About

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

Death and Resurrection? Christian theology, of course, centers on that rhythm. Traditional Jewish prayerbooks also praise the God Who "gives life to the dead," but most modern Jews have either deleted or bowdlerized or ignored that passage. Forty years ago, I was the kind of activist secular Jew who not only ignored that passage, but ignored the prayerbook altogether.

Yet precisely forty years ago I experienced a profound – and profoundly unexpected –- death-and-rebirth of my own self, deeply intertwined with the American agonies of that spring, that year.

SHALOM CENTER Board, October 1, 2008

Arlene Goldbard, President and Chair
34 Seagull Drive, Richmond, CA 94804-7404
San Francisco Bay Area; organizational consultant;
Expert & author on cultural development
Former member, ALEPH board

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, Chair Emeritus
1016 W Upsal St., Philadelphia, PA 19119
long-time former director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation;
now executive vice-president, Jewish Funds for Justice.
Wk: 215/843-4004; Hm: 215/843-4933.

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb,
Adat Shalom (Reconstructionist),
4404 Yuma St NW
Washington, DC 20016

Arthur Ocean Waskow was born in Baltimore on October 12, 1933 -- the real Columbus Day, a delight when he was young and much more problematic now. (He wasn’t named “Ocean” then; he and Phyllis Berman both took it as their middle name when they were married. And to his eighth-day Hebrew birth name, Avraham Yitzchak — Abraham Isaac — he added Yishmael, Ishmael, when he was 41.)

He grew up in a neighborhood that vibrated with an earthy Jewish culture, but religiously was bound by rote and boilerplate. His father's father had been an active “Shoshalist,” campaigning for Debs for President; his mother's mother's Torah was the daily reading of the Yiddish Forvaerts. His father joined in founding the Baltimore Teachers Union — then an unheard-of radical act for “professionals” to do — and both his parents were liberal activists in Americans for Democratic Action. He had a younger brother, Howard – and for much of his life, that bare statement would have been the end of the story. Not any longer.

Dear Friends,

I am tickled and pleased to report that the Forward (the nearest there is to a national Jewish weekly in the US) this past week (November 11, 2005) listed me as one of the "Forward 50" (50 American Jews who are moving the community and the world forward, I guess; at least I hope).

Their summary of my life (close enough, but not wholly accurate; I did not co-found SDS) is as follows:

Shalom, Arthur

FORWARD
Forward 50
November 11, 2005

THE PUBLIC SQUARE

Arthur Waskow

Most major national Jewish organizations came out in support of the Iraq war three years ago, and have been keeping their heads down ever since. Their silence amplified the voice of veteran anti-war activist Rabbi Arthur Waskow, a leader of the Jewish Renewal movement and a long-time icon of the American left.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 8/04/2005

Dear Kallahniks,
It was a joy to share with you the wonderful Kallah. I am writing to pick up on the announcements you heard of the new independent status of The Shalom Center and to ask for your help in getting started.
(Also in the P.S. I want to let you know how remarkable an unplanned miracle was Imam Fuad El-Bailey's blessing of us in the service just before the smikha ceremony Wednesday evening. More a miracle that most of us knew!)
As announced at the closing ceremony, Reb Zalman will chair the Council of Sages from several religious and spiritual traditions and communities that will help to guide our Shalom Center work.