An Ancient Text from Judea with a Tikkunish vision of the “I” Anochi that is the God of Sinai

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Excerpts from The Thunder: Perfect Mind
(Translated by Rev. Hal Taussig and others from a text
in Coptic from the Nag Hammadi library,
1st 2 centuries of the Common Era.)
 

I [in Coptic, Anokh] am the first and the last

I am she who is honored and she who is mocked

I am the whore and the holy woman

I am the wife and the virgin

I am the mother and the daughter

I am the limbs of my mother

I am the sterile woman and she has many children

I am she whose wedding is extravagant and I didn’t have a husband

I am the midwife and she who hasn’t given birth

I am the comfort of labor pains

I am the bride and the bridegroom

And it is my husband who gave birth to me

I am my father’s mother,

My husband’s sister, and he is my child

I am the slave-woman of him who served me

I am she, the lord of my child

 

But it is he who gave birth to me at the wrong time

And he is my child born at the right time

And my power is from within him

I am the staff of his youthful power

And he is the baton of my old womanhood

 

Whatever he wants happens to me

I am the silence never found

And the idea infinitely recalled

I am the voice with countless sounds

And the thousand guises of the word      

I am the speaking of my name

 

You who loathe me, why do you love me and loathe the ones who love me? You who deny me, confess me

You who confess me, deny me

You who speak the truth about me, lie about me

You who lie about me, speak the truth about me

You who know me, ignore me

You who ignore me, know me

 

I am both awareness and obliviousness

I am humiliation and pride

I am without shame

I am ashamed

I am security and I am fear

I am war and peace

 

…

Why do you despise my fear and curse my pride?

Editorials & Actions

Slouching Toward Nuremberg

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Morris Berman has always been an acute reader of American culture and society, so his warnings here need to be taken quite seriously.–Rabbi Michael Lerner
Slouching Towards Nuremberg
 

Strange things are happening in the United States these days, and every day seems to bring additional scary news. The similarity to the erosion of civil liberties in Germany during the 1930s is a bit too close for comfort. Many will regard this statement as hyperbole, and, to some extent, it is. But let’s take a close look at what is going on before we dismiss the comparison out of hand.  

In terms of the historical record for Germany, legal discrimination against Jews certainly existed before the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and grew steadily over time.

Editorials & Actions

How They Voted on Ending the War in Afghanistan

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A note from the Network of Spiritual Progressives:
The Lee Amendment would have limited spending on the Afghanistan War (currently $2 billion PER DAY) to bringing U.S. troops home. Please read the list of who voted for and who against. Important to remember that Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, leaders of the Democrats in the House, voted AGAINST ending the war. Although the Lee Amendment was defeated(113-303) it is worth noting that a significant majority of Representatives in the President’s own party voted in support of ending the war now. Please remember to call your member of Congress today and urge a NO vote on the 2013 Defense
Authorization Act.

Editorials & Actions

European Intellectuals Speak Out AGAINST AUSTERITY–and provide an alternative

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Editor’s Note:  Tikkun author Ulrich Duchrow, a professor of systematic theology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and cofounder and moderator of Kairos Euope, an ecumenical network striving for economic justice (see his article A European Revival of Liberation Theology in Tikkun’s Winter 2011 issue) presents us with a statement of European intellectuals speaking out against the neo-liberal austerity economic programs that are the weapon-of-choice by the 1% in its class war against the 99%. 
Stop the neo-liberal crisis politics – dispossess the beneficiaries! We are experiencing the deepest crisis of capitalism since the great depression of the 30s – and the European governments continue to pour oil on the fires! From the very beginning, some governments have prevented a solidarity-based solution to the crisis in Europe and are significantly responsible for its exacerbation. This refers particularly to the German government, which, in August 2008, blocked a substantial economic stimulus package for Europe. Hardly had the recession reached its lowest point in Germany in 2009, when the German government preached the necessity for hard austerity policies.

