Jewish Wisdom
Receiving Charity is Divine
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This is an important response to those who worry about getting or giving “handouts” to the needy, mistakenly believing that being a recipient of support makes them less worthy as a human being.
Other Voices
“An Angel’s Touch and the Melancholy Murders”
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Rabbi Zalman Kastel explores “how our mental state is influenced by our spirituality, and how our mental state, in turn, can impact on the spiritual and ethical dimensions of our lives.”
Editorials & Actions
Australian Rabbi speaking at a Mosque
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Below I share some of my talk at a Mosque the other day. The fact that this talk happened at all is a tribute to the good people playing a leadership role in this community. Two Sydney synagogues had hosted an Imam to speak to their communities as well. Contact between cultures is not always positive and my talk explores elements of challenge as well as principles relating to living side by side with people of different cultures and beliefs. Warm regards
Zalman
Rabbi Zalman Kastel
National Director
Together for Humanity Foundation
02) 9886-7414, Direct line 02) 9886-7162, 0423-981-368
zalman@togetherforhumanity.org.au
www.togetherforhumanity.org.au
www.differencedifferently.edu.au is our free on-line Intercultural Understanding resource linked to the Australian Curriculum.
2013
Love the Stranger: Looking to the Torah for Guidance on Immigration Policy
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We are all capable of prejudice and must remain vigilant to observe and change it within ourselves. Perhaps that’s why the most repeated commandment in the Torah is to love the stranger.
Articles
The Primal Spirituality of Circumcision vs. the Cultural Steamroller of Scientism
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Should a society based on the principles of democracy and Western thinking permit people to circumcise children? The answer to that question may well be no. I suggest, however, that this is the wrong question through which to understand the issue of circumcision.
2011
Prophetic Voices Should Be Bold
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I think it is wrong for the voices of moderation to be constrained by an idealistic sense of duty to absolute accuracy, balance, and openness to opposing views. Hmm, ouch, that was hard to write; are we not the people who “eat brown rice and are always nice”?