
We fully agree with B'tselem in condemning anti-settler violence. No matter how outrageous and murderous some of the settlers, particularly in the Hebron region, have been, random killings of civilians is always deplorable terrorism. --Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor Tikkun www.tikkun.org and Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives www.spiritualprogressives.org
Read this article...Obama continues the militarist traditions of Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II--and in so doing, serves the interests of those who wish to destroy what the extremist elements of Islam believe to be "the evil Empire" (namely, us!).
Read this article...Uri Avnery has written frequently for Tikkun. He is a great interpreter of the current realities and injustices in Israeli society. He deserves our respect and deep thanks!
Read this article...Not a good sign for Israel's future! So mu;ch for those who believe that a good education solves racism.
Read this article...An excellent organization takes an excellent public stand.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun www.tikkun.org (and ph.d. in psychology)
Read this article...Once Shimon Peres allowed the killing of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to be followed by an official call for "unity" of the Jewish people, including unity with the very forces in the settler world and the religious Zionist world that had been inciting his murder, all constraints on the Right were gone both psychically and legally (that is, laws were still in place, but not enforced). Many in the Diaspora are just as bigoted, but keep their mouths shut.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun www.tikkun.org
Read this article...Yossi Sarid was the leader of the Meretz Party. His rhetoric is more than a little inflated, but he gives you a feel for what mainstream leftists in Israel are feeling.
Read this article...There is so much goodness in American Muslims that is unknown to other Americans because they never have met a Muslim and associate Muslims with 9/11. Here is a cure that can be replicated in many places in the U.S. --Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun
Read this article...For a different take on Cuba, please read Philip Wolfson's article in the Sept/Oct issue of Tikkun Magazine
--Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun www.tikkun.org
Look at Iraq as America withdraws to see how much women's lives have improved. In that light, consider the phony claim that American presence there will save the women of Afghanistan. --Rabbi Michael Lerner
Read this article...Katz identifies a very serious problem, but illustrates unknowingly the mistaken strategy of progressives on this issue--namely, blaming the public for the problem. Does he not notice that population declines as average wealth and social benefits increase? Want to stop overpopulation? Try the Network of Spiritual Progressives' Global Marshall Plan www.spiritualprogressives.org/gmp
rather than thinking you can convince poor people to abandon the only plan they have for retirement--kids to support them..
---Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun
What Brenner misses in this argument is the degree of desperation among Palestinians that might make those on the West Bank accept any deal that required Israel to permanently stay out of their cities, provided unimpeded transport between the cities, and removed all check-points--something that is a realistic possible outcome. Such an agreement, were it entered into by the Palestinian Authority, would be seen as a betrayal not only by Hamas but also by many of the small farmers who populate the West Bank countryside and whose lands have been stolen by the settlers, and by almost all of the Palestinians living in refugee camps around the Arab world. Such an agreement, accepted by virtue of Palestinian powerlessness, would likely lead to civil war in Palestine, and eventually to a break down in this agreement. But in the short run, it might boost Obama's and Netanyahu's political standing in their respective countries --Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun
Read this article...While Scheer correctly nails Obama's failures, he, like so many others on the Left, really has no positive vision of what we should be for. Ever hear Scheer endorse the Global Marshall Plan or a strategy of generosity? Nope. Unfortunantely, he is great on the negative by very very very weak on the positive vision side.
Read this article...We in Tikkun and the Network of Spiritual Progressives have been making these points for the past two years. We even bought a full page ad in the Washington Post's "100 days" special supplement to make sure Obama heard them as early as May 2009. But Obama is so subordinated to Wall Street and the military industrial complex that getting his ear will accomplish little. That's why we ordinary folk have to create as powerful a populist movement from the Left as the proto-fascists are doing on the Right. --Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, TIKKUN www.Tikkun.org www.spiritualprogressives.org
Read this article...Many in the Left use the term "Zionism" to mean the most extreme reactionary versions that have control of the Israeli government. But Zionism has always been a wide movement encompassing many differing political tendencies, including those who seek peace and justice for Palestinians. Now that same struggle is taking place in Israel, with the Right there agreeing with the Left here--there is only one form of Zionism, they say, namely their fascistic variant of it.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun www.tikkun.org
Read this article...Some sage advice for both sides as they meet in Washington D.C.
