Tikkun (https://www.tikkun.org/category/jewish_wisdom/page/16/)
More than a decade ago I was invited to join a monthly Torah study group in the San Francisco Bay Area that met at the homes of the group members. All of the members were currently or had once been affiliated with Jewish Renewal, a spiritual movement born in the 1960s that integrates Kabbalistic mysticism with modern, progressive values.
The Haredi community has always been a thorn in the side of secular Israelis because the Haredi community does not buy into the Zionist ideology or the militarist symbology of the state. To move forward, Israel has to make room for this political and religious voice in the conversation.
The story of Jews’ contributions to the campaign for marriage equality offers valuable lessons for how to break through public resistance on other issues that Jewish groups are now addressing, including economic justice initiatives like paid sick leave, rights for domestic workers, and raising the minimum wage.
Had I become an academic only to disprove the myth that Jews are only interested in making money, or to confirm the stereotype that Jews are smart? Or did I honestly hope to influence the younger generation?
There are arguably no two movements in Israel as disparate as the Settler Movement (known as Yesha) and Neturei Karta. Yesha represents the community of Israelis who live in the West Bank. It does not support a two-state solution and remains wed to a Greater Israel ideology that claims all of historic Erez Israel belongs to the Jews. Members of Neturei Karta are what we might call premillenialists. They are against a Jewish State in the Land of Israel claiming that tradition dictates that the messiah will come solely by divine fiat and the job of the Jews is to perform mitzvot and passively await his arrival.
Almost no one wants to talk about the abuse of children, so it is understandable that almost no one wants to address Jacob’s abuse of Joseph–yet the text itself supports this reading.
Edmond H. Weiss reviews Judaism’s Great Debates: Timeless Controversies from Abraham to Herzl by Barry L. Schwartz.
Since the 1960s, efforts at coalition building and solidarity work between Jewish and Black communities have suffered and never reached the pinnacle that was reached during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. In 2013, the lack of deep and abiding connections between Black and Jewish activists became apparent in the disparate responses from Jewish communities to the events surrounding the killing of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman. To reinvigorate a coalition among blacks and Jews we need to forge deeper ties across racial lines.
I have to admit: I enjoyed {title}Atlas Shrugged{/title}. Something about it resonated, even for me, on the far opposite end of the political and religious spectrum.
Raphael Cohen reviews Schtick by Kevin Coval.
There is so much beauty in interconnection! A simple prayer turns a morning walk into an experience of sublime wholeness with the universe around us.
Can evil be the source of good? The Kabbalah asserts as much, and Carl Jung concurs, arguing that “where there is no shadow, there is no light.”
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.
Penny Rosenwasser’s new book is powerful because it goes beyond explaining how internalized Jewish oppression operates to argue that we need to understand and heal from internalized oppression in order to move toward liberation, build coalitions, and stop enacting trauma on other people, particularly Palestinians.
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).