Peace

It is with great joy that we announce the members of Brooklyn Ethicals executive committee for the 2011-2012 year. Jean Rohe is honored to serve as your president this year, aided by Rebecca Lurie as V.P. Lucy McNair, who served us all so well last year, has agreed to stay on as secretary, organizing our documents and taking notes at board meetings. Tom Castelnuovo will again steer our financial ship for the year as he has in the past, keeping us on course through fair weather and foul. Lastly, Fiona Boneham will be our pledge secretary, helping us to support our beloved BSEC through our pledge contributions. You should have recieved her pledge letter by now, which details how we each can ensure the financial health of our community. Together with our other fellow board members, Louise Daniel, Alec Gershberg, and Joel Shatzky, we are set to have a productive year. We have a lot to look forward to as a society: exciting new curricula in the Childrens Sunday Assembly, fresh faces as well as old friends at Sunday platforms, programming to engage our minds, hearts, and souls, and lots of ways for the membership to be involved in the life of our community. In a time of great challenges for our planet, our country, our city, and our families, we on the board want to work with BSEC members to support and nurture each other and the sturdy roots of this community, even as we branch out.

I was moved last month by the recital over the radio of the names of those who had been killed on September 11, 2001. Their humanity and the loss of so many parents, children, brothers and sisters was embodied by the sometimes dispassionate, often emotional voices of those who were themselves bereft of family and friends (One Sunday at Brooklyn Society of Ethical Culture where I am a member, I met a man who told me that he lost fourteen friends on that day, all killed in one of the top floors of the Twin Towers.).
That afternoon, since I wanted to participate in some expression of my own feelings on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I went on Children of Abraham Peace Walk, which was cofounded eight years ago by Brooklyn Ethical and Charley Horwitz Participants met at 2:00 P.M. at the Dawood Mosque in downtown Brooklyn which all were invited to visit. The march, consisting of about 150 people, many, like myself, activists from the 60s but also an encouraging proportion of younger people some with children, heard speeches from a number of community and religious leaders. These included Ellen Lippmann, Rabbi of Kolot Chayeinu Synagogue, a spokesman for the Mosque, and the ubiquitous President of the Borough of Brooklyn, Marty Markowitz, whose presence was very much appreciated. Most notable was the appearance of Debbie Almontaser, the former principal of the Khalil Gibran High School The tenor of all the speeches was that of reflection, the hope for peace, and a recognition that many of us there had had their losses, whether literal or spiritual. The march then proceeded to the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue where we were greeted by Rabbi Serge Lippe and spent a few minutes visiting the synagogue after which we went to All Souls Bethlehem Church where we were briefly hosted by Rev. Tom Martinez. Before concluding the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, we visited a local firehouse some of whose members had lost their lives in the collapse of the Twin Towers and the children in the march presented a card of appreciation and a bouquet of flowers to the firemen.
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Please keep in touch with us. The board will meet every first Thursday of the month from 7-10 pm in the library, and all are welcome to attend. If you cant make it but want to stay up to date, all the minutes from our meetings are posted to the BSEC website. Also, our contact information is available in the Sunday platform program each week and were happy to hear from you. We hope youll be a part of this special year ahead. Sincerely yours, Jean Rohe and Rebecca Lurie,

Ethically Speaking ~ Nov & Dec 2011 1

Three Brooklyn Ethical members were among the 1,253 people arrested between Aug. 20 and Sept. 23 in protest of a massive oil pipeline proposed to cut through Midwestern aquifers. They were Martha Gallahue who is also leader of the Essex Society and National Ethical Service Greg Tewksbury and Abby Scher, who are cochairs of the Ethical Action Committee. On Nov. 13, they are hosting a platform, Climate Crisis and the Ethics of Direct Action.

Taking a Stand Against Tar Sands

On June 23, 2010, 50 members of Congress spoke out against the Keystone XL pipeline. They warned that building this pipeline has the potential to undermine Americas clean energy future and international leadership on climate change. On July 21, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered an impact study on the project and its lengthy report was issued on August 26, 2011. The report stated that the pipeline would pose no significant impacts to most resources if environmental protection measures are followed, but it would present significant adverse effects to certain cultural resources.

Wed. November 2: Political Social! Join a political discussion over pizza in the library, 6:30pm. Topic: Occupy Wall Street. The Ethical Action Committee will provide a short reading beforehand. Email gtewks@gmail.com. Fri. November 4: Emmas Revolution CD release Party, ($18advance/ $20 Door) This performance by the duo of activist musicians Pat Humphries & Sandy O. is a fundraiser for Brooklyn Ethical! Sun. November 13: Ethical Action meeting, 1pm in the meeting room. Sun. November 20: Wampanoag Brooklyn Ethicals own intergenerational festival of appreciation inspired by Native American tradition and led by Remi Gay, a former board officer and longtime member of Brooklyn Ethical. Fri. December 2: Completely Clara, 8pm Musical Journey into the life of a Great Musician and Wife - Written by BSEC Member Joel Shatzky Sun. December 4: Fall Member Meeting, 1pm. Wed. December 7: Political Social! Join a political discussion over pizza in the library, 6:30pm. Topic: TBA.