Read this article...This is yet another powerful argument for a Global Marshall Plan--I wish someone could get that message to Chalmers Johnson. We need engagement in the world--but engagement through generosity, not domination.--Rabbi Michael Lerner rabbilerner@tikkun.org www.tikkun.org
Read this article...n. Now the US has adopted and expanded the Israeli approach of "targetted assasinations, with likely consequence not only of making us less safe, but of eventually undermining in the US the idea that people have a right to a trial before being condemned to death or punishment. --Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun www.tikkun.org
Read this article...No military solution will work. The only way to undercut fundamentalism is to build a world in which people feel safe and loved.
Read this article...Americans should create a day of Atonement for all the damage we've done in Iraq, and in other wars around the world. Peace movements should pick one day for atonement--and all Americans should be asked to fast at least part of the day and to gather together in mourning and repentance for all that we've done. If Jews can do this once a year, why shouldn't non-Jews be able to do the same thing?--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun www.tikkun.org
Read this article...A valuable and complicated analysis of family dynamics today, yet missing something that is frequently absent in the framework of psychotherapy: an understanding of how economic insecurity, class structure, and the global ethos of materialism and selfishness that are lionized in the media and rewarded in the world of work, plus the insecurity resulting from decreasing external social supports like adequate health care and social security and unemployment insurance, factor into the daily consciousness and options facing today's families.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...War crimes impact on us at home as well--not just rhetoically, but physically as well.
Read this article...Ehrenreich raises an important issue, but is rather vague on solutions. People fought to create democratic government as a way to counter other powers, and today it remains the only vehicle for restricting corporate power. So the point is not to abandon it, but reclaim it from below. To do that, we need a vision, and that's precisely what is embodied in the Network of Spiritual Progressives' campaign for the Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the US Constitution, our campaign for a Global Marshall Plan, and our Spiritual Covenant with America, all of which you can read at www.spiritualprogressives.org
Read this article...It's not the Israel Lobby that is decisive, argues Chomsky, it's the commitment of the US to dominate the region and the willingness of Israel to play a supportive role in that process that is why the Wall Steet Journal, the Republican Party, and the American military industrial complex all line up in support of Israel and it's Occupation.
Read this article...It's not unfair to blame Obama for our situation, though it was caused by the policies of Wall Street, the large corporations, and the "let the market rule" policies of the Republicans, Obama appointed economic advisors who shared the same worldview rather than people like Reich and Krugman and Stiglitz (see the Stiglitz interview in the coming Sept/Oct issue of Tikkun magazine). And the Democrats keep on capitulating to the logic of the Republicans--hence no massive New Deal type programs to help the unemployed, the homeless, those who can't afford their mortgages, etc.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun
Read this article...It's important for those of us who believe Israel's policies to be immoral and self-destructive to listen carefully and respectfully to those who disagree with us, consider their arguments, and be open to changing our minds on any part of our critique that is unfair or misguided. At the same time, we have come to feel a deep commitment to the welfare of both the Israeli and Palestinian people, and will not let the charge of "demonization" prevent us from pursuing a peace that provides justice to the millions of Palestinians and Israelis who are suffering because of the current policies of the Israeli government.
Read this article...Why does this no longer surprise us in the Obama years?
Read this article...Obscene but true that Americans will support a military jobs program but not a civilian jobs program.
Read this article...The hateful and hate generating reality of Israel's Occupation of the West Bank.
Read this article...If we had 50,000 Chinese troops in the US, would we feel happy if the Chinese announced that they were only advisors to a government that they had installed with their army after an election which disqualified all parties that had supported the previous pre-Chinese-invasion government? ==Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun, www.tikkun.org
Read this article...While Rabbi Lerner calls for an interfaith center at Ground Zero, he champions the right of Muslims to build a mosque/community-center two blocks away separated from Ground Zero by many other buildings, and calls for his fellow Jews and fellow Americans to distinguish between terrorists and the vast majority of peace-loving moderate Muslims in the U.S.
