Tikkun (https://www.tikkun.org/category/other_voices/page/31/)
Editor’s Note: For many years Israelis have ignored the suffering that the Occupation was causing the Palestinian people in the West Bank, believing that erecting a Wall around the Palestinians would protect the Jewish state. But now, in the face of decades of discrimination, some Israeli Arabs are fighting back against the daily acts of violence that Israel’s occupation requires in order to maintain itself.
Editor’s note: Tikkun is a nonprofit and prohibited from supporting candidates or political parties. So we don’t. But we can publicize views from our readers and writers on these issues, or from others. We welcome anyone with a coherent argument to present to us articles supporting presidential candidates in any major political party including Republicans, Greens and Democrats. Mail them to me at RabbiLerner.tikkun@gmail.com We do not have the staff to investigate the truth or falsity of claims being made on behalf of any political party or candidate.
IMMIGRANTS AND MENACES –a report on European responses to the flood of immigrants
by Victor Grossman – Berlin
Like the rising sea level endangering the Maledives, Marshalls and other islands, the immigrant question is changing political geography in Germany. But it is not the refugees who are posing the threat, despite their number; it is instead those forces, never eliminated, whose goals and methods all too vividly recall events here 85 years ago. (May I make a US comparison: It’s not the Syrians but Trump or Cruz?)
An estimated one million will have arrived in Germany by the end of the year. The government is sending back those from Africa, Eastern Europe and other areas, no matter what the consequences in many cases. Those from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are generally accepted; it is ironic that the cause of chaos, desperation and flight in those three countries was military interference by the western powers and their hugely well-armed allies from Riadh, the Gulf Coast or Ankara. Hardly anyone outside the small left-wing press even mentions this basic matter.
The US and the Rise of ISIS
by Prof. Stephen Zunes
The rise of ISIS (also known as Daesh, ISIL, or the “Islamic State”) is a direct consequence of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. While there are a number of other contributing factors as well, that fateful decision is paramount. Had Congress not authorized President George W. Bush the authority to illegally invade a country on the far side of the world that was no threat to us, and to fund the occupation and bloody counter-insurgency war that followed, the reign of terror ISIS has imposed upon large swathes of Syria and Iraq and the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, the Sinai, San Bernardino and elsewhere would never have happened. Among the many scholars, diplomats, and political figures who warned of such consequences was a then-Illinois state senator named Barack Obama, who noted that a U.S. invasion of Iraq would “only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda” and other like-minded extremists. It is ironic, then, that most of those who went ahead and supported the invasion of Iraq anyway are now trying to blame him for the rise of ISIS.
Editor’s Note: This valuable call to renew hope is a central theme of Tikkun magazine the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and in my view of Judaism and Christianity as well. Estes, unfortunately, tries to reassure people of the importance of their own action by saying that “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.” That sentiment can often lead people to narrowing their vision to that which others have told them is “realistic” and focused just on what actions they can do in some small project or other. That kind of thinking disempowers. What we need to do is to not counterpose the small with the big.
Judgement, Muslims and Responses to Terrorism (Miketz 2015–reflections on the world in conversation with this week’s Torah portion)
by Rabbi Zalman Kastel
The other day I discussed with a group of Muslim high school students the Islamic principle that one must make 70 excuses for a friend who appears to have done the wrong thing.[i] It is an interesting variation of the Jewish principle of judging everyone favourably.[ii] I wonder to what extent these ideals are applied in either community when it comes to judging people outside our own faith communities. Giving the benefit of the doubt can also inhibit fighting evil, if we offer excuses when it would be more useful to name the problem and address it. These considerations are relevant to judgements regarding terrorism.
This issue of judging others plays out in the discussion of the description of Joseph by Pharaoh’s chief butler in Genesis. The Pharaoh was distressed about a dream that no one could interpret. The chief butler told him that in prison there was a ‚“youth, a Hebrew slave”, who can interpret dreams.[iii] This description has been interpreted as malicious – “Cursed are the wicked that even the good that they do, is done with evil intentions!” – because Joseph’s Hebrew ethnicity calls attention to his membership of a hated people, his youth to his foolishness and his status as a slave to a restriction on Joseph ever holding high office.[iv]
An alternative interpretation suggests that the description was motivated by fear rather than malice.
