Justice

VOTING OUR VALUES
Judaism & American Life
“To be is to stand for.”
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION:
A JEWISH CALL FOR JUSTICE

Judaism & American Life
Elections offer us the opportunity to reflect upon, and
to recommit ourselves to, our core values. This Jewish
non-partisan election guide is intended as catalyst for
thought and action during the 2008 election season.

The guide includes seven topics that the Righteous
Indignation staff has identified as key election issues
based on our research and in consultation with religious
and political leaders across the country. In addition, the

By Arlene Goldbard & Rabbi Arthur Waskow
[Goldbard is a writer and expert on cultural change and is chair of the Board of the Shalom Center; Waskow is its Executive Director.]

In every generation, Pharaoh;
In every generation, Freedom

INTRODUCTION

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.

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.

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Elections always seem to be about the narrowest here and now -- fluctuating polls, personalities, and policies. And indeed they are. But some elections are about something bigger, weirder, wilder. Like this one. Suppose we try looking at this election from the perspective of God and Empire -- the great rhythms of religion and power in millennia of history.

Let us begin with just a century ago. How come the real energy-centers on our present national tickets are two passionate Christians –-- one oriented to renewal and one to restoration? Not since William Jennings Bryan ("You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!") and William McKinley ("I knelt to pray for guidance on what to do about the Philippines, and heard a voice: Annex them, educate them, Christianize them!") have we had such a choice.

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Hard-headed Bankers or Masters of Disaster?
Sacred Economics -- Is it Silly?
Hard-headed Economics -- Is it Breaking our Heads?

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.

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.

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

As the American people faces up to the challenges of the extraordinary Presidential and Congressional election of 2008, this week's Torah portion (Shoftim) offers some profound and precise standards for deciding what to do.

This election is only slightly extraordinary because a woman and a Black person are on the national tickets. Much more extraordinary are the profound issues of centralized power and democratic process that we face.

First off, the Torah portion asserts (Deut.16: 20), "Justice, justice shall you pursue. " Why "justice" twice? To remind us that "Just results can only be achieved by just means." Even the pursuit by any political party or candidate of goals they fervently affirm are "just" cannot be done by suppressing voter turnout or by assassinating the characters of their opponents.

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

And please send this invitation to your friends.

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

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.

(Rabbi Arthur Waskow for The Tent of Abraham, Hagar, & Sarah)

Relearning Heschel, Rebirthing King, Re-Inaugurating America:
Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Day
As a new government takes office,
January 19-20, 2009>

As Barack Obama becomes President and a new Congress takes office in January 2009, there is a remarkable opportunity to bring together large sections of American society to reflect on our history and our future. The opportunity is strengthened by the fact that the day before Inauguration day (Tuesday, January 20) is Martin Luther King's Birthday. And January 14 is the yohrzeit (death-anniversary) of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Dr. King's close friend and ally.

Kosher, Eco-Kosher, & Beyond:
From UnKosher Postville to a Decent Society

By Arthur Waskoiw

Dear friends,

My letter two weeks ago, called "Unkosher meat, unkosher politics" addressed the oppression of humans and animals at the allegedly kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, by both the plant owners (Rubashkin family) and the Federal government, which jailed hundreds of its undocumented workers while ignoring the crimes of the owners.. (If you missed it, see –
http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1412 )

We urged our readers to write public letters to editors pressing the US government to stop charging undocumented workers with crimes, and start dealing with the far worse crimes of the plant owners. Our mailing has drawn a great many responses, a few of which we will share –- see below.

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Off-hand, one might think problems at a kosher meatpacking house are the concern of the Jewish community alone. But in a current case, not so.

The Rubashkin meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, which has been the biggest supplier of allegedly kosher meat in America, has violated many moral, ethical, and legal codes of conduct -- American and Jewish. It has tortured the animals it is supposed to kill painlessly. It has exploited its workers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants who were fearful of complaining. It has even had the chutzpah to collect union dues from some workers and then pocket the money instead of passing it on to the unions.