Tikkun Daily Blog Archive (https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/category/culture/page/55/)
Posts about culture, the arts, the media, book reviews, movies etc.
“God’s way up is down” – Which is why God says, “Go to hell.” Follow the One who was numbered with the transgressors to sit among the condemned, the written-off, the outcast. And while you are there, listen. Because Jesus didn’t go to hell to stay there.
Interfaith Iftar events are a dime a dozen nowadays. So this year I’m doing something different; a tiny step that may end up being the biggest step of them all, at least for me. Tonight I plan to attend a break fast event at a Jewish home, a small affair that will bring a few Muslims and Jews together on the intersection of Tzom Tamuzz and Ramadan. I’m ashamed that I know so little about the fasting traditions of the Jews, and I want to change that. Tonight we will talk about why our two faith traditions fast, and what we gain out of it, but more importantly we will talk about the elephant in the room: Israel and Palestine. We will think about how we can be friends when so many expect us, even need us, to be enemies.
The situation in Israel/Palestine is intolerable and calls for a response grounded in compassion, empathy, understanding and healing. We at the Network of Spiritual Progressives offer such a response and hope others will join us.
Once again the violence of the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza and the violence of Hamas and other extremist groups in Gaza have combined to create a spiraling violence. We call upon both sides to agree to an immediate cease fire.
Years of stifled anger and silenced pain are finally rising to the surface as Warren Blumenfeld reflects on the responsibilities and obligations dominant groups have to dismantle the forms of oppression and unearned privileges not accorded to those outside, who are often viewed as the “other.”
We invited people in the Tikkun community to share some memories of their personal connections to Zalman. We cannot publish them all—so many hundreds of people pouring out their wonderful experiences and wishing to honor this great Tzaddik! So we’ve selected a representative sample.
A letter to Walmart on the sales of a poster-size photograph of the front gate of Camp Dachau in Bavaria, Germany with its (in)famous inscription Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Will Set You Free), which Walmart declares “would make a great addition to your home or office.”
In Murrieta, California protesters have taken to the streets spewing hateful words and bigotry in protest of the arrival of migrants from Central America. We sometimes speak as if the mere passage of time has elevated us above the bigotry of previous generations. It hasn’t.
In the wake of the heightened conflict between Palestine and Israel, Warren Blumenfeld offers lessons to be learned from Dennis Shepard, who showed his son’s murderers mercy.
I offer a translation of a lesson that seems to capture what Reb Zalman gave to the world, along with a few observations as my parting words to him and, more importantly, as words to those of us who now have the responsibility to carry his message to the post-Zalman era of Jewish Renewal, may it live a long and healthy life.