The Shalom Center - Globalization and Economic Justice

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

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:13:35 -0400

On Sunday, November 23, at Central Synagogue in New York City, The Shalom Center 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

and

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/602/t/7445/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=3826

to register for November 23
And/ or contribute to its success.

And please send this invitation to your friends.

Speakers and workshop leaders will include Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center in Washington, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, Rabbi Peter Knobel, president of the Reform rabbinical association, former Congresswoman Liz 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.)

Flashes of Light from the unkosher dark of Postville, Iowa

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:02:29 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Most of the time, as a society we walk in darkness, wounded by walking blindly into an economic barbed-wire fence here, an environmental open manhole there. Once a generation - if we are lucky, once a decade -- there is a flash of lightning in the dark that lights up the truth of our country's politics.

For some of us, Katrina was such a flash of lightning. And now, for some of us, an allegedly kosher meatpacking plant oddly located, far from Jews, in Postville, Iowa.

Even in the dark, there is usually some prophetic voice warning of oncoming damage.

In this case, prophetic calls to apply "eco-kosher" and "ethical kosher" standards not only to food but also to such consumables as coal, oil, plastics went back to the work of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in the mid-'70s and my own book Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex and the Rest of Life in the mid-'90s.

Toward a Jubilee Economy & Ecology in the Modern World

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:38:58 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

[This essay is a chapter in Rabbi Waskow's book Godwrestling -- Round 2 (Jewish Lights, 1996). The book is available as a free gift from The Shalom Center, personally inscribed by Rabbi Waskow as you choose, if you use the Donate Now button on the right to make a tax-deductible contribution of $180 or more.

[At the end of this essay you will find citations on teachings from the Hebrew Bible & related materials toward a Jubilee Economics and Ecologics.]::

One lesson that we have discerned from studying the story of the Flood [see a previous chapter from Godwrestling -- Round 2] is that it is profoundly necessary for us to affirm and celebrate the cycles of life if we wish to preserve the cycles of life. Are those cycles now in danger? And if so, how can we affirm them?

Passover of the Nations: Haggadot to Heal the World

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:44:03 -0400

The 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.)

American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:08:20 -0400

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
New York Times: July 6, 2008

JUST three years ago, with oil trading at a seemingly frothy $66 a barrel, David J. O’Reilly made what many experts considered a risky bet. Outmaneuvering Chinese bidders and ignoring critics who said he overpaid, Mr. O’Reilly, the chief executive of Chevron, forked over $18 billion to buy Unocal, a giant whose riches date back to oil fields made famous in the film “There Will Be Blood.”

For Chevron, the deal proved to be a movie-worthy gusher, helping its profits to soar. And while he has warned about tightening energy supplies for years and looks prescient for buying Unocal, even Mr. O’Reilly says that he still can’t get his head around current oil prices, which closed above $145 a barrel on Thursday, a record.

WHAT MAKES FOOD SACRED? A STUDY IN EIGHT DIMENSIONS

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 15:29:00 -0400

WHAT MAKES FOOD SACRED?
A STUDY IN EIGHT DIMENSIONS

A report for the Sacred Food Project of
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal

Under grants from the Kellogg Foundation
and the Schocken Foundation

Conference on Sacred Food, June 7- 8, 2006
At Garrison Institute

Debra Kolodny, Executive Director, ALEPH
Arlin Wasserman, Project Director
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Editor

Advisory Council of the Sacred Food Project *

Rev. Clare Butterfield, Director, Faith in Place, interfaith environmental ministry in Chicago; Unitarian Universalist community minister.

Shireen Pishdadi, Faith in Place, Chicago

Shalom Ctr Honors Cindy Sheehan & 3 Others as 'Prophetic Voices'

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:11:01 -0400

SHALOM CENTER HONORS CINDY SHEEHAN
& 3 PHILADELPHIANS AS "PROPHETIC VOICES"

More than 250 people joined with The Shalom Center Sunday, February 5, at a Philadelphia synagogue to honor the prophetic voices of Cindy Sheehan and three Philadelphia activists.

