Tikkun Daily Blog Archive (https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/category/politics/inter-culturalism/page/5/)
About race and ethnicity, combating racism and building love and solidarity across the boundaries.
Israel is well-sell served by the strengths and assets of Ethiopian Israelis, not least among these values a sense of community around food and intense devotion to Judaism.
Astronomy teaches us humility and compassion. Of all human virtues, humility is probably the most beautiful and important. It helps us focus on bettering ourselves, rather than focusing on what others are doing.
State nationalism is at best an uneasy organizing principle for ethnic identity, and at worst yet another force promoting the concentration of power in the hands of a small group of people, and the “standardization” of everyone else toward that “ideal.” The Jews of Eastern Europe were active participants in turn-of-the-century trends of modernization, industrialization, and secularization.
Whether the perpetrators of the Mumbai Massacre are brought to justice or not, we cannot afford to remain trapped in an abyss of despair and hatred. The Moshe and Sandra show us how to rehabilitate and rebuild.
Contrary to the expectation of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, Muslim leaders have condemned violence and supported the right to free speech. Most openly exhibit tolerance and follow the Qur’an when it states “And the servants of the Gracious God are those who walk on the earth in a dignified manner, and when the ignorant address them, they say, ‘Peace!’
To reduce the situations of Yosef Salamseh and Freddie Gray into “black vs. white” is to erase both historical context and what’s actually happening today. Not to mention the fact that it is demeaning towards both Ethiopian-Israeli and African-American populations. They are different people who are struggling with very different issues.
The rooms in the Eco Center are named for their floors. The Rubber Room’s floor is made from salvaged conveyor belts from the Arkansas Kraft paper mill and Granite Mountain Quarry. The Beer Bottle Bottom room is named for the several thousand beer bottles in the floor. And the Rock Around the Clock room gave new life to the thick rocks that maintained the terrace around Ferncliff’s old pool. These whimsical rooms prove that waste is never necessary.
Without condoning the clashes with police, rock throwing, looting, and arson against local businesses, when a society generally and police forces more specifically consistently treat its citizens like “2s,” “3s,” or “4s,” when people see no hope for a better future, when parents fear for their children’s very lives, the inevitable eruptions in Baltimore should can come as no surprise.
Free speech, when based on religious hatred, may be detrimental to the morals of a society as a whole. And though it seems unlikely for such a negative message to produce a positive outcome, it is not impossible.
“Scripture tells us that all of the world is God’s precious creation, and our place within it is to care for and respect the health of the whole,” says Union Theological Seminary President Serene Jones. “Climate change poses a catastrophic threat, and as stewards of God’s creation we simply must act.” Across the country, people are bringing the wisdom of their faith traditions to their work on climate change because they know they’re better together.