Editorials & Actions

Israel’s Self-Boycott by Uri Avnery

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Uri Avnery

December 14, 2013

 

                                                         Self-Boycott

 

CAN A country boycott itself? That may sound like a silly question. It is not.  

At the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, the “Giant of History” as Barack Obama called him, Israel was not represented by any of its leaders.  

The only dignitary who agreed to go was the speaker of the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, a nice person, an immigrant from the Soviet Union and a settler, who is so anonymous that most Israelis would not recognize him.

Editorials & Actions

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict at the XXVII Guadalajara International Book Fair

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A Letter From Elliot Sperber
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict at the XXVII Guadalajara International Book Fair
by MALU HUACUJA DEL TORO AND ELLIOT SPERBER

Considered the most important Book Fair in the Spanish-speaking world, and second in the world only to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Guadalajara International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico, concluded this Sunday, December 8th, under heavy security. The unusually high level of security resulted from the guest of honor of this year’s book fair, the State of Israel. For the past 20 years, the book fair has honored a city, country, or region as its guest. No earlier guests, however, have been as controversial, or have aroused as much protest and dissent, as has the State of Israel. Hence, the unprecedented levels of security.

Editorials & Actions

Pope Francis: A Breath of Fresh Air?

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 Even as we mourn the loss of Nelson Mandela, hope springs high for the possiibility that Pope Francis might become another warrior for peace, economic justice, environmental sanity, and love among all human beings. Matthew Fox, himself silenced by Cardinal Ratzinger (subsequently Pope Benedict), is not usually an optimist about the Church, so this essay for Tikkun is particularly impressive. Meanwhile, of course, no leader can change history without the commitment and active involvement of millions of others who provide leadership at a less global level. So we want to again invite you to come to our Transformative Activist Training Jan 17-20 (Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend) in Berkeley, Ca., (or organize one in your home town–if you get 50 people to sign up for it, Rabbi Lerner and co-trainer Cat Zavis will be there!). Check it out: go to  www.spiritualprogressives.org/training.

Articles

Nelson Mandela: A Jewish Perspective

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Jews love and loved Nelson Mandela. He inspired us with his insistence that the old regime of apartheid would crumble more quickly and fully when faced with revolutionary love and compassion than when faced with anger and violence. Mandela also challenged us to think deeply about whether the current situation in Israel/Palestine reflects the ethic of compassion that is so central to Judaism.

About Tikkun

2013 Annual Letter from Rabbi Lerner

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Dear Tikkun Supporter,

Every year at the time of the Jewish New Year I try to connect to people in the Tikkun and Network of Spiritual Progressives community to share an update about my own life, to discuss where we are politically, and to ask for your financial support. I turned seventy this past February, but I didn’t have a party because Debora and I had just split up. We are now getting divorced after a fifteen-year marriage. It’s painful for both of us. During this hard time I’ve been so grateful for the loving support I’ve received from the global community of caring and love associated with Tikkun and the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

Editorials & Actions

Celebrate Chanukah, the First National Liberation Struggle (You Don’t Have to be Jewish)

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Chanukah celebrates the first recorded national liberation struggle–when the people of Judea rallied around a guerrilla war against the remnants of Alexander the Great’s empire, and the subsequent attempt by the Syrian (Seleucid) branch of that empire to impose Hellenistic culture and wipe out Judaism. The victory in 165 BCE is celebrated by lighting candles each night for eight nights, dancing, singing, playing with spinning dreidels,  and in sine capitalist cultures the exchange of gifts. If you happen to be in the San Francisco Bay Area on the third night of Chanukah, Friday November 29th, come celebrate with Rabbi Michael Lerner and Beyt Tikkun Synagogue-without-walls, the Tikkun community and the Network of Spiritual Progressives. It’s a veggie pot-luck and we will serve latkes (potato pancakes and apple sauce) to supplement whatever delicious main course veggie dish you bring (not bread or crackers and cheese please–something substantive). Schedule:

5:30 p.m. Help us decorate

6:00 p.m. Rabbi Lerner tells the Chanukah story (early enough to bring your children–and since this is the day after Thanksgiving and most people don’t work that Friday, plan to get there no later than 5:45 so you have time to find parking).

Editorials & Actions

How to Create a Tikkun/NSP (Network of Spiritual Progressives) Presence in YOUR Community

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How to Create a Tikkun/Spiritual Progressive presence in your community. Our goal: A change in consciousness. Nothing will change in our world till we have popularized the following notions:
1. Our well being depends upon the well-being of everyone else on the planet and the well-being of the planet itself.  So our goal is to create The Caring Society—Caring for Each Other and Caring for the Earth.

Editorials & Actions

Lerner in Seattle and Bellingham

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Bellingham, Wa. Nov. 14 (Thursday) at 7 PM:

Rabbi Lerner speaks on “The Spiritual Transformation and Healing of the World: Building a Spiritually Progressive Political Party.” Location: 210 Academic Instructional Center West at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington (park at Fairhaven College, then walk through the tunnel under the road headed toward the main campus buildings. Academic West is the first building on your left).  
Seattle  Nov.

Articles

Responses to the Pew Report on American Jewry

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Are Jews in existential free-fall? According to the latest Pew Research Center report, 22 percent of Jews have abandoned Judaism and only 15 percent identify Judaism as essential to being Jewish. Rabbi Michael Lerner shares some stirring responses and invites others to join the discussion as well.

2013

Environmental Alert: Join Us in Making Revolutionary Changes to Save Life on Earth

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As the oceans rise to earth-destroying levels, the agricultural heartlands turn to desert, and the rate of skin cancer grows to match the rate of the common cold… now is the time to talk honestly with the American public about dramatically reducing consumption, combating the immense power of the 1 percent, and preparing ourselves to counter the mainstream media’s obfuscations of the urgency of the coming crisis.

Editorials & Actions

Uri Avnery on Ovadia Yosef

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Ovadia’s Choice

 

WHEN RABBI Ovadia Yosef first appeared on the national scene, I heaved a deep sigh of relief.  

Here was the man I had dreamed of: a charismatic leader of oriental Jews, a man of peace, a bearer of a moderate religious tradition.  

“Rabbi Ovadia”, as everybody called him, who died this week at the age of 93, was born in Baghdad, came to Palestine as a boy of 4, gained huge respect as a religious scholar. During the 1948 war he was the chief rabbi of Egypt, later he became the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel. When his appointment was not renewed, as a result of some obscure political intrigue, he founded a new political party, Shas, which quickly became a force in Israeli politics.

Editorials & Actions

Netanyahu vs. Iran’s Rouhani–Which one do you trust more?

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Rabbi Lerner’s comment:  Who do you trust more, Iran’s new President Rouhani or Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu?  Please read the article by my former friend John Judis. Netanyahu Said Something Shockingly Bad at the UN

BY JOHN B. JUDIS

Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani has revived talks with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany over its nuclear program. “Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction,” Rouhani said in his September 24 speech to the UN General Assembly, “have no place in Iran’s security and defense doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions.” In his address today to the General Assembly, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Rouhani as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and threatened to go to war to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Over the next year, Netanyahu could be proven correct in his apocalyptical assessment of Rouhani and the Iranians.

Editorials & Actions

Responding to Iran’s President Rouhani–by Uri Avnery

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Uri Avnery

September 28, 2013

 

                                                            The Real Bomb

 

YEARS AGO I disclosed one of the biggest secrets about Iran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was an agent of the Mossad.  

Suddenly, all the curious details of his behavior made sense. His public fantasies about the disappearance of Israel. His denial of the Holocaust, which until then had been typical only of a lunatic fringe. His boasting about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.