Special Fall/Winter Events

Led by Bill McKibbon of 350.org, the Tar Sands Action against the proposed construction of the 1,600 mile long Keystone XL pipeline seeks to create more transparency about a project that, if approved, will send the message to the world that US greed for energy far outweighs its concerns for basic ethical principles of proportionality and consequences. The Action hopes also to reverse the backward trend to search aggressively for carbon fuel rather than to build a green economy with emphasis upon alternative sources of energy. Finally, it seeks to educate US citizens about the fallacy of natural gas as clean energy. The Keystone Pipeline system already transports synthetic crude oil from Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada to Illinois, Oklahoma, and the US Gulf Coast. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, an expansion of the system, will pass through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas through nearly 2,000 waterway systems. The project must be approved by President Obama in order for it to proceed, and the aim of the protest is to convince the President to reject the project.

Between one and three billion dollars is being cut from the 2012 EPA budget. Many of the counties through which the pipeline will pass have few clean water regulatory policies in place. There were 11 oil spills last year in the present Keystone Pipeline. There is little likelihood that environmental protection measures can or will be implemented. A Presidential decision is expected toward the end of the year. Martha Gallahue

Ethical Action News - Leonie Haimson: Fighting for the Citys Children Leonie Haimson is a fighter, no doubt about it. For the last 13 years, she has led Class Size Matters, a small nonprofit organization dedicated to fight for this proven approach to improving education for poor and minority students, especially in the lower grades. Yet New York City has the largest class sizes in the state, she told a packed room at Brooklyn Ethical during a Sept 25 platform hosted by the Ethical Action Committee. between 2002 and 2009, she said. The teacher ranks are constantly in flux, with many teachers not making it to a fifth year. Smaller class sizes encourage teachers to stay, she said, potentially providing city children with the experienced teachers they need. At this point, Haimson said, three quarters of city high school grads need remedial classes when they go to college.

Sun. December 11: Ethical Action meeting, 1pm in the meeting room. Sat. December 17: Holiday Craft Fair 10am-4pmReally fabulous crafts for sale at our craft market. Handmade items that will make unique gifts for your friends and family. according to a National Academy of Sciences study that got little mainstream news attention, she said. Finally, the city wants to expand online learning to 400 schools although even the military does not accept recruits with high school degrees from online learning, and its effectiveness is unproven.

Haimson also challenged the idea promoted by the Obama administration that increased The city developed a gradual plan for competition from privately operated but reducing class sizes after the successful publicly financed charter schools improves resolution of a lawsuit by the Campaign education, citing research from the wellfor Fiscal Equity that also challenged known CREDO study that 37 percent of the formula for state aid to city schools. charters do worse, 17 percent do better and But while more money came down from 46 percent do about the same as regular Albany, the city has expanded its force public schools. High stakes testing tied of administrators exponentially while its to teacher accountability, another feature teacher corps stagnates. Out-of-classroom promoted by Obamas Race to the Top positions grew by over 10,000 while initiative, may even be damaging, teachers shrank by more than 1600 2 Ethically Speaking ~ Nov & Dec 2011

Haimson painted a picture of a City Hall that was impossible to access and disinterested in parent input. Advocates for Children is suing the City on behalf of the NYC Parents Union and Class Size Matters opposing the free services given charters in violation of a state law that requires charters to pay for such items as space. In response, she told Ethical, the Bloomberg Administration is arguing that parents have no status to sue because we cant prove harm to our children. Abby Scher

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CSA CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

Nov. 4 Parent Night Out: Our amazing CSA Lower Assembly staff are delighted to bring back this old-time favorite Out. We will be offering communal childcare on a Friday night from 5:30pm-10pm at a cost of $20 per family for members ($40 for non-members). Our fabulous Sunday School staff hosts the children for play in the backyard and movies or games in the Library/Basement. Nov. 13 & Dec.18 Parent Sharing Circle 10 am: Parents are an important part of each childs Sunday School experience. We strive to make the Sunday School experience as relevant to our childrens lives as possible. There is no part of ethics that the children cannot directly relate to in some way. At our monthly Parent Circles, parents are invited to share ethical dilemmas that their children are facing. Our Parent Circles are also a time to check in with each other, to get to know one another, and to deepen our own sense of community as parents. These discussions are helpful for identifying needs in the community of parents; everyone is welcome. Dec. 3 CSA Sleepover: Its officially in the calendar: we will be hosting a CSA Sleepover in our historic mansion here at BSEC. Please fill out a registration form for your child(ren) to attend. Parents & Friends, we will need a few hands to help out that night as well as cooks for pancakes in the morning!

