SHARE        Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Oligarchs & H-Bombs: Russia, US, & Ukraine There are two great questions facing Americans: the planetary crisis and the crisis of democracy. They are intertwined. The only reason we in the US are not acting to heal Earth and save Humanity is that HyperWealthy Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Unnatural Gas , Big Bombs - and the Big Banks that fund them -- use their wealth to buy Power. Power to cancel out millions of voters.

SHARE        Sunday, July 26, 2020
My small personal crisis and the Great American Social Crisis This past Wednesday afternoon, I found all my leg muscles very weak and my speech slurred. Seemed like it might be a stroke, so Phyllis with the help of wonderful friends Mordechai and Lynne hurried me into an ambulance to a hospital. The hospital found there was nothing at all wrong with my brain, but...

(3 comments) SHARE        Monday, July 20, 2020
No secret police, no "Portland" -- Anywhere Dear friends, "Today Portland, tomorrow all America!" is the boast of Trumpist officials who have already announced they are planning to do "Portland" anywhere and everywhere. The American public needs to stand against this vile tactic - - more than a tactic, a strategy to smash the growing majority ready to throw out of office an anti-democratic government.

(15 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Is Coronavirus a Biblical "Plague"? Though the ancient plagues were the horrifying results of Pharaoh's cruelty, they became the instruments of liberation.

(3 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, May 30, 2017
The Torah vs. Jared Kushner What would it mean to bring Torah to bear within or upon one rich, powerful, and unjust Jew --- Jared Kushner? I want to lift up a perfect example of how Torah values are trampled underfoot even while the semblance of piety is claimed. A story of one man who at this moment holds great power and exemplifies in his own person the "kleptocracy" -- rule by thieves -- that now afflicts us:

SHARE        Sunday, November 15, 2015
After Paris, Where and How?Sustaining Abundance & Sharing Justice -- Not Imposing War We must mourn the dead of Paris. We must affirm and join the overwhelming majority of the Muslim world in utterly condemning these atrocities.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, June 22, 2015
Charleston Murders vs. Pope, Rabbis, & Ramadan What a day of profound contradiction! The worst expression of hatred and racism together with the most loving expressions of care and active healing for all humanity and all the life-forms that make up Mother Earth!

(3 comments) SHARE        Monday, March 23, 2015
Becoming Elijah For the Shabbat just before Passover (this year March 28), Jewish tradition assigns the last chapter of the last of the classical prophets -- Malachi, who spoke about 2500 years ago -- to be read. The passage takes on an uncanny significance for our generation:

(3 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Challenging the Netanyahu-US-Right-wing Alliance Vice-President Joe Biden and many Members of Congress have already announced they will absent themselves from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to Congress on March 3. Please call your two Senators and one House Member and ask them to join this boycott of the speech.

SHARE        Thursday, November 27, 2014
Thanksgiving, Arlo Guthrie, & My Yarmulke-- A Ritual of Joyful Resistance Every year at noon on Thanksgiving, WXPN Radio in Philadelphia plays Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," about a Thanksgiving dinner in Stockbridge Mass. in 1967; about obtuse cops; and about nonviolent resistance to a brutal war. And every year, this seemingly non-Jewish set of rituals stirs in me the memory of a moment long ago when my first puzzled, uncertain explorations of the "Jewish thing" took on new power for me.

(2 comments) SHARE        Monday, December 9, 2013
Mandela, the Jews, & the Future: WHICH Jews? The response of Jewish organizations to Mandela has been less than ideal

SHARE        Wednesday, November 27, 2013
For 8 days of Hanukkah, my True Love said to me: "Help heal My Earth!" Hanukkah brings with it again this year three crucial teachings about healing our Mother Earth from the ravages of global scorching. And Hanukkah is a celebration of rebels taking back a temple that was defiled by a vile authoritarian king, combined with a miracle-- that an energy source lasted a lot longer than expected.

(1 comments) SHARE        Saturday, September 7, 2013
Drop gas masks, not bombs If our own government pushes us over the edge of that precipice, the real losers will be the American and Syrian people. There, even greater devastation. Here, another wave of failure to meet the real and increasingly urgent civilian needs for schools, bridges, solar and wind energy, firefghters, and much more.

SHARE        Thursday, June 20, 2013
My First Arrest, Plus 50 Years Sunday , July 7, 1963, was the date of my first arrest, among protesters creating a "walk-in" aimed at ending racial segregation at Gwynn Oak amusement park in Baltimore. This coming July 7, 2013 (also a Sunday ) there will be a 50th-anniversary celebration in Baltimore of the desegregation of the park, which followed soon after the arrests.

SHARE        Friday, March 22, 2013
Happily Arrested at White House, waving Bitter Herb & Matzah Yesterday, along with 14 other religious folk, clergy and committed "laity," I was arrested for standing at the White House with signs and songs, reciting the names of more than 100 people killed by one result of the climate crisis -- Superstorm Sandy. We were calling on the President to act swiftly to heal our Mother Earth from the climate crisis, from the plagues that modern Pharaohs -- Big Oil, Big Coal, Unnatural Gas.

(11 comments) SHARE        Friday, November 16, 2012
Gaza-Israel Violence: The Fuller Story In this report to readers and members of The Shalom Center, I will be filling in that back story with reports from the Israeli and Palestinian press. Then I will include a brief and trenchant comment by Uri Avnery, veteran Israeli peace activist and former member of Knesset who has been committed to a two-state peace settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for four decades.

(1 comments) SHARE        Friday, October 19, 2012
Arrested for Affirming God's Unity?! The Email came; I read: "FYI for those who have not heard about the recent arrest of Anat Hoffman [an Israeli woman who has led the effort for women to pray freely at the Western Wall] for chanting the Shema out loud at the Western Well."

SHARE        Friday, September 21, 2012
Yom Kippur as Transformation-time: 3 Keys to Unlock our Hearts On Rosh HaShanah, we read the story of the estrangement between two families of Abraham -- between his wife Sarah and her son Isaac, and his wife Hagar and her son Ishmael. I believe the completion of the story ( as it appears in Gen. 25: 8-11) should be read aloud in every synagogue on Yom Kippur. It is a story of reconciliation, which is what Yom Kippur is all about.

SHARE        Monday, September 10, 2012
Activist Elders Challenge Candidates & Voters to New Vision of America; National Council of Elders to Release Greensboro he Declaration challenges political candidates of all parties and all Americans to go beyond the issues now being put forward in the election campaign, to address the underlying crises America faces and explore a deeper vision for our country.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, June 25, 2012
"No Religion is an Island" -- Challenging Injustice in a Community That's Not "Our Own" Two weeks ago, I wrote you a Shalom Report letter criticizing the Catholic hierarchy's attacks on the religious freedom of Catholic nuns and American women. That letter sparked a lot of excitement and debate (possibly because I focused on a religious body's denial of religious freedom to women, rather than the accepted meme of women's health).