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Archive: Judaism
A certain people, scattered and dispersed
Today, Americans have a choice: Will we repeat the disastrous mistakes of the past? Or will we embrace American Muslims as positive contributors the economic, political, and social life of our country?
By Jill Jacobs | March 9, 2011; 10:57 AM ET | Comments (0)
President Washington or Congressman King?; 'To bigotry, no sanction'
We must ask ourselves what it means for Congress to be exposing an entire religious community to "bigotry and persecution."
By Arthur Waskow | March 8, 2011; 04:31 AM ET | Comments (2)
Why we need a national religious debate about abortion
No wonder the two sides can't hear each other; they're having different conversations. The first claims exclusive knowledge of God's desires; the latter sticks to the language of modernity and relinquishes God to the right wing.
By Jill Jacobs | March 1, 2011; 04:07 PM ET | Comments (13)
Israeli Arabs: A challenge to Israel' s democracy
The best way for Israel to fend off the increasing challenges in the international community to its legitimacy is for the country to be a beacon of justice and liberty for all the world to see.
By Sid Schwarz | January 12, 2011; 01:42 PM ET | Comments (0)
No shortcut to being exceptional
I fear that the proponents of American exceptionalism will create a shortcut for American pride.
By Sid Schwarz | November 29, 2010; 03:01 PM ET | Comments (2)
Beyond this election: tears to wter the wellsprings of new life
According to the Biblical story of the Exodus, Sinai, and the Wilderness, Pharaoh turned workers into slaves, immigrants into pariahs, and tormented the earth until it rebelled in ecological disasters -- the Plagues. He used his domestic police -- overseers -- to harass and punish dissidents and workers, and his horse-chariot army to subjugate an empire. Yet -- or therefore -- inspired by YHWH, the Breathing-Spirit of the World -- a band of runaway slaves created a whole new form of community. Today, what institutions are behaving like Pharaoh, and how do we create new communities that celebrate the intertwining of many different human cultures with each other and the Earth? What could be the role of a transformed and transformative Judaism in that process, alongside other religious and spiritual communities?
By Arthur Waskow | November 3, 2010; 03:09 PM ET | Comments (3)
Presidential/Vice Presidential Shana Tova
To that I would add that the President demonstrated an appreciation for the Jewish approach to the advent of a new year as a time for renewal and reflection. He even commented on how much he likes hearing the sound of the shofar from the synagogue he lived across the street from in Chicago.
By Nathan Diament | September 8, 2010; 10:12 AM ET | Comments (1)
Graham raises questions about conversion with assertion that Obama is a Muslim
President Obama is a Christian. But what if he had been a Muslim and converted to Christianity? Would he not be a "true" Christian? That seems to be what the Rev. Franklin Graham is saying.
By Sally Quinn | August 27, 2010; 09:13 AM ET | Comments (14)
The Real American Answer
My solution? Build a mosque, a synagogue, and a Chapel in the same place. That's the real American answer....
By Matt Maher | August 20, 2010; 03:57 PM ET | Comments (0)
Mosques in America: Rabbi Hillel, George Washington, & my grandma
"This is America, and we must not talk like that!"
By Arthur Waskow | August 16, 2010; 09:51 PM ET | Comments (3)
Support Mosque at Tip of Manhattan, Urge ADL to change its Stance
For months, in New York City there has been a boiling controversy over plans to build a peace-committed mosque and Islamic cultural center two blocks from the site of the World Trade Centers. Last week, the Anti-Defamation League threw the national Jewish community into this debate by opposing the construction of the planned mosque. The Shalom Center, after consultations with a remarkable array of rabbis and other Jewish leaders from a broad spectrum of Jewish life, supports the building of the mosque and strongly disagrees with the ADL's position. The statement of these leaders, a list of the 30 initiating signers including Rabbis from a very broad spectrum of Jewish life -- Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Reform, and Renewal is below. We invite you to sign, to join a vigil at noon on Thursday August 5, and to call the ADL to urge them to change their stance.
By Arthur Waskow | August 3, 2010; 09:57 AM ET | Comments (12)
Intermarriage not ideal, but is reality
Judaism teaches that in-marriage is a mitzvah, a sacred act that we are commanded to fulfill. As such, it's always the preferred choice for Jews to make, contributing to the continuity of our peoplehood. But to ignore the increasing trend of intermarriage, no matter how troubling we may find it, is shortsighted and denies not just the facts but the families themselves.
By Steven Wernick | July 28, 2010; 03:15 PM ET | Comments (2)
Report:Pro-Earth/ Tisha B'Av rally, US Capitol, July 20
About 200 people took part in a unique fusion of political rally, multireligious prayer, and Tisha b'Av observance at noon July 20 on the grounds of the US Capitol. Videotape from the event will be available by Thursday morning on The Shalom Center's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheShalomCenter The major slogans of the rally were "Get dirty fuels out of our air and water/ Get dirty money out of our politics."
By Arthur Waskow | July 21, 2010; 04:21 PM ET | Comments (1)
OYL! -- Corruption, the Spirit, the Earth and us
Three months! --- and it is even clearer now we are facing not an oil "spill" in the Gulf, the way water might spill from a dish or oil from a tanker -- a finite amount in the first place, and then we clean up. What we see iis more like piercing, penetrating, raping the deep-hidden places in the body of Mother Earth, a mile beneath the surface of the ocean, with such ultraviolence that Her very guts are pouring out, drenching and poisoning us. But we can take this disaster as a teaching toward a Turning in our lives and action.
By Arthur Waskow | July 8, 2010; 09:47 PM ET | Comments (0)