(continued from p.1) A handout given to us when we first met at the Mosqu e e mb o d i e d t h e s e nt i m e nt s of m a ny p a r t i c ip a nt s : We Jews, Christians, Muslims, and all people of good will, are walking together today to demonstrate that it is possible for us to walk in peace and live peacefully as neighbors. We understand ourselves to have grown from the same roots, starting with the Biblical Abraham, and so we call ourselves the Children of Abraham. Like many children of the same father, we have disagreements and arguments, and in too many parts of the world those arguments erupt in hatred and violence. We abhor that violence and pledge to continue to work together here in Brooklyn in peace and for peace. Among sponsors of the Peace Walk were the Arab Muslim American Federation, Brooklyn for Peace, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, Jews Against Islamophobia, Women in Islam, Church of Gethsemane and a total of over thirty Muslim, Jewish, Christian and secular peace organizations. I would have wished that there were many such marches in New York City and around the country on this significant day. It would have been instructive to young learners to make common cause with children of other faiths, begin to get to know them, and thus be able to resist through their own experiences the stereotypical demonizing of one group by another. I would have also hoped that, deeply wounded as many Americans still are over the loss of their loved ones, there be some acknowledgement, publicly and in the schools, of the losses of the countless thousands of loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of whom were relatives of American citizens. This would require the leadership of civic and political figures who are willing to recognize that as we have been victimized, we, in the namae of the United States, have also been victimizers. Admitting our mistakes and pledging to learn from them in the future, I believe, would be the most fitting tribute to the victims of 9/11. Joel Shatzky This article was originally published in the Huffington Post on September 15, 2011.

We have kicked off the year with a great start! In September, our children all read the book 14 Cows for America and learned about the importance of community, cooperation, and relationship. They learned about the Maasai, developed their own ethical classroom agreements, wrote a song, and made peace flags. I hope youll join me in thanking our AMAZING teaching staff Alva, Otis and Simba who developed the lessons and shine every single Sunday morning. Just a reminder for parents: you are welcome to bring your families to BSEC by 10:30 am as there is supervised play happening on the playground every Sunday. In addition, all children in the Upper Assembly will be dismissed at 12:30 promptly while all children in the Lower Assembly need to be picked up by their parents by 12:40. Please remember to do this so we can all respect our teachers time. We are asking that all parents register their children for CSA. There are many ways to do this, including an online registration form. With one form per family, it wont take very long, and youll be helping our teachers to teach your children better. If you have any questions or concerns about financing Haiti Fundraiser Raises Over $4000! your registration, register anyway and mention that youd like to ask Photo Credit: Mohammed Hussain Catherine about scholarships. We have MANY scholarships available thanks to our generous membership.

Building a Brooklyn Bridge to Haiti Fundraiser

BSEC President Jean Rohe and friends performed at the October 15 fundraiser to support the NEGES Foundations work in Leogane, Haiti. Organized by the Societys Ethical Action Committee, member Carolyn Meiselbach solicited items

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to auction from Park Slope businesses, raising a total of $4,348!

Ethically Speaking ~ Nov & Dec 2011 3

Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture 53 Prospect Park West Brooklyn, NY 11215 718-768-2972 www.bsec.org

Dont Forget to Send in your Annual Pledge!

The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture is a humanistic fellowship in which we help each other develop ethical ideals, navigate our life journeys, and work to realize a more just and compassionate world.

Member abroad: Xena

Long time BSEC member Xena Brooks (with art supplies in tow) before departing for India where she will travel and volunteer at an orphange over the next several months.

Follow her travels and send and send her words of encouragement on her blog: www.xenabean.blogspot.com BSEC Staff
Catherine Bordeau, Leader in Training Damal Edmond, Administrative Director Ben Halberstam, Communications Manager

Stay informed, connected, and involved with BSEC on the web: Website: www.bsec.org Blog: www.bsec.org/BSEC/Blog. html Meetup: www.meetup.com/ Brooklyn-Society-for-EthicalCulture/members/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/ groups/bsec53/ And be sure to friend Brooklyn Ethical on Facebook to stay informed on upcoming events. Join our new and improved mailing list: subscribe at our website to recieve our weekly community builder and E-blast reminders for upcoming events. Newsletter Editors
Joel Shatzky Ben Halberstam

Chilcare will now be available for most Sunday 11am colloquies, including the one Thanksgiving weekend. No Childcare is scheduled for Dec. 25th colloquy.

Colloquy Childcare Now Available

Board of Trustees 20112012

Tom Castelnuovo Louise Daniel Alec Gershberg Reina Horowitz (on leave) Rebecca Lurie Lucy McNair Jean Rohe Joel Shatzky

4 Ethically Speaking ~ Nov & Dec 2011