Tikkun Daily Blog Archive (https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2013/09/)
This week’s sermon by Stephen Phelps considers the word “salvation” and what it means to people today, since it isn’t uncommon for the word to be left out of many religious ideologues. Phelps argues that we must not leave it behind, as salvation is how we see in the dark, salvation is an eternal light shining through the enemy and the beloved, and it is a light from which we cannot be separated.
My hope for this weekend and beyond is that J Street will encourage its younger members to explore and educate themselves beyond these three conference days; to question what they learn, to honor their own instincts, and to understand that there is no right answer; the road toward a solution to the conflict in Israel/Palestine is fluid and in always flux.
RU 486, also known as Plan C, is a safe, nonsurgical abortion option. Many women are unlikely to know it exists or are incorrectly led to believe it is risky or unavailable. But some organizations concerned with the rising number of deaths (and suicides) during pregnancy are doing all they can to fight this.
Reflecting on her own coming-out experience at Yeshiva University, Joy Ladin speaks out in support of Professor Adam Ackley, the theologian who was just fired from Christian Azusa Pacific University after coming out as transgender. There is no verse in the Bible in which God says, “Thou shalt not employ a transgender professor,” and religious organization who act against such people only do so out of fear: fear of difference, fear of the unknown, and fear of losing money.
“Holistic healing” typically refers mind, body, and spirit, an approach that focuses on mastering what is going on within the four walls of our body. Operating in a world in which compete and win, dominate and control are so dominant, the author offers a broader definition that includes “the practical” – effectively negotiating your place in the world, as it is – and “the radical” – being an active agent in molding the environments within which you exist.
Every once in a while, you get the artistic perfect storm of an exceptional raconteur and brilliant teacher, an extremely talented set of technical people, and a topical subject, all coming together. Jacob Kornbluth’s latest movie, Inequality for All (starring Robert Reich), is terrific documentary cinema.
Doctors come up with many reasons to avoid prescribing cannabis to their patients, including but not limited to lack of education, fear, or lack of funds. But Mimi Peleg gives examples that would have doctors giving it a second thought, mostly through her work with PTSD patients in Israel.
Around the 4th week of Basic Training I was polishing my shoes when our “TI” (Training Instructor) yelled out “Wiesner! Get your ass over to building xxx… something about your security clearance.” Trembling, I headed out the door. Had they somehow figured out that I was gay?
After receiving a GQ award from Hugo Boss, Russell Brand spoke out against the company honoring him and mentioned their history of utilizing Jews for forced labor in the creation of Nazi uniforms. Brand was reprimanded via social media, bringing to question the power we have to criticize those who run things.
A difficulty that I see stemming from associating power with badness is the corollary move of associating powerlessness with purity… [But] If powerlessness is associated with purity, then those without power are, by necessity, better in some sense. This absence of humility is one of the reasons I see for why when previously oppressed people come into power they often recreate what was done to them.