MEMORANDUM

To: Rabbis, Synagogue Leaders, Key Contacts
From: Richard B. Stone, Chairman
Betty Ehrenberg, Director, International and Communal Affairs
Re: Jonathan Pollard — Upcoming Hearing

——————————————————————————–

Since Jonathan Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for having passed classified military documents to Israel, the Jewish community has participated in appeals to elected officials at all levels. On his behalf, Orthodox Union leadership has made many visits to Jonathan Pollard over the years. We have raised it in OU meetings with Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States, Cabinet Secretaries and leaders in the Senate and Congress. OU grassroots leadership and NCSY have waged national letter-writing campaigns on Jonathan’s behalf.

On September 2nd, Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan will hear arguments on motions to vacate the Pollard life sentence and to gain access to the sealed court sentencing file in Federal Court in Washington, DC. Jonathan Pollard has been in prison for 18 years, of which six years have been spent in solitary confinement. Pollard will be brought to the Courthouse to be present at an oral argument on the two above-mentioned motions for reconsideration of the prior court rulings directly from prison.

The Orthodox Union is calling on all its members and OU synagogues to remember Jonathan Pollard and his plight this Shabbat Parashat Shoftim, August 29 – 30. We call all on individuals and synagogues to say the special tefilah for Jonathan Pollard that was written by the former Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. The text of the tefilah is attached.