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Author Archive
 Tuesday morning — just two days ago — I wrote to half a dozen leaders of progressive thought and action in America, each separately, the letter that follows. One of the people I wrote was the historian/activist Howard Zinn, author…
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Tags: activist, Afghanistan, America, arrest, Campaign, candidate, Change, Congress, Disaster, Elections, employment, health care, History, Humor, Islam, justice, militarism, Military, mobilization, Organizers, organizing, police, progressive, Prophetic, Racism, structures, Terrorism, United States, Vietnam War, Violence, Washington
One reader wrote me to ask: ” “What effect will the Fort Hood shootings have on the American public’s perception of Islam?” That question asks us to be foretellers, fortune tellers, to predict. But The Shalom Center has had the holy…
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Tags: Afghanistan, afghanistan war, bomb, chutzpah, Democracy, fort hood, fortune tellers, hatred, Islam, Jeremiah, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, Military, murder, Muslim, peace, perception, Politics, power structures, Prophetic, prophets, Religious, resistance, shooter, shooting, trauma, Vietnam War, Violence
 For the next few days in Washington, D.C., 1,200 people are gathering in the name of a “pro-Israel, pro-peace” U.S. policy. Because of my broken leg, I can’t be physically there. But my mind and spirit and 40 years of…
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Tags: activist, biblical, bomb, border, Congress, culture, east jerusalem, Egypt, Gaza, God, Hagar, History, Idolatry, Israel, Israeli, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, liberation, Middle East, Military, Muslim, muslims, Nuclear Weapons, occupation, Oil, oppression, Palestine, passover, peace activists, peace conference, Politics, prophet, Prophetic, rabbis, Religious, resistance, rhetoric, seder, settlement, Shalom, sword, Terrorism, Violence, Washington, weapons, West Bank
 During these days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Jews are called on to reexamine our own actions — our “missings of the mark.” The emphasis is on OUR sins — not those of individuals alone, but of the community…
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Tags: America, civilians, crime, death, Democracy, Gaza, Hamas, Human Rights, International, Iran, Israel, Israeli, israeli government, israeli settlers, Jerusalem, Jew, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, justice, Nazi, nazism, oppression, Palestine, Palestinians, Politics, Prophetic, rabbis, reconciliation, Religious, Repentance, Rosh Hashanah, Rwanda, Sderot, Shalom, South Africa, synagogue, Terror, terrorist, truth and reconciliation, UN, United Nations, War, war crime, West Bank, yom kippur
For 25 years I have been a member of a private health insurance plan that seemed to be meeting my needs. My problems were routine, and so were their responses.
No longer.
Last Friday, I was involved in a moderate auto accident,…
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Tags: auto accident, broken breastbone, broken ribs, company profits, Edward Kennedy, good medicine, healing, Health, health care, health insurance, health insurance company, health insurance plan, insurance company, insurance plan, Kennedy, medicine, occupational therapy, organizing, pray, private health insurance, private insurers, rehabilitation center, universal health care
 As the band of runaway Israelite slaves wander in their search for freedom, again and again they grow rebellious. In the greatest of these rebellions, Korach criticizes Moses, claiming “The whole community is holy – all of them! Why do you,…
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Tags: beloved community, death, holiness, Israel, israelite, justice, martin buber, Moses, peace, pharaoh, prophet, prophets, racist, rebellions, Shalom, slaves, Story, torah, Worship
Learning from Shavuot and Pentecost: Can we share our harvest? Can we share our talk and tongues? Can we relearn how to share our work and rest?
This Thursday evening, May 28, there begins the festival of Shavuot. In biblical times,…
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Tags: Boaz, foreigner, gleaning, Immigration, Israelites, obligations, pentecost, Poverty, Ruth, Shavuot, wealth, widow
 One of the central teachings of Torah is that all human beings are made in the Image of God. That teaching and what flows from it are at the heart of Jewish prohibitions on the use of torture — and…
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Tags: Afghanistan, America, caesar, Central America, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Covenant, crime, criminals, Crucifixion, currency, Diversity, divine image, Emperor, Empire, Good Friday, Guantanamo, human, Idolatry, image of god, imperator, imperial rome, Iraq, Jesus, Jew, Jewish, jewish law, Jews, Liturgy, Obama, Politics, power, prison, roman empire, roman law, Rome, Shalom, Story, synagogue, Taxes, teaching, torah, Torture, tradition, yom kippur
There is a lot more to the swine flu outbreak than a virus and a vaccine: There is, surprise surprise, a political-economic context.
First of all, the press in Mexico has been reporting that swine flu may have originated in the…
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Tags: agriculture, Community, Congress, Conservative, consumption, Economic, factory farming, flu outbreak, flu pandemic, food, greed, Jew, Jewish, karl rove, meat industry, Mexican, Mexico, Mexico City, money, Politics, Pork, Postville, President Obama, Republican, Smithfield, smithfield foods, stimulus, swine flu, Work, Workers
Beyond anguish, what can we say about the massive death and destruction in Gaza and the traumatic fear of falling rockets in Israel? How do we shape not just the temporary palliative of “cease-fire,” but a true alternative? Not just…
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Tags: activist, America, anti-Semitism, Arab, Black, blockade, blood, Catholic, Change, Christian, destruction, diplomacy, Egypt, Gaza, government, Hamas, Hope, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Israeli, israelis, Jerusalem, Jew, Jewish, Jews, leaders, leadership, Middle East, Military, Muslim, nonviolent resistance, Obama, occupation, Oil, Palestine, Palestinians, peace, Peacemaking, presidency, progressive, Religious, rocket, settlement, Terror, Terrorism, terrorist, UN, United States, Violence, War, West Bank, Western, White
I thought God — the real God, the One who cares passionately about justice, peace, and diversity — came out rather well in the inaugural ceremonies.
God’s official spokespersons did better than I had expected. Rev. Rick Warren — whose choice I…
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Tags: America, Arab, Arabic, atheists, Bismillah, Black, Black Church, Buddhism, Buddhist, Christ, Community, Diversity, fear, Hindu, James Weldon Johnson, Jesus, Jew, Jews, Joseph Lowery, Martin Luther King, Monotheists, Muslim, Poetry, President Obama, prophet, Religion, Religious, Rick Warren, Sh'ma, War, White
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