The Shalom Center - Addressing global militarism & world empire

Elections, Kings, Wars, & Justice

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:38:59 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

As the American people faces up to the challenges of the extraordinary Presidential and Congressional election of 2008, this week's Torah portion (Shoftim) offers some profound and precise standards for deciding what to do.

This election is only slightly extraordinary because a woman and a Black person are on the national tickets. Much more extraordinary are the profound issues of centralized power and democratic process that we face.

First off, the Torah portion asserts (Deut.16: 20), "Justice, justice shall you pursue. " Why "justice" twice? To remind us that "Just results can only be achieved by just means." Even the pursuit by any political party or candidate of goals they fervently affirm are "just" cannot be done by suppressing voter turnout or by assassinating the characters of their opponents.

NOV 23: Jews Uniting to End the War & Heal America: Organizing for Action

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:14:12 -0500

On Sunday, November 23, at Central Synagogue in New York City, The Shalom Center, Jewish Currents, and Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring invite YOU to take part in a one-day action gathering: Jews Uniting to End the War & Heal America: Organizing for Action.

Please go to -

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/602/t/7445/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=3732

to register for November 23 and/ or contribute to its success, even if you are too far away to come.

And please send this invitation to your friends.

Speakers and workshop leaders will include Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center in Washington, Rabbi Peter Knobel, president of the Reform rabbinical association, former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, Sammie Moshenberg of the National Council of Jewish Women, Leslie Cagan of United for Peace and Justice, Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street --- - and many other luminaries of the newest and oldest generations of activist Jews. (See the day's schedule, below.)

Conjoining MLK & Inauguration Day: Relearning Heschel, Rebirthing King, Re-Inaugurating America, Jan. 14, 19, 20, 2009

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:30:43 -0500

(Rabbi Arthur Waskow for The Tent of Abraham, Hagar, & Sarah)

Relearning Heschel, Rebirthing King, Re-Inaugurating America:
Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Day
As a new government takes office,
January 19-20, 2009>

As Barack Obama becomes President and a new Congress takes office in January 2009, there is a remarkable opportunity to bring together large sections of American society to reflect on our history and our future. The opportunity is strengthened by the fact that the day before Inauguration day (Tuesday, January 20) is Martin Luther King's Birthday. And January 14 is the yohrzeit (death-anniversary) of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Dr. King's close friend and ally.

Burning and Yearning: Hiroshima & the Ancient Holy Temples

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:55:09 -0400

Each hot mid-summer, we see again how Jewish theology and practice is one (not the only) microcosm for universal experience.

In this case, it is our sorrow for our burning earth, for our own hearts burning with acts of personal and social self-destruction -- and our yearning for new hope and transformation. (See two litanies of sorrow and yearning, below.)

In mid-summer, when scorching winds heated by the Arabian desert sweep across what today are Jordan, Palestine, and Israel, Jewish tradition observes a day of sorrow for the Destruction –- the burning -- of both ancient Holy Temples in Jerusalem, first by the Babylonian and then by the Roman Empire.

The Spirituality of the Future by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Fri, 09 May 2008 04:34:34 -0400

Toward a New and Kerygmatic Credo
Zalman M. Schachter Shalomi

Chair of World Wisdom;
The Naropa Institute
Boulder CO.

This essay is a plea for research into the spirituality of the future and invitation for collaboration to bring this about.

Much of my perspective is based on my devotion to the Ribbono shel Olam, the divine Life-Spirit of Gaia. I come from a deeply spiritual Jewish formation in which the values of Tikkun Olam (Healing the planet) and the biblical command of Bal Tash’hit (not to destroy any natural resources) are an essential and constant feature.

In some ways I am on one foot, one of the last Mohicans of pre-holocaust Jewish mysticism and on the other foot I stand on concern with our future. Not only the future of our Jewish people and the continuity of its tradition and lineage but with the global future, our survival as humans on their way to the Great and divinizing metamorphosis.

ISRAELI STRATEGY AFTER THE RUSSO-GEORGIAN WAR

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:54:03 -0400

By George Friedman
Friedman is the founder of Stratfor, an organization for analysis of world strategic relationships.
September 8, 2008

The Russo-Georgian war continues to resonate, and it is time to expand our
view of it. The primary players in Georgia, apart from the Georgians,
were the Russians and Americans. On the margins were the Europeans,
providing advice and admonitions but carrying little weight. Another
player, carrying out a murkier role, was Israel. Israeli advisers were
present in Georgia alongside American advisers, and Israeli businessmen
were doing business there. The Israelis had a degree of influence but

ISRAEL & EGYPT deny asylum to at least 91 fleeing Darfur, etc., in sub-Saharan Africa

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:12:56 -0400

[This urgent report by Amnesty International was circulated by Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel. Please note that the Israeli government is refusing to allow refugees from Darfur and other African countries where they are being oppressed to get any due process for review of their pleas for asylum in Israel. American Jewish groups that have close connections with the Israeli government and that claim to be opposing genocidal attacks in Darfur might want to take action on this matter. For action possibilities, see the end of the report. -- ED. NOTE by Rabbi Arthur Waskow.]

