Culture

Beyond a Religion: Vodou Connects Haitians to their African Roots

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Désir is a passionate advocate of Vodou and dedicates much of her time to fostering a greater understanding of Vodou’s religious and cultural practices. Her work aims to dispel the myths that plague the Vodou religion including the Hollywood-invented stereotypes of zombies and ‘pins in dolls’ that were popularized throughout the twentieth century.

Culture

Tikkun Gift Package!

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We’re coming up on the end of the year, which means we’re also in the final stretch of our fundraising drive. A huge thank you to all of those who have helped our cause along the way! We’ve got one final offer for you, a gift we’d like to extend to anyone able to help us reach our goal before the new year. If you donate at least $100 you will receive the following gifts from Tikkun:

-a year’s subscription to Tikkun
-the new Radical Amazement album
-a copy of Rabbi Michael Lerner’s Embracing Israel/Palestine
-and a Tikkun magnet! If we had twelve people commit the minimum donation to this week’s deal, we would automatically reach our goal!

Culture

Marriage Equality: Not The Cure-All

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Yet while marriage is an important right that carries many benefits, opening the nuptial doors hardly signals the eradication of homophobia or misogyny. In twenty-nine states, it is still legal to discriminate against the LGBT community in employment, housing, and education.

Culture

Why Protest? And What’s Next: Truth-Telling and Reconciliation for Ferguson and Beyond

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That moment when we learned of the non-indictment, the reasons why we protest became solidified in my mind and heart in a way they had not before. The protests reflect a community disenchanted with the status quo of (in)justice in the U.S. with what seems like the frequent inability to see black and brown people as worthy of the dignity of which all humans are equally deserving.

Culture

Modern Maccabee

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Jewish symbols featured in advertisements are used to latch the Jewish population into participating in “holiday season” consumerism. This is a part of television’s much broader role in assimilating Jews and other minority/immigrant groups into America’s capitalist culture. It is a great irony because the premise of Hanukkah stems from a revolt against those attempting to acculturate the Jewish people.

Christianity

Osmosis: A Jew Searches for Silence During Christmas

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Much of the retreat was spent in silence. One of the things that silence can do is wake us up to the noise inside our own mind. On this particular retreat, the silence made me realize that it took two days for the Christmas carols to stop playing in my head.

Culture

Join George Lakoff, Marianne Williamson​, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Matthew Fox and more to Reclaim America

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After the 2014 elections and facing a Congress determined to dismantle environmental protections and health and social benefits for middle income Americans and the poor in 2015-2016, and after the spate of well-publicized police murders of African American men and grand juries refusing to indict the police, it’s critical that ethically sensitive people develop a strategy to: RECLAIM AMERICA

Culture

“Open Dialogue” on Israel/Palestine Is Not Enough

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Vassar College professor Hua Hsu wrote in the New Yorker recently that “There should be nothing controversial about everyday kindness; civility as a kind of individual moral compass should remain a virtue. But civility as a type of discourse—as a high road that nobody ever actually walks—is the opposite. It is bullshit.”