Editorials & Actions

Obama: a Civil Libertarian’s Nightmare

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Editor’s Note: Criticism of Obama does not imply support for his political opponents. However one decides to vote in November, one must do so with as full a picture as possible of what policies one is endorsing. How Obama Became a Civil Libertarian’s Nightmare
By Steven Rosenfeld

Obama has expanded and fortified many of the Bush administration’s worst policies. April 18, 2012  |

When Barack Obama took office, he was the civil liberties communities’ great hope. Obama, a former constitutional law professor, pledged to shutter the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and run a transparent and open government.

Editorials & Actions

Günter Grass “the Terrible”

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Note from Tikkun Editor Rabbi Michael Lerner: While Avnery is certainly right that there is nothing automatically anti-Semitic about a German today criticizing the policies of the State of Israel, he is, I believe, underestimating the way his statement, and the predictable denunciations from Israeli politicians, has given cover for actual live German anti-Semites to attack “the Jews” again!!! But that is not to suggest he is wrong to make the points he does make! Please read it!!! Uri Avnery

April 14, 2012

 
                                                Günter the Terrible                          
 

STOP ME if I have told you this joke before:

 

Somewhere in the US, a demonstration takes place. The police arrive and beat the protesters mercilessly.

Christianity

Easter Sacrifice of the Lambs

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Rabbi Lerner’s Note: The argument presented below as a critique of Christian practice is equally applicable to Jewish and Muslim practice as well as to the tens of millions of secularists who do the exact same thing but without giving it a religious sanction. EASTER: SACRIFICE OF THE LAMBS… Inbox
x

Ruth Eisenbud homerific1990@hotmail.com

11:09 PM (10 hours ago)

roast leg of lamb: traditional offering for Easter

EASTER: SACRIFICE OF THE LAMBS… While Christianity claims to have done away with the ‘burnt offering’ or sacrifice of the Old Testament, it has not:.  

“Because Jesus is symbolized as a Lamb…and that is like one of His names or titles….He IS the Lamb of God…..Who takes away the sin of the world….and in “type”…He is the Lamb Who was provided for the burnt offering…..” http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090413075531AAE6UGx

 

There are several problems with this statement.

Editorials & Actions

Uri Avnery on the New Mandela : Marwan Barghouti

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Uri Avnery

March 31, 2012

 

                                                The New Mandela

                                                           

MARWAN BARGHOUTI has spoken up. After a long silence, he has sent a message from prison.  

In Israeli ears, this message does not sound pleasant. But for Palestinians, and for Arabs in general, it makes sense.  

His message may well become the new program of the Palestinian liberation movement.

Editorials & Actions

Tikkun’s NY Times full page ad against first strike on Iran appeared on March 7, 2012

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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Today, our ad saying “No” to a first strike (preemptive attack) by either Israel or the U.S. on Iran, appeared in the New York Times (in the National Edition it is on page A19). The media has distorted what has been going on between Obama and Netanyahu, representing it as Obama standing up to Netanyahu and being a hero for peace. But actually what happened is that Obama legitimated a first strike and preemptive attack on Iran, arguing with Netanyahu about the timing of such an attack, seeking to allow coercive economic sanctions to work first, but stating explicitly that Israel should not be constrained in any way to follow what it decides to be in its best national interest in regard to a strike on Iran. That’s why AIPAC gave him a standing ovation when Obama addressed them a few days ago. Obama has now fully embraced the militarist position of George W. Bush who argued that it was legitimate for the U.S. to take a preemptive attack on Iraq based on the suspicion that they had nuclear weapons, just as Obama two months ago gave the green light to legislation that allows the US to imprison for life without a trial U.S. citizens the govenrnment suspects to be cooperating in some way with terrorists, and just as he has taken the lead in developing drone technology aimed at civilians (which Pentagon militarists say may soon be used inside the U.S.).

