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Reform Movement Tells Congress: Deficit Reduction Must Not Increase Poverty
Yesterday the Religious Action Center sent a letter to all Members of Congress urging them to protect the poor in any deficit reduction agreement. As the end of year approaches and we near the “fiscal cliff,” Members of Congress are meeting with increasing urgency to create a deal that would reduce the deficit, or produce a framework to do so, before January 1. People of faith across the nation are speaking out on the rapid pace of these negotiations and the potential harm they could cause the programs that help the poorest among us.
25 Years Later: Solidarity with Soviet Jewry
The blogosphere, my Facebook page and my Twitter feed are abuzz with people’s memories and testimonies of the 25th anniversary of the National March on Washington for Soviet Jewry. Twenty-five years ago today, approximately one quarter of a million people descended on the National Mall in Washington to call for the freedoms of an open society in what was then the U.S.S.R.
Reflecting on the March for Soviet Jewry
Twenty-five years ago today, on the cusp of a visit by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, 200,000 Jews gathered on the National Mall to protest the oppression of Soviet Jewry and demand that they be allowed to emigrate from the USSR. Culminating over two decades of activism that transformed the American Jewish community even as it transformed the Jews of the Soviet Union – emboldened, sustained and inspired them – this event had personal resonance to me for five reasons.
Reflections From During the Crises with Gaza
So I am speaking with Claire from ARZA Tours in Jerusalem. ARZA World Tours is coordinating the land arrangements for the upcoming Greensboro Interfaith Clergy trip to Israel in February. We had just begun our conversation, when for the first time, sirens go off in Jerusalem. Jerusalem? The holy city? Home to Jews and Arabs? Site of Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy places? Given the inaccuracy of the rockets from Gaza, the chances of rockets hitting an Arab section of town are great. Jerusalem?
Hanukkah: More Than Just Presents?
This weekend, we will gather together with family or friends (or, if you’re on the RAC staff, with 215 high school students at L’Taken) around the Chanukah lights, spin the dreidel, eat latkes and sufganyot and engage in the great “applesauce or sour cream” debate.
The Jewish Annotated New Testament: A Perfect Gift for the Holidays!
It was not so long ago that Jews assiduously avoided reading the New Testament or even saying the name of Jesus. The publication last year of the Jewish Annotated New Testament (available through Oxford and Amazon), described recently by one scholar as a “paradigm shift,” testifies that we have entered a new era in Jewish engagement with the New Testament. Not only has it become a legitimate subject of Jewish study, providing both insights into the history of Judaism during its formative era and an effective vehicle for promoting Jewish-Christian relations, but also there now exists a cadre of Jewish New Testament scholars with the abilities to tackle the task.
Save Your Breath! Protect Wind Energy
Tell your Representatives and Senators to support the continuation of the Production Tax Credit and, thus, further the adoption of renewable energy.
We Should Acknowledge Their Sacrifice
It’s that time of year again. Christmas decorations are popping up everywhere; every other song on the radio is about jingle bells, silent nights or reindeer. We can’t escape it!
Interfaith Dilemmas, from Holidays to Weddings
Four years ago, Josh and I met at the intern orientation for our training programs in the mental health field. I thought he was loud and a know-it-all (truth be told, he really does know a lot!) and he thought I had pretty eyes.
"Buy. Buy. Buy." Not!
For the past several weeks my mailboxes, both virtual and real, have been overflowing with messages urging me to “buy, buy, buy.” As a result, I have been spending a lot of time hitting “delete, delete, delete” and tossing torn envelopes and catalogs into the recycle bag to t