Read this article...Quite apart from our criminal injustice system we have the craziness of "detention centers" for immigrants--with 300,000 human beings incarcerated. Keep that in mind the next time someone talks to you about the land of the free.
Read this article...Patriotism is the right word for a fierce attachment to one's own country. What is the right word for a similarly intense attachment to an economic system that meanwhile is oppressive to the very people who champion it?--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...When reading news stories about Iran, always ask yourself the following question: Is the reason this story is appearing, while stories about the oppression of three million prisoners in U.S. prisons are rare indeed and U.S. global empire and militarism are even rarer, is that this journalist or this journal or magazine wants to prepare the readers for a U.S. war with Iran?--Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...Shame on those Congressional Democrats who Continue to Empower the War Makers
Read this article...Israel's former Member of Knesset Yossi Sarid shows that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is doing everything possible to play a double game--claiming to be ready to negotiate with Palestinians while simultaneously avoiding everything that would indicate a genuine desire to reach a settlement agreement. De facto, Israel is choosing to hold on to the West Bank even at the expense of having a peace agreement with Palestinians.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...It is harder and harder for people who are not rich to be able to find food that is not poisoned by the agricultural conglomerates and/or the oil and gas industry that poison our air and other industries that poison our waters. Michael Pollan gives us the big picture of what can happen to transform this reality.==Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun www.tikkun.org
Read this article...The nay votes are the Honor Roll of Members of Congress who said NO to the continued funding for the war in Afghanistan. We at Tikkun and the Network of Spiritual Progressives believe that the war is the wrong way to fight terrorism. The path to Homeland Security is through a Global Marshall Plan to end global poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education and inadequate health care and to repair the global environment--www.spiritualprogressives.org/GMP. --Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...The failure of the Obama Administration to provide an alternative vision to that of global capitalism with its ethos of selfishness and materialism, combined with the loss of jobs for middle income working people, provides the foundation for an American fascism within the next 5-10 years. There is much reason to be deeply concerned. --Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...Many of us have stayed at a Hyatt hotel, oblivious to the difficult working conditions facing its employees. When people living close to the margins with families to support go on strike, it's not because they frivolously have nothing better to do--it's out of real desperation. -Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...It is astounding how we allow the media and our politicians in both parties to distract us from the cold hard facts of our current and continuing economic meltdown.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...Wouldn't it be nice if the gas and oil companies didn't shape our domestic and foreign policy and prevent any serious environmental changes?--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org
Read this article...The distortions in our "criminal justice system" are so deep that only a total transformation would solve them.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun www.tikkun.org
Read this article...Avrum Burg remains one of the most creative and courageous of Israeli politicians. Unfortunately, by avoiding a stand on how to end the Occupation, his proposed new political party may well surge in popularity, then shrivel when it has to face the central question facing the Israeli polity.
Read this article...One of the things we are most proud of at Tikkun has been our consistent attempt to bring to the world of public intellectual life the voices of some of the most creative women thinkers, many of whom are presented here in this list. Yet we always feel disappointed that we don't have more women spiritual teachers (of all faiths) writing for Tikkun, so if you happen to be one such, you are invited to make contact with our Assistant Editor Alana Price Alana@Tikkun.org
Read this article...While the Obama Administration hails its own success in getting the most significant banking reforms since the New Deal, the rest of the country yawns. Why? Because the reforms were more cosmetic than substantive, avoiding the deeper problems that persist and continue to make our economy unstable.
Read this article...Why Marc Gafni, accused of "rape" for having consensual sex with 3 women in Israel, might not want to go back to stand trial.
Read this article...This is one story that could, if better understood, change the dynamics of American politics. But it won't be better understood, or even reported, for reasons explored in this article.
Read this article...Is it ironic, or revelatory, that the Obama Administration, NOT the Republicans, gave BP its permission to drill offshore, breaking what had been for decades an effective block on much of the offshore drilling sought by the oil conglomerates?
