The Shalom Center - Rosh HaShanah

New Book: "The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope & Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims"

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 12:38:14 -0400

Dear Friends,

In 2004, as religious animosities worsened around the globe, I joined with Sister Joan Chittister, a world-renowned Benedictine nun, and Murshid Saadi Shakur Chisti (Neil Douglas-Klotz), a Muslim Sufi who has written a remarkable series of books on Aramaic, Gnostic, and Sufi spirituality --

-- to write a book called THE TENT OF ABRAHAM: STORIES OF HOPE AND PEACE FOR JEWS, CHRISTIANS, & MUSLIMS.

We sent the manuscript to Karen Armstrong. She was so excited by the book that she wrote a Preface for it.

It was (June 2006) published by Beacon Press and won an enthusiastic "Starred Review" from the Library Journal. That review and others are below.

Song of Isaac and Ishmael

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 15:39:09 -0500

Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, 9/17/2003
Updated to link an audio file on 9-30-05

ISAAC AND ISHMAEL
copyright 1989 Rabbi Leila Gal Berner
(First two verses can be sung in Hebrew/Arabic or English)

Shalom aleichem, aleichem shalom, shalom
Shalom aleichem, aleichem shalom.

THE PEACE OF ABRAHAM, HAGAR, & SARAH: Sharing Sacred Seasons, Fall 2007

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 05:14:35 -0400

THE PEACE OF ABRAHAM, HAGAR, & SARAH:
SHARING SACRED SEASONS, 2007

Shalom, salaam, peace! --

In the fall of 2007, several sacred seasons of the Abrahamic faiths will come together. At a moment of history when religious conflict and violence have reemerged bearing lethal dangers for each other and our planet, God has given our spiritual and religious traditions an unusual gift of sacred time.

Let us celebrate this rare confluence of THE PEACE OF ABRAHAM, HAGAR, & SARAH by praying and learning with each other and by acting together to –-

SEEK PEACE, PURSUE JUSTICE,
FEED THE POOR, HEAL THE EARTH,

THE SPIRAL DANCE OF GOD

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:46:37 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 9/2/2003

The festivals we are entering are both unique to the Jewish people and universal in their meaning. For the peoples of the Northern Hemisphere, it is the time of harvest in the solar year, time to reflect upon our efforts: Have all our hopes and deeds brought fruitfulness, or emptiness? And since they have probably brought forth both, how do we celebrate what good we have wrought and turn from our mis-doings into renewed joy and dedication?

This need to pause to reflect uopon our selves, our deeds, our souls, is one we share with all humanity: Ramadan, Lent, and other times throughout the year that are set aside for quiet meditation.

Breathing the Festivals

Tue, 02 Sep 2003 01:00:00 -0400

Latifa Kropf, 9/2/2003

In Seasons of Our Joy, I suggested that the festivals of Tishrei are a spiral of spiritual growth — at Rosh Hashanah (the new moon), birth; at Yom Kippur (egg-shaped moon), meeting a Partner; at Sukkot (full moon), harve

Hu Yaanenu /Hi Taanenu

Tue, 02 Sep 2003 01:00:00 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 9/2/2003

May You Answer Us!

This more inclusive version of one of the traditional High Holy Day prayers can be sung to one of the traditional melodies. Shanah tovah!

Hu Yaanenu /Hi Taanenu
An Inclusive Version

You Who answere

New Year, New Name?

Tue, 02 Sep 2003 01:00:00 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, drawing on teachings of Rabbis Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Sheila Weinberg, and, 9/2/2003

We recite for the High Holy Days — "Tshuvah, tfilah, & tzedakah will avert the evil of the decree." (Self-transformation, prayer,

Redeeming Tashlikh, the Earth, & Our Misdeeds

Tue, 02 Sep 2003 01:00:00 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 9/2/2003

Since this year the first day of Rosh Hashanah is Shabbat, most of our communities will on the afternoon of the second day do Tashlikh — going to running water, tossing into it symbols of cast-off "misdeeds," reci

Ellul - Psalm 27

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal

Ellul: Psalm 27
Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal

FROM MASORTI@JTSA.EDU
Masorti Movement
Rabbinical Assembly of Israel
4 Rav Ashi Street, Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Tel:972-2-782433
Fax:972-2-782441

Elul is the month of preparat

Facing the Music: A High Holyday Meditation

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Shefa Gold

Facing the Music: A High Holyday Meditation

By Shefa Gold

This is the time to know our own song, to allow the echoes of our thoughts, words and actions of this past year to ripple through us, awakening

Isaac/Ishmael and the High Holy Days

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

The reconciliation of Isaac and Ishmael

- an additional reading for the High Holy Day

by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Each year, as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Jeremiah 31: Haftarah for Rosh Hashana

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Shefa Gold

Haftarah for Rosh Hashanah, 2nd Day: Jeremiah 31:1-20
translated by Rabbi Shefa Gold

You have found grace
in the very same wilderness where you experienced such suffering,
And through it all I have loved you.
Again and again

Tashlikh in a Universal Key: Casting Stones and Ashes: In Memory of the Dead of 9/11/01 And All Victims of War and Terrorism

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rev. Patricia Pierce

Casting Stones and Ashes:

In Memory of the Dead of 9/11/01
And All Victims of War and Terrorism

For vibrant lives suddenly and shamelessly sacrificed we lift up the ashes of our loss, O God.

For the lives that co

The Tale of Isaac's Binding as a Warning -- to Us

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Esther Ticktin, 10/27/2004

Our Rabbis ordained for us to read what is now named Genesis Chapter 21 on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and chapter 22 on the second day. If you read along with the
layners, you may have been shocked by the terse styl

The Torah of Silence

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

R' Yair Hillel Goelman

The Torah of Silence

D'var Torah, Rosh HaShanah Day 1

R' Yair Hillel Goelman, Or Shalom

1 Tishrei, 5761

September 30, 2000

A few minutes ago when we held the Torah aloft we all saw the letters and words in b