Rabbis join ‘fasting chain’ to remind world of Darfur tragedy

Thursday, June 18, 2009 | by dan pine

Sometime in the next few weeks, Rabbi Pamela Frydman Baugh will put down her knife and fork, and fast for two days in solidarity with the people of Darfur.

She is one of several Bay Area rabbis, and scores of rabbis nationwide, participating in a “fasting chain” to remind the world of the ongoing genocide in Darfur. The idea is to hand off the fasting from person to person, so that the chain continues unabated.

“I admire the tag-team aspect of the fast,” says Frydman Baugh, “as a way of doing something that calls attention to the suffering.

Other locals undertaking a two-day water-only fast include Rabbi Camille Angel of San Francisco’s Congregation Sha’ar Zahav; Rabbi Elisheva Salamo of Keddem Congregation in Palo Alto; Rabbi Avi Schulman of Fremont’s Temple Beth Torah; Rabbi Eve Ben-Ora of the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco; and Alissa Ralston, a congregant at Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael.

The Darfur Fast for Life began a few weeks ago with actress Mia Farrow. Other high-profile Jewish leaders have taken part, notably Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service, and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

They are joined by nearly 60 rabbis from the United States, Canada, Israel and Mexico.

Frydman Baugh is a senior staffer with OHALAHA, the Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal, and a longtime Darfur activist. She says action such as the fasting chain can make a difference, as personal as fasting may be.

“For me, it will raise my consciousness and increase my fervor for the cause,” she says. “Spiritually, a lot of what we are called upon to do as clergy and as Jews doesn’t really draw a lot of attention. For example, praying for people in need of healing or saying Kaddish for someone. When we reach out to those suffering across the world, it’s almost on that level.”

For live updates of the fast, go to http://www.twitter.com/theRAC or visit the RACblog for blog posts from Saperstein, Messinger and other rabbis. More information can be found at http://www.fastdarfur.org.