The Shalom Center - Oiloholic Uncle Sam & Global Scorching

Blessing the Sun: Looking Forward: April 8, 2009

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:27:43 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Early in the morning of April 8, 2009, Jewish communities will have a teaching opportunity that comes only once every 28 years: the festival of Birchat HaChamah, the Blessing of the Sun.

In ancient rabbinic tradition, it commemorates the moment when God created the sun in the first place. In modern practice, it fits well into today's crisis of global "scorching" and the search for sun-based sources of sustainable and renewable energy. So spiritual communities other than Judaism might well join in blessing the sun on that day -- and during the months before and after.

Blessing the sun: looking backward: April 8, 1981

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:39:27 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

Early in the morning of April 8, 1981, I gathered with several hundred other people at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC, to watch the sun rise and to bless it in what is surely the rarest and perhaps the oddest of all Jewish ceremonies -- Birchat HaChamah, the Blessing of the Sun, that comes only once every 28 years. It commemorates, according to ancient tradition, the moment when God created the sun in the first place.

And the moment will come again less than a year from now, on April 8, 2009. (The morning of the day before the first night of Passover.)

The Green Menorah Covenant

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:50:10 -0400

What is a "Green Menorah"?

The Green Menorah is the symbol of a covenant among Jewish communities and congregations to renew the miracle of Hanukkah in our own generation: Using one day's oil to meet eight days' needs. By 2020, cutting US oil consumption by seven-eighths.

HEALING THE EARTH: THE GREEN MENORAH COVENANT

The Green Menorah is the symbol of a covenant among Jewish communities and congregations to renew the miracle of Hanukkah in our own generation: Using one day's oil to meet eight days' needs: doing our part so that by 2020, US oil consumption is cut by seven-eighths.

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

JEWS CHALLENGE ENVIRONMENTAL "PROTECTION" AGENCY WITH TREES FOR LIFE

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:06:18 -0500

Report by: Rabbi Jeff Sultar, director
Green Menorah Campaign of The Shalom Center
215/438-2983

In response to The Shalom Center's call for the Environmental Protection Agency to live up to its middle name, Jewish groups brought living trees to regional EPA offices in New York City and Philadelphia on January 21, the trees' Rebirthing Day in Jewish tradition.

(You can use and modify the model letters at the end of this post to join in the protest.)

The protest was well covered by the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. For article and photoi, see --
http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/15130/

Al Gore, the Presidency, & Grass-roots Change

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:50:57 -0400

Gore's moral obligation
Why Al Gore isn't running for president

This guest essay comes from Mark Hertsgaard, a fellow of The Nation Institute and author of five books that have been translated into 16 languages. His next book is called Living Through the Storm: Surviving Our Future Under Global Warming.

-----

As Hillary, Obama, and Edwards continue to slug it out in the early primary states, one name is conspicuously absent among the Democratic candidates to become the next president of the United States. Where is Al Gore? The man who received more votes than George W. Bush did in 2000, who served eight years as Bill Clinton's vice president, and whose climate change evangelism has been rewarded with an Oscar and Nobel Peace Prize has resolutely refused to enter the race, even though he might well have won it.

EPA blocks California bid to limit greenhouse gases from cars

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:06:18 -0500

San Francisco Chronicle
By Zachary Coile, Bob Egelko,Matthew Yi

The Bush administration blocked efforts by California and 16 other states Wednesday to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, setting up a political and legal fight over whether states can take a lead role in combatting global warming.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected California's request for a waiver from the federal government to impose its tough tailpipe emissions standards. The other states were poised to adopt similar rules if California's request was granted.

The states represent nearly half the U.S. population, and their laws would effectively require automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, despite President Bush's rejection of mandatory national standards.

The Prophetic Green Menorah

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:52:50 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

On Shabbat Hanukkah, we read the passage from the Prophet Zechariah that envisions the future Great Menorah, taking its sacred place in a rebuilt Holy Temple after the Babylonian Captivity. (We read the same Haftarah for Shabbat Behaalotekha.)

Zechariah, in visionary, prophetic style, goes beyond the Torah's description of the original Menorah (literally, a Light-bearer). That Menorah was planned as part of the portable Shrine, the Mishkan, in the Wilderness.

First Zechariah describes the Menorah of the future that he sees: "All of gold, with a bowl on its top, seven lamps, and seven pipes leading to the seven lamps." It sounds like the original bearer of the sacred Light. But then he adds a new detail: "By it are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and one on the left." (4: 2-3)

GOD SAID TO NOAH: An Old/ New Song to Avert a New Flood

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:15:27 -0500

GOD SAID TO NOAH*

Melody and some words, traditional; remainder by Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

God said to Noah, The earth's getting hotter, hotter,
God said to Noah, The earth's getting hotter, hotter,
Yet she is My (clap) beloved daughter, daughter -
Children of the Lord.

