The Shalom Center - Community in Time of Emergency

What the GA Delegates in Jerusalem Won't See

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 00:34:51 -0500

Gideon Levy in Haaretz, 11/16/03, 11/17/2003

If I were a delegate to the United Jewish Communities General Assembly [the largest assemblage of US Jewish communal organizers, fundraisers, fund allocators, etc], which opens its deliberations today in Jerusalem, I would be deeply insulted - insulted by the fact that the organizers of this important assembly continue to treat me like a fool, who only has to be shown one side of Israel - the brightly lit and pretty side - and has to be kept away from its dark backyard, as if it were on fire.

I would be insulted by the fact that the organizers think that I will continue to believe that Israel is only biotechnology, kibbutzim, immigrant absorption, Yad Vashem and the Supreme Court; that the Israel Defense Forces is truly just a defensive army; that Israel is "the only democracy in the Middle East," despite years of brutal occupation; and that any criticism of the government's policies is heresy.

Building Stronger Jewish Communities as a Response to Y2K

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 16:44:55 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

From New Year 5760 to New Year 2000:

Building Stronger Jewish Communities as a Response to Y2K

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

[This precis is a summary and "overture" to a longer report on Y2K and the Jewish community, available as Shalom Report #7. See the note at the very end of this entry for information on how to receive the full report.]

FOR Y2K: WE CHOOSE TO TAKE A BREAK INSTEAD OF SUFFERING A BREAK-DOWN.

The Jewish community, like others in America and around the world, faces the possibility that early in the Year 2000, there may be disruptions of some important services as a result of the Y2K computer glitch.

A Jewish Response to Techno-Idolatry

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

From Yom Kippur to Y2K:
A Jewish Response to Techno-Idolatry

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

I: Healing Nineveh

For a moment, imagine being Jonah.

But this time, the Voice seems much more ambiguous. N

God and the Shoah

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

GOD AND THE SHOAH

I have been thinking about God & the Shoah. (This is very short-hand; I go much deeper, and with more space to evoke the emotional & spiritual agony, in *Godwrestling -- Round 2*)

First: I see t

Shabbat 2000

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Shabbat 2000
By Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

(This article is from the Rosh Hashanah 1999 issue of New Menorah, the quarterly journal of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. The journal is free to all membe

Thinking Twice / Twice About Y2K

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

THINKING TWICE/ TWICE ABOUT Y2K
by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

From January 1 till about February 1, 2000, there are four possibilities:

a. Synagogues do serious preparation, and Y2K in some areas does become a serious problem.

When Shabbat Meets Millennium

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Reb R' Yair Hillel Goelman

When Shabbat Meets Millennium
By Reb R' Yair Hillel Goelman

The issue of a Jewish response to Y2K takes on even greater urgency when we note that the day on which Y2K begins is Shabbat, the 23rd day of Tevet

Checklist to Prepare for Y2K

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 17:30:28 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Checklist to Prepare for Y2K

The Shalom Center, drawing on several existing Y2K "checklists" for preparing your household, has developed a Checklist for households, congregations, and other communal groups.

If we are to help people turn away from either denial or panic, we must turn toward concrete actions that can not only help us prepare for 2000, but help us shape the stronger communities that people yearn for. That is what the Checklist is for.

Although we hope it will be useful, we must note its shortcomings. Few people, given a piece of paper that lists a lot of work to do, will carry out that work on their own. It is working together, with friends and neighbors who stir and remind each other, that is more likely to get the work done.

Iran, Earthquakes, Israel, & Jews: What to Do?

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:54:24 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, AJWS, Israeli press, and others, 12/30/2003

Dear Folks,

Many readers responded to my sending out the announcement by the American Jewish World Service of its efforts to aid Iranian quake victims by asking my feelings and thoughts about the Iranian government's rejection of the Israeli government's offer of aid to the victims.

The answer is that I feel both anger at the Iranian government and agony on behalf of the people who were suffering and being denied even some proportion of possible aid.

Cain and Abel in Colorado

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 17:05:03 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Cain and Abel in Colorado

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

The first news reports of the Littleton Massacre did not arrive by radio or television; they can be found in the Bible, in Chapter 4 of Genesis. Cain kills Abel: the archetypal story of one child murdering another.