The Shalom Center - Campaigns

DANCING OR DENOUNCING IN THE WORLD-WIDE EARTHQUAKE: JEWS & MUSLIMS

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 18:32:33 -0400

Dear friends,

For a YouTube video about the Muslim-Jewish event described here, see --
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EPdZ3hizUS0

Sometimes the earth on which we stand begins to shake, uncontrollably. We can respond with measured concern, even fear, and reach out for help to each other; or we can respond with panic and rage against anyone we think might be responsible for the earthquake. We can try to grab on to some "immovable" strong point - or we can learn to dance, with each other, in the earthquake.

Recently, some parts of the "official" established American Jewish organizational structure have been feeling they are living in a totally unexpected earthquake (see below for its description), and some have responded with panic, lashing out at some imagined "cause."

How to Buy "The Tent of Abraham" Book at Discount

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:03:36 -0400

"The Tent of Abraham" by Sister Joan Chittister, Murshid Saadi Shakur Chisti, & Rabbi Arthur Waskow is available to Shalom Center members and readers by special arrangement with Beacon Press. You will receive a 10% discount and free shipping on this (and any other Beacon title). The Shalom Center will receive 4% of the proceeds from Beacon.

To buy this book, visit Beacon’s web site at:

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.

Eco-Kashrut Has Everything to Do With the Healing of the Earth

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 06:56:26 -0400

Philadelphia Jewish EXPONENT
September 13, 2007

- Bryan Schwartzman, Staff Writer

Pushing for reductions in fossil-fuel emissions and trying to reverse the global-warming trend nationally and throughout the world may make perfect sense, but what on earth do energy-policy goals have to do with Judaism?

That question was posed to Rabbi Arthur Waskow -- who's written several books that examine how Judaism and the environment intersect -- after he'd delivered a recent talk on the subject at Congregation Kol Ami in Elkins Park.

His answer? Everything!

The founder of the Philadelphia-based Shalom Center replied that, first of all, a concern for stewardship over the earth is rooted in Judaism's biblical tradition, and is, in fact, a central component of it.

11 Steps toward the October 8 Interfaith Fast

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:47:12 -0400

ELEVEN STEPS ON THE SACRED PATH
TOWARD THE INTERFAITH
PEACEMAKING FAST
ON OCTOBER 8

1. Read the Call at http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1269 and share it with others. You can use the brief version you will find at the end of this letter. If you are the clergyperson of a congregation, place a phone call to and arrange to meet with the clergypersons or leaders of religious communities other than your own -- to explore arrangements such as those below. (If you are not clergy yourself, you could place the calls anyway or ask your clergyperson to do so.) Those who agree to plan this could become an informal "planning committee" for the event.

What Is Eco-Kosher?

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 10:51:59 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow, from his book DOWN-TO-EARTH JUDAISM: FOOD, MONEY, SEX, & THE REST OF LIFE (Morrow).

By looking at Jewish approaches to food from the Biblical era to the modern age, we have brought ourselves to the edges of the present. If now we want to get a glimpse of possible futures for Jewish attitudes toward food, let us begin with four unconventional questions:
1. Are tomatoes grown by drenching the earth in pesticides "kosher" to eat, at home or at the synagogue's next wedding reception?
2. Is newsprint made by chopping down an ancient and irreplaceable forest "kosher" to use for a Jewish newspaper?

Communal Fast in a Time of Calamity: A Multireligious Call

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:05:02 -0400

Dear friends,

How do we announce a major religious event, such as the October 8 Fast to move America from conquest to community, from violence to reverence?

When the steering committee of the Fast began discussing this, our first response was the conventional one in American society –- a press conference.

But then we recalled that there are ancient traditions for making the announcement of such a religious act itself a religious act. In the Talmud, for example, there is described a way of Calling a Communal Fast in Time of Calamity. (The calamity might be a drought, a famine, a war.)

What Makes Food Sacred? Congregational Resources for the Abrahamic Traditions

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 08:52:50 -0400

Developed by the Multireligious Project on Sacred Foods
Sponsored by ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal

Table of Contents page

PART ONE: THEOLOGICAL OVERVIEWS 2

PART TWO: SERMON TALKING POINTS AND ANALYSES OF SPECIFIC ISSUES 28

PART THREE: SACRED FOOD AND THE
HOLY CALENDAR 36

PART FOUR: IN DEPTH ANALYSIS 59

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF WHAT MAKES FOOD SACRED
A study in 8 Dimensions

The following is a discussion of what makes food sacred according to the three Abrahamic traditions. It is organized according to eight dimensions, some of which were mentioned in the article above. It covers a wide spectrum of issues wherein there is some disagreement. The term “dimension” is deliberately used to express the existence of a range of different views and teachings within each of the traditions. Each of the eight dimensions are drawn from four sets of sources from the classic texts of the three traditions: The Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the Christian Scriptures or New Testament, and the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Sacred Foods: Engaging the Congregation

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 08:33:31 -0400

From the Multireligious Project on Sacred Foods
Sponsored by ALEPH: Aliiance for Jewish Renewal

Engaging the Congregation

How can your congregation practice what your faith teaches about food? The resources in this document can help you.