Read this article...Cockburn is partially right. The problem with Obama is that he didn't understand that "getting something passed as legislation" was far less important than telling people the truth about our failed war on terror, our economic subservience to corporate interests, our global ecological crisis, and our overly-powerful military industrial complex. Had he consistently done that and proposed solutions like those we've proposed in Tikkun, he and the Democrats would be riding high today in public opinion.
Read this article...Jewish Terrorist, Charged With Multiple Palestinian Murders, ?Outs? Chief of Shin Bet?s Jewish Terror Department
Jewish rightist site claims this is Avi Arieli, chief of Shin Bet's Jewish department
Tikkun Editor: This is a foretaste of how the Obama Health Care "reform" will be implemented.
Read this article...Editor's Note: Anat Hoffman is one of our Tikkun heroes--and the Women of the Wall are a courageous group who have refused to let the Orthodox establishment continue to repress Jewish women's right to pray at the Wall (the remnants of our ancient Temple in Jerusalem). Ms. Hoffman was previously an elected member of the Jerusalem city council, where she fought for the rights of Palestinians and the poor. The Orthodox establishment in Israel never misses an opportunity to pour shame on the Judaism of which we at Tikkun are so proud--desecrating God's name in the name of their own male power and chauvinist nationalism.
Read this article...Editor's note: I don't know who this guy is, but he seems to understand the issues better than 99% of all columnists and op-ed writers in the mainstream media. Whoops--he isn't IN the mainstream media!
Read this article...First, it's sad to know that Rabbi Amital, founder of the political party Meimad, the only peace-oriented religious party in ISrael, passed away this past weekend. His memory shall be a blessing for all who knew him and his work!
Equally sad to realize that the tendency he represented in the religious world has not continued, but essentially withered away while right-wing racists and militarists have become the dominant voice among the orthodox in Israel. It's something worth mourning this Tisha B'av.
Israel's moral collapse is plain for the world to see, but with a media that is censored by the army, few Israelis really understand what is happening, and fewer really care. Unfortunately, the voice of Tikkun's editorial board member Zeev Sternhell is not heard by most Israelis, though he is one of the world's most respected historians and teaches at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Read this article...Of course, no country is "a normal country"--each has its own unique heritage and history. Is China "normal"--well the terrain is normal, but china today is a product of a counter-revolution against a communist revolution. Is the US "normal"--well the terrain is normal but the US is the product of genocide of Native Americans, 300 years of slavery and another hundred of segregation, and yet also a history of welcoming immigrants until the 1920s. Israel is certainly not less or more normal than any other society, and human rights laws were created to put all the abnormal countries (namely everyone) on the same footing.
Read this article...From the first moments of his presidency, Tikkun called for Obama to create a new national bank to give interest-free loans to those who would invest it in small business hiring, education, home acquisitions, and other socially useful projects, and for Obama to let the capitalist marketplace "work its magic" without government interference, letting those banks and investment companies and corporations destined to fail to reach their destiny. Coupled with a law to require banks to lower all mortgage rates to the level at which they were first offered, such a path would have brought popularity to the Dems and sanity to the economy. Now they are facing the consequences of deciding to put their money behind the fat cats.
Read this article...Americans are ready for some significant changes in the Constitution. So this is certainly the moment to get progressive and liberal forces to back the proposed ESRA--Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the US Constitution. After you read that ESRA at www.spiritualprogressives.org/ESRA, tell us what other points you believe should be included. RabbiLerner@tikkun.org
Read this article...Haaretz.com is the world's leading English-language Website for real-time news and analysis of Israel and the Middle East.
Read this article...Shlomo Avineri has been an apologist for Israeli policies for the past twenty years or more. Nevertheless, his argument against the one state solution for Israel/Palestine is powerful and needs to be addressed. De facto, if the Israeli presence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank continues to expand, a two state solution becomes impossible and one person one vote becomes inevitable for Israel/Palestine.