CHORUS: Rise and shine and give God the glory glory
Rise and shine and give God the glory glory
Rise and shine and (clap!) give God the glory glory
Children of the Lord!

People are making My air too smoky, smoky
People are making My air too smoky, smoky

HANUKKAH, BALI, & CLIMATE CRISIS: BECAUSE THE EARTH IS HOLY

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:59:10 -0500

BECAUSE THE EARTH IS HOLY

[This statement has been signed by a variety of religious leaders and activists, including Rabbis Arthur Waskow & Jeff Sultar of The Shalom Center]

From December 3 to 14, 2007 international representatives and heads of state will meet in Bali, Indonesia to address the historic challenge of setting new parameters on human activity in preparation for the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. Their mandate will be to lay the groundwork for a new treaty to limit and prevent further unbridled greenhouse gas emissions into the planet’s atmosphere in order to prevent the unimaginable becoming the inevitable. People of good will in over 50 countries will be actively supporting the UN conference, especially on December 8.

Strengthening the Lieberman-Warner Bill on Climate Crisis: A Detailed Analysis

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:17:11 -0500

November 7, 2007

To: Members of the Committee on Environment and Public Works and Subcommittee on Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection

We are writing you to express our concerns about Senate Bill 2191, "America's Climate Security Act of 2007," introduced by Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.). The legislation falls short of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the amount current science says is needed to avoid dangerous global warming. In addition, the bill as it is currently written is likely to give away hundreds of billions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars in windfall profits to polluters, undermining the emissions reduction system it seeks to construct. Finally, the trading allowed in the bill could force poor communities, communities of color and indigenous peoples to absorb the direct costs of emissions reductions while seeing none of the benefits nor a swift change to a renewable, carbon-free energy mix.

Hanukkah, Oil, & the Green Menorah: Talking Points for Sermons and Op-Ed Pieces

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:18:24 -0500

By Rabbi Jeff Sultar & The Shalom Center's Green Menorah Covenant Campaign
(215) 438-2983 Greenmenorah@shalomctr.org

During Hanukkah, we celebrate the use of one day’s worth of oil to meet 8 days’ needs. Hanukkah can be seen, then, as the festival that has the most to teach and inspire us about energy use.

And it couldn’t come at a better time:

• We are living in the beginning stages of a global climate crisis caused by human activity.
• Senators Joseph Lieberman and John Warner are right now putting forth a bill, the “America’s Climate Security Act,” which is the first piece of legislation with the realistic potential to begin addressing the global climate crisis, though it also needs to be strengthened.

Burma, Big Oil, Burning earth & Bush

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:45:41 -0400

Dear Friends,

Petitions to the Myanmar/ Burma military government are sweeping the Internet - and will make no difference whatsoever. But there IS a way to make a difference: letters to the US government.

The US press has focused on how China's and India's involvements make pressuring Myanmar's govt difficult. But how much have you seen about the involvement of Chevron, a US oil company that bought Unocal and its stake in Burma?

Reports the Associated Press (but have you seen this in your own newspaper?),

"Despite economic sanctions against Myanmar by the United States and the European Union, Total continues to operate the Yadana gas field, and Chevron Corp. has a 28 percent stake through its takeover of Unocal. Existing investments were exempt from the investment ban.

GROWING THE GREEN MENORAH: Report on Shalom Center meeting of June 18, 2007

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:53:52 -0400

Report from Rabbi Arthur Waskow. See below for background and fuller exploration of an extraordinarily rich meeting on energy policy and the danger of global scorching/ climate crisis held by The Shalom Center on June 18, 2007. Out of this meeting came a new approach to personal & policy change. -- the Green Menorah Covenant Coalition.

The report follows this outline:

· List of participants.

· Waskow's introduction and statement of our intentions.

· Socolow & Komanoff presentations, with guides to their Websites and with some notes on discussions directly connected to their talks.

Blessing the Sun, April 8, 2009

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:32:46 -0500

On April 8, 2009, the 28-year cycle of the Jewish ceremony of Blessing the Sun will come 'round again. Below you will find the essay on the celebration on April 8, 1981, of this extraordinary event -- one of the least-known but most joyful of Jewish ceremonies -- from my book SEASONS OF OUR JOY (Beacon Press). Let us begin to plan for 2009. -- Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Today [April 8, 1981] , as I complete this book, is perhaps the strangest of all the seasons of our joy for it will not come again for twenty eight years. It is the day of the Blessing of the Sun Birchat Ha Chamah.

On that day, according to the Talmud, the sun returns to where it was in the Heavens on the fourth day of Creation, That was when God set the sun and the moon to "serve as signs for the seasons." (Gen. 1:14). So today it is in a sense the season of the seasons, the cycle of the birth of all our cycles.