Despite its name, the U.N. Human Rights Council has a deplorable human rights record, said Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5), who organized a bipartisan congressional letter to President Obama urging him to withdraw the United States from the council.

“It’s ignored human-rights violations,” Garrett told The Jewish Standard on Tuesday, shortly after he sent the letter. “We’ve seen in the past year in Iran there were allegations of brutality by the government toward its own people, killing their own people. That’s all ignored by the council.”

Judy Beck, senior community strategist for the Synagogue Leadership Initiative and the group’s director for 12 years, is proud of her role in growing the program.

“Nothing existed when I came,” said Beck, who on July 1 handed the reins of the organization over to Lisa Harris Glass, former director of the United Synagogue’s mid-Atlantic region.

Beck credits the Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation — which has supported the venture in collaboration with UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey — for the success of the initiative.

After 10 years heading the 92nd Street Y’s Derekh Torah program — reaching thousands of students through its Introduction to Judaism class — Tenafly resident Rabbi Leana Moritt has brought her passion for sharing Jewish knowledge to Bergen County.

Through Thresholds, founded by the rabbi as a “pluralistic Jewish engagement organization,” Moritt is targeting what she calls the Jewishly curious — Jews seeking a deeper connection with their heritage and non-Jews who want to know more about Judaism.

Thresholds is not unique, said Moritt.

Though the author of Israel’s controversial pending legislation on conversion maintains that “this law has nothing to do with American Jewry,” many American Jews — including constituencies in North Jersey — fear it would strengthen the hand of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, which is Orthodox.

The Rotem bill, introduced by David Rotem of the heavily Russian émigré Yisrael Beiteinu party, addresses the fact that an estimated 300,000 Israelis — mainly of Russian descent — are Jewish according to Israel’s Law of Return but not according to traditional Jewish law, halacha. In order to more efficiently process the large number of those people wishing to convert, the law would expand municipal rabbinical courts’ authority to conduct conversions and prevent revocation of conversions by third parties. It would also formalize the de facto control of the Chief Rabbinate over the system, a provision Rotem is said to have added in a bid for the backing of powerful political leaders from religious parties.

JERUSALEM – Here are some recent stories out of Israel that you may have missed:

Quit the chuppah singing, rabbis told

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has ordered rabbis to stop singing under the chuppah, saying it “cheapens the Rabbinate.”

Ynet reported earlier this month that the Council of the Chief Rabbinate agreed to strip rabbis who incorporate song and musical performance into the marriage ceremony of their authority to officiate at weddings.

Twelve North Jersey day schools, synagogues, and Jewish institutions are slated to receive more than $850,000, out of $1.45 million for New Jersey non-profit organizations, for security upgrades to their facilities from the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS awarded a total of $1.78 billion across the country as part of the Homeland Security Preparedness Grant program, with $19 million going specifically toward non-profit organizations nationwide under the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Of the 20 New Jersey non-profits that received a total of $1.45 million, 19 are Jewish. In all, northern Jersey Jewish organizations received 59 percent of the total allocated for New Jersey non-profits.

Alerted last week that specialty food store Corrado’s in Clifton had allegedly agreed to pull Israeli products off its shelves, the local Jewish community took immediate action.

“I received two dozen e-mails in two days,” said Frank Corrado, one of the owners of the 60-year-old business. “They said things like ‘How could you?’ or ‘Shame on you.’”

In fact, said Corrado, there was never any boycott.

“We don’t discriminate against anything,” he said. “Our employees and customers are from all over the world. We try to carry products that will make our customers happy.”