Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace
PASSOVER OF PEACE: A New Seder of the Children of Abraham, Hagar, & Sarah
Israeli-Palestinian Collision | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | PesachBy Elana Levy and Carole Resnick for Syracuse Jews for Peace (April, 2009)
The material in this hagada is in part taken from the hagada by this name, written by Rabbi Arthur Waskow. Material from many other sources has also been included.
SEDER PLATE
A traditional seder plate includes five items:
- zeroa, a roasted shank bone representing the Paschal lamb, the holiday offering
made in Temple days (vegetarians today often use a roasted beet for its bloodred
color, or a roasted sweet potato for the pun of calling it the Paschal Yam;)
- beitzah, a roasted egg (with various symbolism; many see it as a symbol of
The Sukkah & the World Trade Center
Addressing Global Terrorism | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Eleven Days in September | SukkotBy Rabbi Arthur Waskow*
(Written on Sept.12, 2001).
When the Jewish community celebrates the harvest festival, we build "sukkot."
What is a "sukkah"? Just a fragile hut with a leafy roof, the most vulnerable of houses. Vulnerable in time, where it lasts for only a week each year. Vulnerable in space, where its roof must be not only leafy but leaky -- letting in the starlight, and gusts of wind and rain.
In the evening prayers, we plead with God -- "Ufros alenu sukkat shlomekha" -- "Spread over all of us Your sukkah of shalom."
Why a sukkah?-- Why does the prayer plead to God for a "sukkah of shalom" rather than God's "tent" or "house" or "palace" of peace?
Passover of the Nations: Haggadot to Heal the World
GREEN MENORAH COVENANT (on climate crisis) | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Globalization and Economic Justice | PesachThe Exodus from Pharaoh's tyranny, the Passover Seder that recalls it, and the Haggadah ("Telling") that guides the Seder are at the heart of Judaism and Jewish peoplehood. So it is not surprising that efforts to renew Judaism have, beginning in 1969, created a number of new Passover Seder rituals that are deliberately focused on healing some aspect of the wounded world.
Some remain available for those who are seeking to shape their own Haggadot and want to draw on them. (This not only includes Jews with a creative outlook on their own tradition, but increasing numbers of people from other spiritual paths who find some wisdom and empowerment in the Seder.)
From Passover into the Next Step: PHARAOH OR FREEDOM IN AMERICA?
Iraq-US War | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Pesachby Rabbi Arthur Waskow *
Passover invites us to remember the past and reflect upon the present. After Passsover, how do we start walking our way into the future?
Four traditional questions are recited at the Passover Seder. But the real first question is this:
"Is Pharaoh our god, or is the Breath of Life?"
From Rabbi Jesus leading a march of palm-bearing Jews against the Roman Empire, where and when people had gathered to recall and celebrate the overthrow of an ancient despot ("Palm Sunday," in the Empire's provincial capital, Jerusalem, just before Passover time) ---
Forward to Fannie Lou Hamer of Mississippi chanting Black American freedom songs like "Go Down, Moses" --
"Bo": Facing the Plagues & Pharaohs of Today
15. BO | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Nonviolence & Violence in Judaism | PesachBy Rabbi Arthur Waskow*
The first three Torah readings from the Book of Exodus challenge us to transform our understanding of oppression and liberation, and apply their archetypal wisdom to our own lives today. I have commented on the first two passages from that perspective; now I want to take up the third..
Meanwhile, on Martin Luther King Day 2009, the day before the Inauguration of President Obama, I was able to go even deeper into the meaning of that tale of liberation through voice and physical presence than I can go by electrons and Email. So I hope you will see and hear a video of the talk I gave at the "Rebirthing King, Rebirthing America" event in Washington. Look at --
FREEDOM SEDER FOR THE EARTH: 40th Anniversary!
GREEN MENORAH COVENANT (on climate crisis) | 25. TZAV | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Environmental Justice | Globalization and Economic Justice | Interreligious Relations | Justice and Race | Oiloholic Uncle Sam & Global Scorching | Pesach | Spirituality of JusticeThe Shalom Center is creating a 40th Anniversary New Interfaith Freedom Seder for the Earth to help us free ourselves from the greatest dangers of our time: What are the Ten Plagues endangering the earth and human life today, and what are the Ten Blessings we ourselves can bring to heal the earth and our own societies?
If you want to take part in a flagship Seder for the Earth in Washington, DC, on March 29, 2009, it is necessary to register by clicking on the Freedom Seder logo on the top right margin of this page. If you want to hold a New Freedom Seder in your own community, please write Rabbi Arthur Waskow at Awaskow@shalomctr.org
Burning & Yearning: Hiroshima and the Ancient Holy Temples
Addressing global militarism & world empire | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Oiloholic Uncle Sam & Global Scorching | Tisha B'AvDear friends,
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.
Whom do we mourn? -- Israelis, Palestinians, Iraqis, Americans?
Israeli-Palestinian Collision | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | War, Peace, & the Jewish Community | Festival SpiralBy Rabbi Arthur Waskow *
The day before Israelis celebrate the 60th anniversary of independence, they will pause for "Yom HaZikaron” (Day of Remembrance) to mourn those Israelis killed in various wars with the various Arab states and the Palestinian people over the last two generations.
In 2008, especially as we observe this 60th anniversary, we may need to rethink whom we should mourn –- especially since recently, there has been a concerted effort to persuade American Jews to publicly mourn the deaths of Israeli civilians killed in attacks by Palestinians. That effort intensified with the deaths of eight students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in March, 2008.
MOURNERS' KADDISH IN TIME OF WAR & VIOLENCE
Peace | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Nonviolence & Violence in Judaism | Peace of Abraham, Hagar, & Sarah: Sacred Seasons, Fall 2006-07 | War, Peace, & the Jewish Community | Death and Mourning======================================
MOURNERS' KADDISH IN TIME OF WAR
[Jews use the Kaddish to mourn the dead, though it has in it only one word -- "nechamata, consolations" – which hints at mourning. (And this word itself is used in a puzzling way, once we look at it with care. As we will see below, it may be especially appropriate in time of war.)
[The interpretive English translation below may also be appropriate for prayers of mourning and hope in wartime by other spiritual and religious communities.
[In this version, changes in the traditional last line of the Hebrew text specifically include not only peace for the people Israel (as in the traditional version) but also for the children of Abraham and Hagar through Ishmael (Arabs and Muslims) and for all who dwell on this planet.
Hanukkah for grown-Ups -- and for everyone
Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Earth | HanukkahRabbi Arthur Waskow, 11/24/2004
Dear Friends,
The spiritual and political meaning of Hanukkah is so profound that although its teachings come in a uniquely Jewish form and metaphor, I would welcome everyone who is committed to peace, justice, and the healing of the earth to try the spiritual discipline of the candle-lighting described below.
Hanukkah begins the night of Tuesday, December 7, with the lighting of one candle that is considered not to count - it is lit in order to light the other candles - and then by the lighting of one single candle for the first night, as there will be two on the second night, and on so on up to eight.