The event was covered with long news stories and photos by both Philadelphia daily newspapers and by three TV stations.

Eight rabbis, two cantors, and three choirs from various congregations took part in the event, which was held at the Reconstructionist synagogue Mishkan Shalom.

"We are members of the human race first and we are Americans second," Sheehan said during the ceremony. "We are members of the human race first and Jews second, Muslims second, Christians second, Iraqis second, Israelis second, Palestinians second. Our love of our fellow human beings does not stop at the border."

JOYFUL PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE – WAY PAST CARNEGIE HALL

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:15:25 -0400

Dear Friends (from Rabbi Arthur Waskow),

A visitor, poring with a puzzled face over an arcane map, stops a New Yorker on the street: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

Says the world-weary New Yorker: "Practice, practice, practice!"

How do you heal a riven heart, a broken soul? Everyone who has explored the spiritual path knows: "Practice, practice, practice!" (Daily meditation, perhaps. Or putting on t'fillin. Or speaking, shouting, to God in the open fields, like the Bratzlaver Rebbe. Or fasting for Ramadan. -- .)

And how to heal the wounded world? – Ahhh, there we are less likely to answer: "Practice, practice, practice!"

The National Guard: At Home or in Iraq (when Katrina came)?

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:39:47 -0500

Pete Yost, Will Bunch, Sidney Blumenthal 08/31/2005

1. OVERSEAS DEPLOYMENTS HINDER GUARD HURRICANE PRESENCE
By Pete Yost

Associated Press (from Army Times)
August 31, 2005

Some 6,000 National Guard personnel in Louisiana and Mississippi who would be available to help deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are in Iraq, highlighting the changing role of Americas part-time soldiers.

What if the Bible's Ruth came to America today?

Thu, 09 Jun 2005 01:00:00 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 6/9/2005

In the biblical story, Ruth was welcomed onto the fields of Boaz, where she gleaned what the regular harvesters had left behind. Boaz made sure that even this despised foreigner had a decent job at decent pay. When she

Jewish activists get together to launch coalition for social justice

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 01:00:00 -0400

Sue Fishkoff / JTA.org, 4/18/2005

This article is from JTA News

PACIFIC GROVE, Calif., April 17 (JTA) More than 250 Jewis

Judaism & the Living Wage

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 12:14:10 -0500

Deb Kolodny, 3/24/2005

Speech for National Jewish Fast for Peace and Justice (Delivered at the national rally at the Capitol in July 2000, and reprinted in www.socialaction.com)

It is indeed an honor to be speaking at this very special gathering. As a Jew here among Jews, I am particularly pleased to be here during the Fast of Tammuz, because discussing the need to pass a Federal Living Wage Bill on a day of mourning and on a day of abstaining from physical sustenance feel profoundly compelling to me.

Taking the Offensive on Wealth

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:19:12 -0500

Gar Alperovitz, 2/9/2005

The Nation - February 21, 2005 issue
Posted February 3, 2005

[This article draws upon Gar Alperovitz's recently published America Beyond Capitalism (Wiley).]

It's time for progressives to launch a comprehensive challenge to America's extreme concentration of income and wealth. This is not only morally and economically right; a number of developments suggest that it is also one of the areas where progressives can aggressively take the political offensive. As time goes on, the difficulties created by the Bush Administration' deficit-driven economic policies are likely to make this a winning strategy.

Without Vision the People Perish: Response to President Bush's Proposed Federal Budget

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 01:00:00 -0500

Jim Wallis, Convener of Call to Renewal, 2/9/2005

February 7, 2005

The biblical prophets frequently spoke to rulers and kings. They spoke to the nations, and it is the powerful that are most often the target audience; those in charge of things are

Information Warfare in Miami

Wed, 03 Dec 2003 01:00:00 -0500

Ilyse Hogue and Patrick Reinsborough, 12/3/2003

AlterNet December 1, 2003

On Wednesday, Nov. 26, labor leaders stood up at a press conference with environmental and global justice activists and blasted the Miami police force for using repres