]> http://www.shalomctr.org/taxonomy/term/99/all en http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1457 <p>By Arlene Goldbard &#038; Rabbi Arthur Waskow<br /> [Goldbard is a writer and expert on cultural change and is chair of the Board of the Shalom Center; Waskow is its Executive Director.]</p> <p><strong>In every generation, Pharaoh;<br /> In every generation, Freedom</strong></p> <p>INTRODUCTION</p> <p>The Shalom Center will hold a Fortieth Anniversary Interfaith Freedom Seder on March 29, 2009, ten days before Passover, two weeks before Easter, and less than a week before the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's death, infusing each of these events with new energy and depth. </p> <p>A flagship Seder in Washington, DC, will draw national attention to the project, highlighting the many local Fortieth Anniversary Freedom Seders held simultaneously in communities around the U.S., uniting people of all faiths and races who love justice in a common dedication to equality, to a fair and humane economy and to peace.</p> Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:16:41 -0500 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1455 <p>By Rabbi Arthur Waskow</p> <p>Hard-headed Bankers or Masters of Disaster?<br /> Sacred Economics -- Is it Silly?<br /> Hard-headed Economics -- Is it Breaking our Heads?</p> <p>If you listen to the hard-headed people who presumably keep us prosperous, Biblical and Quranic economics are, of course, quaint and unrealistic. They're based on romantic ideas about benefiting the poor, the landless, the outcast. Good for motivating open-hearted charity; bad for making hard-headed decisions necessary to run a successful economy.</p> <p>Right. Which is why the hard-headed folks have created a crazy economic yo-yo skidding on the edge of massive disaster, in which the worst-hit will of course not be the Wall Street / Washington power-houses but the rest of us.</p> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:38:18 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1396 <p>By Rabbi Arthur Waskow</p> <p>[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.</p> <p>[At the end of this essay you will find citations on teachings from the Hebrew Bible &#038; related materials toward a Jubilee Economics and Ecologics.]:: </p> <p> 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?</p> Mon, 12 May 2008 12:38:58 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1379 <p>By Rabbi Arthur Waskow</p> <p>When you live in a country that for a week has been transfixed by the furious denunciations of America by Pastor Jeremiah Wright and furious denunciations of Pastor Jeremiah by much of America --</p> <p>-- it is startling to read the original Jeremiah -- especially when his own furious denunciations of his own country are emblazoned for the special sacred Prophetic reading the same week. </p> <p>(In Jewish tradition, on each Shabbat is read a portion of the Torah [the "Five Books of Moses"] and a Prophetic passage chosen long ago by the rabbis to underline or sometimes confront the message of the Torah portion.)</p> Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:16:57 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/525 <p>Rabbi Arthur Waskow </p> <p>Twice in the Torah portion of "Acharei mot" we are told, "You shall not lie with a man as in lying with a woman." (Lev. 18: 22 and 20: 13). Today this has become perhaps the world's most contentious Torah teaching, far beyond the Jewish people. </p> <p>Some have argued it prohibits all male-male sexuality. Others have argued that the verse must mean something else, for this "lying with" seems anatomically impossible. Is it only about casual or ritual homosexuality, not committed relationships? How did some of the greatest rabbis of the "Golden Age" in Spain write glowing erotic poems about male-male sex? </p> Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:46:07 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1383 <p>By Rabbi Phyllis Berman</p> <p>The traditional synagogue reading from the Torah for Shabbat Shemini includes the passage in which two sons of the High Priest, Aaron, bring "strange fire" as an offering to God, and are consumed in an instant as if they had become the burnt offering. (Lev. 10)</p> <p>Though most traditional commentators focus on what Nadav and Abihu did "wrong" in offering "strange fire" that caused them to be consumed, I go in a completely different direction.</p> <p>I think about "strange", that which is unfamiliar or unknown, like a "stranger" or an idea before it's become popular. I think about how innovators -- in science, in spirituality, in music and art, in loving -- are ahead of their time, inspired by and absorbed by that which most others might consider "strange". I think about how, especially when one is creative, one can become totally consumed by the creative process.</p> Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:46:26 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/858 <p>Rabbi Phyllis Berman *, 4/6/2005</p> <p>As we read from Parashat Tazri'a, we confront some of the most difficult concepts in Torah. For many years I felt horrified, offended, every single time we came across the words tah'hor and tahmay. In too many Englis</p> Wed, 06 Apr 2005 01:00:00 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/838 <p>Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 3/15/2005</p> <p>We enter Leviticus, the book that describes how food becomes the crucial connection between the Israelites and God.</p> <p>We often hear the words "sacrifical cult" used to describe the process of offerings to God in a Shrin</p> Tue, 15 Mar 2005 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/839 <p>Rabbi Arthur Waskow *, 3/15/2005</p> <p>When the Rabbis chose what haftarah &#8212; what Prophetic passage &#8212; to assign for synagogue reading on the Shabbat when the community begins its reading of Leviticus, the book of priestly offerings, they chose</p> Tue, 15 Mar 2005 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/764 <p>Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 1/2/2005</p> <p>The Torah says (Lev 26: 33-35 and 43-44) that if we do not follow the pattern of seventh-year rest that is commanded in Leviticus 25, the earth will rest anyway &#8212; thru famine, drought, exile. And Second Chronicles</p> Sun, 02 Jan 2005 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/272 <p>Rabbi Arthur Waskow<br /> <B><P ALIGN=CENTER>Fires to Consume, Fires to Enlighten: Sh'mini<br /> </B><P ALIGN=CENTER>By <A HREF="#author">Rabbi Arthur Waskow*</A></p> <p>It reads, to modern eyes, like a cookbook. The Torah portion of Sh'mini begin</p> Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/31 <p>Tirzah Firestone<br /> <H2>The "Metsorah" Question:<br /> Dying and Flying</H2>By <a href="#author"><b>Tirzah Firestone</b></a></p> <p>Every year, we have to look at this issue of what is m'tsorah. It's so much nicer to read other parshiyot, but m'tsorah is such a c</p> Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/874 <p>Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 5/1/2005</p> <p>The scheduled Torah readings for the portion called Emor include one of the Torah's recitations of the festival cycle of the year (Leviticus 23).</p> <p>Two elements of this recitation make clear how the festivals have been t</p> Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400 http://www.shalomctr.org/node/295 <p>Rabbi Arthur Waskow</p> <p><B>Shmitah &amp; Jubilee<br /> </B><br /> Is it irresponsible for a society to insist that land is returned the original land-holder, even if they had lost it through laziness and lack of care? What kind of society would insist that moneylen</p> Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400