Editorials & Actions

Help Tikkun Place a NYT Ad Against Striking Iran

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Would you please help us put an ad in the New York Times, Washington Post (or maybe also Ha’aretz and Yediot in Israel, and other media, depending on how much money we can raise) to put public pressure on President Obama to NOT agree to overtly or covertly approve an Israeli preemptive strike on sites where Iran is developing its nuclear capacities? Click HERE to see the text of the ad with an opportunity to make a donation AND an opportunity to sign it. As of now, Iran does not have those capacities, and though Israeli leaders are arguing that they must strike now before it becomes impossible to block the development of nuclear weapons, U.S. intelligence sources said on Friday, Feb. 24th, that Iran had not made any decision to go forward with developing nuclear weapons. You can view a sample version of the ad below (though when it is layed out beautifully on a full page in the NY Times and Washington Post, it will not look as wordy as it looks now, and there will be room for the names of some who have signed and donated to it).

Christianity

A different way to think about Jesus–evolutionary thoughts about incarnation

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Incarnation: Some evolutionary thoughts

Author: Diarmuid O’Murchu

Is Incarnation 2,000 years old? It seems God has been working since the beginning of time

According to Christian theology Incarnation refers to God’s entry into human life in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, about 2000 years ago. Accordingly, this has not happened in any other religion – for Christians, Jesus alone is the incarnation of God on this earth. I find this view disturbingly reductionistic and anthropocentric, and from a multi-faith perspective, it strikes me as being unpleasantly imperialistic. It seems to me that there are underlying assumptions urgently in need to re-evaluation.

Editorials & Actions

Each one Reach one; Each one Teach one

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Each One Reach One – Each One Teach One
“On the surface of the world right now there is War and violence and things seem dark. But calmly and quietly, at the same time, Something else is happening underground. An inner revolution is taking place And certain individuals are being called to a higher light. It is a silent revolution. From the inside out.

Editorials & Actions

Uri Avnery on Israeli National Suicide

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Uri Avnery

February 18, 2012

Thou Shalt Not Kill (Thyself)

AFTER THE founding of Israel, God appeared to David Ben-Gurion and told him: “You have created a state for my chosen people in my holy land. This merits a great reward. Tell me what you wish, and I will grant it.”

Ben-Gurion answered: “Almighty God, I wish that every person in Israel shall be wise, honest and a member of the Labor Party.”

“Dear me,” said God, “That is too much even for the Almighty. But I decree that every Israeli shall be two of the three.”

Since then, if a wise Israeli is a member of the Labor party, he is not honest. If an honest Israeli is a member of the Labor party, he is not wise.

Editorials & Actions

Honoring “the Other” or “the Stranger” by Rabbi Zalman Kastel

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Racism, Insult, “Other”-ing, Religion & the “rich Jews” comment

Late at night, a Jewish couple, Dr. Jeffrey and Mrs Cheryl Bogan, asked about getting a train home. A State Rail customer service manager, Roman Arnusch commented repeatedly and laughingly, “They’re all Jews living in the Eastern Suburbs. They’re all wealthy – they can afford to get a taxi”. A complaint was made and he was fired but then reinstated by an appeals board that declared his comment “racist, offensive, uncalled for and completely inappropriate” but deemed a six-month suspension without pay to be sufficient punishment[1]. This anecdote highlights one of the controversies about prejudice.

Editorials & Actions

End the Syrian Genocide of its Own People

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News Release February 10, 2012  from TIKKUN Magazine

More info: Contact Ashley Bates   510 644 1200

Progressive Jews Demand an End to Syrian Genocide and a Boycott of Russian and Chinese Products as Long as Those Countries Refuse to Join in Active Measures to Replace the Assad Government!!! Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine (the largest circulation progressive Jewish magazine in the world), called upon the world community to intervene and stop the genocide being waged by the Assad government against the people of Syria. In a statement sent to President Obama, the U.N. and world leaders of Western countries, Rabbi Lerner said, “The world must not sit idly by on the blood of the democracy- and human rights-seeking people of Syria against their brutal dictatorship. The Syrian regime has already killed more than 5,000 of its own citizens, and tens of thousands have been wounded, or arrested and tortured. This is a crime against humanity, and it deserves a powerful intervention from the West.”