They include:

An overview of “What our Faiths Teach us About Food and Eating,” by Rev. Clare Butterfield

“A description of the New Age of Agriculture: Where We Are Now,” by Br. David Andrews, CSC

“A Vision for a Better Future,” by Shireen Pishdadi

A compilation of “Good Practices by Congregations,” by Arlin Wasserman

Sacred Foods Secular Certification

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 09:12:53 -0400

From the Multireligious Project on Sacred Foods
Sponsored by ALEPH: Aliiance for Jewish Renewal

Secular Certification Research

Introduction

One way that congregations can make positive change in the food and agricultural system is by the kinds of foods they choose for themselves and their institutions. With this in mind, the Certification Committee of the Sacred Foods Project researched food certification programs that specifically address issues encompassed by the Sacred Foods Eight Dimensions (available on our website: www.sacred-foods.org). The result is the attached report with its quick scan chart with detailed explanations below on how each program addresses the Dimensions.

TO DISCOVER THE TRUE AMERICA: Fasting on Oct. 8 to challenge the culture of Violence

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:06:12 -0400

WE CALL FOR A NATION-WIDE FAST ON OCTOBER 8
TO DISCOVER THE TRUE AMERICA;

TO MOVE FROM CONQUEST TO COMMUNITY,
FROM VIOLENCE TO REVERENCE

A Call from the Tent of Abraham, Hagar, & Sarah

America stands in great danger of becoming addicted to violence, at home and overseas.

Pervasive violence in American culture, society, and policy is expressed in mass murders like those at Columbine and Virginia Tech; in daily murders on the streets of our cities; in physical and sexual abuse in families and communities; in the obsession of our media with grotesque violence; in our government's decision to wage an unnecessary, morally abhorrent, and disastrous war; in its effort to make torture a legitimate instrument of policy; indeed, most lethal of all, in the ecocidal violence we are imposing on the earth itself.

INTERFAITH FAST TO MAKE PEACE IN IRAQ: October 8. FROM CONQUEST TO COMMUNITY, FROM VIOLENCE TO REVERENCE

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:54:05 -0400

Dear friends of all faiths and communities,

If you want to sign on to the Call for the Interfaith Fast, please write to Office@shalomctr.org and explain what religious congregation, organization, or community you are working with. PLEASE ALSO SIGN UP AND DESCRIBE THE EVENT YOU ARE PLANNING, BY CLICKING TO --

Http://www.INTERFAITHFAST.ORG

Shalom, salaam, peace –
Rabbi Arthur Waskow

FROM CONQUEST TO COMMUNITY,
FROM VIOLENCE TO REVERENCE:
AN INTERFAITH FAST on OCTOBER 8
TO END THE WAR IN IRAQ

We call on all Americans to join in fasting from dawn to dusk on Monday, October 8, to call for an end to the Iraq War. On this day, people of faith in local communities across our nation will act as catalysts to move America from conquest to community and from violence to reverence.

THE SONG OF SONGS AS A SACRED RECIPE: LOVE, "CHAROSET" & THE LIBERATION OF THE WORLD

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 07:14:51 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

We are going to approach this subject –- sacred food –- the way you approach a sacred temple: first the outskirts, where you may know the structure already, from afar; then some unexpected beauties in an anteroom; finally, an inner Mystery revealed not to your eyes but to your lips and tongue.

The inner mystery is the dish called charoset. Keep seeking till you find her!

In Jewish tradition, eating food is a sacred act – and there are a series of concentric circles in which the intensity of the attention paid to food and the sacredness felt in food increases.

Sacred Food, Sacred Festivals: The Jewish Year as a Celebration of Nourishment

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:55:27 -0500

HOW FOOD FRAMES THE FESTIVALS:
THE JEWISH PATTERN

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

The cycle of Jewish festivals has become intimately connected with specific foods, and the themes of the festivals lend themselves to focusing on specific aspects of what makes food sacred.

DAYS OF AWE: ROSH HASHANAH THROUGH YOM KIPPUR (Evening September 12, through September 22, 2007)

Rosh Hashanah is symbolically connected with eating apple slices dipped in honey. The apple evokes the round cycle of the year as it begins, and the honey hopes for its sweetness. The festival focuses on ten days (traditionally known as the Days of Awe) of tshuvah/ turning one's self in a new direction that culminate in Yom Kippur, a day of not eating or drinking at all.

Why Do We Need a Tent of Abraham?

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 07:15:06 -0500

Reopening the Tent of Abraham

Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman and Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow *

The world is falling helter-skelter down a steep incline toward a fatal cliff: an endless world war between the whole Muslim world and the West, or perhaps the United States. A war between the different families of Abraham.

Sometimes it seems we are already over the edge of the cliff, but perhaps, God willing, im yirtzeh hashem, inshallah, not quite yet. Barely.

Such a war would leave us all at constant risk of death, impoverishment for all public and many private goods, ridden and riddled with fear and rage. Write large – write "global" -- the tip of Manhattan on September 11, 2001; the city of Baghdad all of June, July, August, 2006; Qana on July 30, 2006; Kfar Giladi on August 6.