Read this article...Soon the tuna will be gone forever. It's part of the destruction of the earth and seas that our global capitalist system is bringing us. And yet there are no demonstrations, no group willing to tell its Congressional leaders that unless they take steps to stop the destruction of the earth they will no longer receive any financial or political support, no outcry. Do you get now why we need the Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment so very very very badly? www.spiritualprogressives.org/ESRA
Read this article...Tikkun Editor's Note: Gus Speth provides a brilliant account of the political and environmental crisis facing us, and shows why it is a change in consciousness that is the highest first priority to save the planet. We call that change a New Bottom Line and have worked out what that would look like in political terms: the ESRA at www.spiritualprogressives.org/ESRA, the Global Marshall Plan at www.spiritualprogressives.org/gmp, and the Spiritual Covenant with America at www.spiritualprogressives.org. If you agree with Speth, please read those concrete ways to move forward!
Read this article...Obama cannot order pelicans not to die (no matter whose ass he kicks). And no amount of money not BP's $20bn, not $100bn can replace aculture that's lost its roots.' flickr image by kbaird
Everyone gathered for the town hall meeting had been repeatedly instructed to show civility to the gentlemen from BP and the federal government. These fine folks had made time in their busy schedules to come to a high school gymnasium on a Tuesday night in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, one of many coastal communities where brown poison was slithering through the marshes, part of what has come to be described as the largest environmental disaster in US history.
"Speak to others the way you would want to be spoken to," the chair of the meeting pleaded one last time before opening the floor for questions.
A Zionist speaks truth to power
Read this article...Rabbi Michael Lerner comments: The cap-and-trade legislation championed by the Democrats and the Obama White House is actually a wild give-away to polluters and will do little to achieve significant carbon reductions. It's not clear how this plan will improve on that except to give money to most Americans. The way to stop carbon pollution is to make it illegal. A second less coercive way is to heavily tax that pollution. Anything short of those measures is likely to prove a distraction. Yet both Senators Maria Cantwell and Susan Collins are genuine in their concern for the environment, so their approach deserves some attention.
Read this article...Voices Supporting Israel's Actions Against the Gaza Aid Flotilla Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version
Though we at Tikkun and the NSP oppose Israel's actions this week and have unequivocally condemned them, we continue our policy of presenting opposing views to ours. It is only by hearing the voices on all side of an issue that we can really understand the complexities and be in a position to defend our own ideas, or change or modify them, as we learn from others.
On the Israeli Assault on the Humanitarian Flotilla to Gaza
Read this article...While the media's focus on the rise of the Tea Party Right has led many to believe that the reason why the Obama Administration "must compromise" its ideals is that the country it seeks to govern in a center-right society, Charles Derber's analysis of a recent poll by Pew suggests quite the contrary! Yet we can't be too optimistic either--because to the extent that people believe the media (and many, including many in the blog-o-sphere depend on the establishment media for their primary source of information, because most people on the internet won't pay for their news sources here, so we who try to give them information don't have the financial resources to fund independent journalists to provide our own sources of information), the belief that the country is a center-right reality has the tendency to become increasingly self-fulfilling!
Read this article...Ha'aretz columnist Bradley Burston laments the way non-violent demonstrations are being attacked by police, but rejects the notion that this represents a systematic move toward a fascist society. What do you think?
Read this article...Rather than provide a Tikkun perspective on BDS, we've decided that our best contribution would be to provide a space in Tikkun and in our conference in DC June 11-13 at which BDS (Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel or against companies doing business with Israel, or with companies that specifically support, benefit or produce products to assist or support the IDF in its implementation of THE OCCUPATION OF The WEST BANK of Palestine) can be respectfully discussed and debated. As part of that, we are presenting Akiva Tor's perspective on what he experienced when he last attended such a discussion, in part as a clear guide to what needs to be avoided in future discussions and actions on this topic.
Read this article...Despite overwhelming suppport for Israel's existence, a very large number of Americans understand that a final agreement between Israel and Palestine will require an end to settlement activity. Since Israel claims to be ready to make major concessions to make that happen, it is irrational to build more settlements which become a living proof to Palestinians that Israel is not serious about peace, but only seeking to buy more and more time till President Obama can be replaced by a more hawkish supporter of the Israeli right-wing.
Read this article...NOTE: You can get to the archive of Current Thinking reflections by clicking here.
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