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

“A Prophet for Such a Time as This”: A Sermon on Habakkuk

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:36:14 -0400

By Michael Kinnamon
General Secretary
National Council of Churches of Christ
A sermon at Riverside Church
June 1, 2008

How many of you have heard a sermon recently on Habakkuk? How many can find it quickly in the Bible?! (It is right after Nahum and right before Zephaniah. That help?) There are several familiar verses in this short book, including “The righteous shall live by faith,” which Paul quotes in Romans 1, and my grandmother’s favorite verse of scripture (which some of you can probably say with me): “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” But Habakkuk hardly appears in the Common Lectionary , and is unknown territory, I suspect, for most Christians.

Burning & Yearning: Hiroshima and the Ancient Holy Temples

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:28:33 -0400

Dear friends,

Each hot mid-summer, we see again how Jewish theology and practice is one (not the only) microcosm for universal experience.

In mid-summer, when scorching winds heated by the Arabian desert sweep across what today are Jordan, Palestine, and Israel, Jewish tradition observes a day of sorrow for the Destruction -- the burning -- of both ancient Holy Temples in Jerusalem, first by the Babylonian and then by the Roman Empire.

Oil, War & the Military

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:02:42 -0400

Garrisoning the Global Gas Station Challenging the
Militarization of U.S. Energy Policy

By Michael T. Klare

American policymakers have long viewed the protection
of overseas oil supplies as an essential matter of
"national security," requiring the threat of -- and
sometimes the use of -- military force. This is now an
unquestioned part of American foreign policy.

On this basis, the first Bush administration fought a
war against Iraq in 1990-1991 and the second Bush
administration invaded Iraq in 2003. With global oil
prices soaring and oil reserves expected to dwindle in
the years ahead, military force is sure to be seen by

Revered New Jersey Imam, Facing Deportation, Has Interfaith Support

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:25:05 -0400

By NY Times & Rabbi David Senter

[Rabbi Senter's comments on this case come after the NYT article.] ]

By TINA KELLEY and ELIZABETH DWOSKIN
New York Times April 24, 2008

PATERSON, N.J. — For a dozen years, Mohammad Qatanani has supported the members of the Islamic Center of Passaic County by speaking at funerals, hashing out ethical dilemmas and sometimes opening his home to domestic-violence victims at a moment’s notice.

Mohammad Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, faces possible deportation in a dispute over his application for permanent residency.

But now Dr. Qatanani, 44, the imam of the mosque here, requires the support of the members: he has been barred by federal immigration authorities from renewing his driver’s license, and must call on friends to ferry him to hospitals for visits with the sick among his flock. There are fund-raisers for him at the mosque. And after Friday prayers, the hugs the men give him seem to last extra long.

Interfaith Witness for Peace in Iraq, March 7 in Washington DC

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:50:20 -0400

Sponsors: Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership

Communities and individuals of all faith traditions and spiritualities who are committed to ending the war in Iraq are holding an interfaith witness in Washington D.C. on Friday, March 7, 2008 to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to the sacredness of human life. The world cries out for a common voice for peace from across religious traditions and paths.

TO GET DETAILED INFORMATION AND SIGN UP FOR EVENTS, PLEASE GO TO --
http://www.olivebranchinterfaith.org

THERE WILL BE FOUR MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE MARCH 7 EVENTS:

'CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR,' THE CULTURE OF IMPERIALISM, AND THE DISTORTION OF HISTORY

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:51:20 -0400

By Jeremy Kuzmarov

History News Network
December 31, 2007

http://hnn.us/articles/45974.html

In his provocative 1993 book, *Culture and Imperialism*, Edward W. Said
examines how cultural representations in the West have historically helped
to stereotype Third World peoples as being passively reliant on foreign
aid for their social and political uplift, thus engendering support for
imperial interventions ostensibly undertaken for humanitarian purposes.

This was true, he argued, even in works critical of Western interventions,
like Joseph Conrad’s *The Heart of Darkness* and Graham Greene’s *The

Pakistan's Power Puzzle

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:54:25 -0500

BY BARNETT R. RUBIN
TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2008

The Pakistan Electoral Commission's decision to postpone the elections scheduled for January 8 because of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto could be justified on technical grounds, but few people in Pakistan will believe the decision was made on technical grounds. Under current conditions in Pakistan, which are worse that most U.S. reporting indicates, it is impossible to hold a free and fair election. But there is little indication that the government ever intended to hold a free and fair election, even when it could have.

I called a friend in Lahore this morning. The obstacles are not just that electoral materials (possibly including those prepared for rigging) were destroyed in the rioting. The country's infrastructure is under severe stress. In Lahore there are only 7 hours of electricity a day, and water pressure is also reported to be unreliable (I know those of you in Kabul may not feel their pain). Optic fiber lines were cut in Sindh, blacking out telecommunications for a while. The front page of Dawn online yields the following: There has been massive damage to the country's rail network. Fuel is in short supply, and the shortages are likely to get worse. The stock market and the currency are both crashing. Government ministers are charging "foreign elements" (i.e. India) with organizing the riots, a useful excuse for martial law.

Ten Goals for US Middle East Policy in 2008

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:53:10 -0500

By Juan Cole, professor of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on television, and testified before the United States Senate. He has published several peer-reviewed books on the modern Middle East and is a translator of both Arabic and Persian. Since 2002, he has written a weblog, Informed Comment.

His assessment follows of the ten most important steps for the US to take in policy toward the broader Middle East.

10. Helping broker a deal in Lebanon between the March 14 Movement and the Shiites so that a new president can be elected and a national unity government can be formed.