General News

Something Amazing Is Happening in Joplin, MO

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On Monday, the Islamic Society of Joplin – the only mosque within 50 square miles of Joplin, Missouri – burned to the ground in what authorities suspect was a hate-fueled arson attack. This painful incident occurred a mere 24 hours after the Sikh temple massacre in Wisconsin, and the two tragedies broadcast to America (and to the world) the dangerous depths of Islamophobia and hatred for the other by white extremists in this country. However, a different message is now being broadcast in Joplin, a town which just last year demonstrated its strong communal spirit in the wake of a devastating tornado. And it is a stirring message of tolerance and a rejection of hatred, a message that’s being delivered in the form of both communal support and the sudden success of a donation campaign to help rebuild the mosque. Local religious institutions have stepped forward, showing an outpouring of support and offering communal spaces where citizens can hold an iftar – the meal which breaks the day’s fast during Ramadan.

Judaism

Weekly Sermon: Sabbath, Land & Enough

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Today we continue a series of sermons on great matters of American culture and practice in which millions of people are stuck in painful or unjust relations, and no movement toward solution is coming through our collective will. Our theme today is the food system in America. It seems hardly to bear repeating, but let it be heard again that this, the world’s richest nation, has the largest proportion of poor people, when compared with other industrialized nations. How is that possible, except that somehow our wings are broken. Unlike gun control or our criminal justice system, which no politician will discuss, hunger and poverty have sometimes mattered to elected leaders.

Judaism

Torah Commentary: I. Devarim II. The Ninth of Av

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I. Devarim- The Courage to Critique
It feels a bit different to write about Perashat Devarim, akin to writing a review of a review. Perashat Devarim is the beginning of Moshe’s extended deathbed monologue, presented just as the people are preparing to enter the land, under a new leadership. In these perashiyot, we have a review by Moshe of the events of the Exodus, along with a repetition of many mitzvot and some theological statements, in a tone traditionally interpreted as critique or “tochacha”. This concept is one that deserves some elucidation, and towards the end will expound on the links between this concept and the tradition of reading this perasha at the time of Tisha B’av, the day commemorating the destruction of the Temple, the loss of life and loss of sovereignty that accompanied the failed rebellion against Roman hegemony.

Islam

Ramadan: A Holy Month of Self Control and Tranquility

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It’s 4:15 a.m. as I get out of my cozy bed, do my daily morning ritual (brush teeth, wash face, etc) and make my way to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, I rummage through gallons of milk, containers with leftover foods, fruits, and vegetables trying to figure out what I should eat before starting this auspicious day. Scrambled eggs with bell peppers, mushrooms and toast it is! I finish off with a cup of sheer-chai (milk and tea) and a few glasses of water, so I remain hydrated throughout the day. The time is 4:51 a.m. and Ramadan has begun.

Religion

Weekly Sermon: Wings of the Dove

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In 1908, Winston Churchill wrote, “The seed of Imperial ruin and national decay [lies in] the unnatural gap between the rich and the poor [and] the swift increase of vulgar . . . luxury.” In the same decade, Republican President Teddy Roosevelt said, “The supreme political task of our day is to drive the special interests out of our public life.”

Christianity

An Open Letter to Presbyterian Clergy

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From Two Jewish Social Justice Advocates
Dear Reverends and Church-goers,

We are writing to you as two young American Jews who have just seen something extraordinary. Last week we were guests at the 220th Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly in Pittsburgh where we witnessed the historic plenary vote to boycott Israeli settlement products. We congratulate you as people of faith for aligning your practice with your values and taking a principled stand. Mazel tov! At the General Assembly we watched Christian clergy and laypeople engaging in dialogue on a very difficult topic – the Israeli occupation of the West Bank – with respect, grace, and open hearts.

Christianity

If You're Not in Trouble for the Gospel You Preach, Is It Really the Gospel?

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You can hear about the vengeful and rather unmerciful God talked about on hundreds of radio stations across America, according to Bishop Gene Robinson who spoke at this year’s More Light Presbyterian Dinner during the Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly last week. That’s the side of God that Rabbi Michael Lerner so vividly describes as “the Right Hand of God.” But if you try to talk about the all-loving, all-merciful, overly-expansive side of God, especially one that accepts GLBTQ people… the “Left Hand of God,” well then you’re going to be in big trouble! The openly-gay Episcopal Bishop Robinson, over whom the Anglican Church has been “in chaos” for the last number of years, quipped that we should not be surprised when preaching the gospel gets you into trouble since Jesus made it very clear in his words, actions, and in his death, that trouble would follow when you truly followed his example.

General News

The State of a Nation + A Great "I Am"

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Fourth of July just passed and on the Sunday proceeding the holiday each year the Rector of my church reads the Declaration of Independence. In truth, usually I find it boring, laborious, and sometimes a conflicting hybrid of church and state. This year I felt something unfamiliar–sadness.

Culture

Thoughts on Germany's Circumcision Ban

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During my wife’s first pregnancy, we made the decision not to learn the sex of the child before birth. There were many reasons for this decision: the purity of discovery at the moment of delivery; an effort to prevent family and friends from inundating us with gender-defined baby gifts before the little one had even emerged; a Shalom-Auslander-like superstition that knowing would somehow invite a divinely-orchestrated disaster. However, the truth is that one motivation outweighed all others, at least for me: a terrible fear that our child would be a boy. It was a fear stemming from the fact that, as committed Jews, I knew we would circumcise him. And I also knew this: we desperately didn’t want to do so.

Judaism

Torah Commentary: Perashat Shelach- Gaze Upon the Land

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I. The Politics of the Spies
Every community, every people, have in their history great leaders, as well as disastrous leaders whose choices threaten the very existence of the community. The Torah is not embarrassed to relate the failures of leadership of the emerging Hebrew nation, one can presume because it is intuitive that such situations would repeat themselves through history, and perhaps by presenting the failures of vision and failures of nerve, future generations and their leaders would learn how to prevent such errors from transpiring. This message may be particularly timely now, given the recent attempts by some of the ultra-Orthodox leadership to confront the technological and social issues of contemporary society by use of force and extreme coercion. In our text, the Israelites are nearing their destination, and the decision is made (by whom?