ESRA

Save Obama's presidency by challenging him on the left

By |

Because it involves a suggested electoral strategy for the liberal and progressive forces in the U.S., we at Tikkun cannot endorse Rabbi Lerner’s perspective – we are a 501 c-3 and do not engage in supporting or opposing candidates for office. Still, we thought you might find his perspective of considerable interest, as did the editors of the Washington Post. So we are calling it to your attention and will probably post it at Tikkun.org on Sunday. You can read his views either in the Washington Post itself on Saturday, or by going here on their web site:
And needless to say, we are very interested in what your reactions are to his ideas, and may even in the Spring issue of Tikkun or on our www.tikkun.org conduct a discussion of it – we are allowed to discuss these things, just not to advocate. So send your reactions straight to him: rabbiLerner@tikkun.org (if you haven’t written him before, you may get a Spam Arrest notice, and all that means is that you have to click where it says to click, then copy some letters that they show you to prove that you are a person and not a machine, and then you’ll never have to do that again to write to him.)

Gender and Sexuality

Let's Give Gay Servicemembers a Christmas Gift – End Don't Ask Don't Tell

By |

In 1987 I left the United States Air Force after serving honorably for eight years. I couldn’t stand the idea of having to hide who I was, having to live a lonely isolated life, and despite being willing to live without love or true companionship, facing the constant threat of being outed and having my career destroyed. This week, Congress can help to right a wrong that has destroyed lives, careers, and perpetuated prejudice and discrimination against people who simply wanted to serve their country. The military has spoken and those who serve have said that they want an end to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” Let’s show our military that we listen to them and urge Congress to put an end to this stain on our nation’s honor.

Culture

Guest Post: "Making the Internet Moral," By Chris Stedman

By |

Is the Internet destroying our morals? Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI issued a warning that the Internet was “numbing” young people and creating an “educational emergency – a challenge that we can and must respond to with creative intelligence.” Speaking at a Vatican conference on culture, Benedict also expressed concern that “a large number of young people” are “establish[ing] forms of communication that do not increase humaneness but instead risk increasing a sense of solitude and disorientation.” Benedict’s comments created an uproar, but he has a point.Studies show that Internet addiction is linked to depression; in 2007, the comedy websiteCracked offered a surprisingly moving take on this phenomenon titled “7 Reasons the 21st Century is Making You Miserable.” It’s tempting, knowing this, to suggest that we all take a step away from our keyboards, turn off our computers, and go find a field to frolic in.

art

Kafka's Fable

By |

“Alas,” said the mouse, “the world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when at last I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into,”
“You only need to change your direction,” said the cat, and ate it up. A Fable by Franz Kafka
Kafka’s story haunts me, as his stories always have. This one at first seems a simple enough eighty-seven words But while with many writers the ambiguities clarify as you go deeper, with Kafka they always get more complex. The mouse worries about his life having led him into a now inevitable trap.

Politics & Society

"Yes, We Can"?

By |

It’s now been two weeks since the midterm elections, and I’m noticing that many folks I know are depressed — not consciously about the elections, which have receded somewhat from view, but about various things in their lives. One is exhausted from all the pressures in her life, raising children, caring for parents, working too hard or too aimlessly; another is undecided about what to do next in life, not sure how to chart a meaningful path. Everyone has his or her personal story. But behind all the personal stories and giving unity to the feeling of despair are the elections — not because of the specific legislative consequences of the Republican victory but because of what it means for the state of whether “we can” or “we can’t,” or of whether “we” exist at all. Elections evoke a great deal of passion even though their direct practical consequences for our lives are often minimal, even nonexistent.

Politics & Society

Armistice Day/Veteran's Day

By |

November 11 ought to be a day when we rededicate ourselves to the effort to make war something that children read about in history books and wonder how it was possible that humankind was ever so foolish for so long.

Politics & Society

In the D.C. Area This Week? Attend Truth Commission's Veterans Day Events

By |

Wednesday, November 10, 2010, the Truth Commission on Conscience in War will release its groundbreaking report on the “moral injuries” of veterans in a Washington, D.C. press conference. The Truth Commission on Conscience in War is a national coalition of over 60 religious, veterans, academic, and advocacy groups. The Commission’s report calls for greater religious freedom and protection of moral conscience in the military, citing “moral injuries” suffered by veterans, and announcing next steps.

Politics & Society

Progressives and Conservatives – A Case For Exquisite Harmony

By |

Tikkun readers may recall Chet Bowers’ article The Trouble With Liberals in our JanFeb 2008 issue. Bowers messed with our readers’ minds by arguing that environmentalists are conservatives, Native Americans rights activists are conservatives, but “conservatives” like Bush, Cheney and the American Enterprise Institute are market liberals and not conservative at all. They are distinct from social justice liberals, but like them support high growth industrialism. Here’s another piece that is trying, in a different way, to redefine how we use these terms in the interests of shaking us up and getting us to recognize potential allies:
Progressives and Conservatives – A Case For Exquisite Harmony
by Neil Hanson

If weʼre to have a chance at salvaging something of the secular, pluralistic democracy that founded this country a couple of hundred years ago, a couple of groups whoʼve been tricked into thinking theyʼre opponents need to see past a few minor differences into the vast common ground they share. They then need to turn their combined attention toward the real source of dissonance and destruction in our culture.

art

Go See "For Colored Girls"

By |

My heart and mind are full of this movie today, after my wife and I saw it last night. Until I read this review in our local paper by Mick LaSalle, I was wondering how Tyler Perry, whose Madea movie trailers are enough to make me never want to see the movies, could possibly do justice to this womanist play. LaSalle’s review reassured me. I’m no movie reviewer and what I have to say here is a personal take that will include a possible spoiler, so it would be best to read that review instead if you haven’t seen the movie yet. I do urge you to go.