Every year at my boy’s school there’s a Chanukah concert that includes rap songs and other talent. A few years ago, it included the song the popular song, “Ba’nu Choshekh L’garesh“. I’m not so connected to modern Israeli culture, though, so it was my first time hearing it. Here’s a translation:
We come, the darkness to expel –
In our hands, light and fire. Each one is a small light,
And all of us together – an immense light!
A Chanukah Prayer of Lights
by Rabbi Warren Stone
Source of Creation and Life of the Universe We gather together on Chanukah
As Jews of conscience
with a deep spiritual bond to the lights of freedom. We are grateful for the inner might of the Maccabees Who fought to reclaim a Jerusalem in despair
And rekindle the lights of human freedom. Freedom has many faces:
Freedom from war and conflict or threats of terror
Freedom to have a secure home
Freedom from hunger, poverty and despair. Freedom is deeply personal as well:
Freedom to express one’s gender identity without fear Freedom to express one’s racial identity without fear Freedom to make choices about of life and deepest beliefs Freedom to live our faith in all of its beauty
without negating anyone else’s. Our Chanukah menorah with its eight branches and Kindling light
Remind us of the diversity on our Earth
Bound together with a branch of Oneness.
Poll on US Attitudes on Israel/Palestine
Evangelical Republicans Favor Pro-Israel Policies At Odds With Majority of Americans, Including Non-Evangelical Republicans
A new poll shows that in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict overall, an overwhelming 77% of Evangelical Republicans want the United States to lean toward Israel as compared to 29% to Americans overall and 36% of non-Evangelical Republicans. In contrast 66% of all Americans and 60% of Non-Evangelical Republicans want the United States to lean toward neither side.
This pattern holds on other aspects of US policy toward the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. If the UN Security Council considers endorsing the establishment of a Palestinian state, only 26% of all Americans and 38% of non-Evangelical Republicans favor the US voting against it. However six in ten Evangelical Republicans say that the US should vote against it, thus vetoing the move.
Evangelical Republicans also differ in that they pay far more attention to a candidate’s position on Israel. When considering which candidate to vote for in Congress or for president just 26% of all Americans and 33% of non-Evangelical Republicans say they consider the candidates position on Israel a lot. Among Evangelical Republicans 64% say they consider it a lot.
Views of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vary dramatically. Among the general public just 32 percent have a favorable view of Netanyahu, as do 47 percent of non-Evangelical Republicans. Favorable views rise to 66% among Evangelical Republicans.
When asked, in an open-ended question, to name a national leader they most admire 22 percent of Republican Evangelicals chose Netanyahu, far more than any other leader. Among Non-Evangelical Republicans 9 percent named Netanyahu and 6 percent for the public as a whole.
America’s Reckless War Against Evil
Why It’s Self-Defeating and Has No End
By Ira Chernus
Oh, no! Not another American war against evil! This time, it’s the Islamic State (IS). After the attacks in Paris, Barack Obama, spokesman-in-chief for the United States of America, called that crew “the face of evil.” Shades of George W. Bush. The “evildoers” are back.
Emperor Weather
Turning Up the Heat on History
By Tom Engelhardt
For six centuries or more, history was, above all, the story of the great game of empires. From the time the first wooden ships mounted with cannons left Europe’s shores, they began to compete for global power and control. Three, four, even five empires, rising and falling, on an increasingly commandeered and colonized planet. The story, as usually told, is a tale of concentration and of destruction until, in the wake of the second great bloodletting of the twentieth century, there were just two imperial powers left standing: the United States and the Soviet Union. Where the other empires, European and Japanese, had been, little remained but the dead, rubble, refugees, and scenes that today would be associated only with a place like Syria.
Honestly, do you know anyone who hasn’t been suffering from a case of acute despair, depression or cynicism about the world in the past few months? For some it might have started long, long ago, when three of the more hopeful public figures of the 20th century, President Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr were assassinated between 1963 and 1968. For others, it may have come when President Obama promised to fight to save the environment and then opened up a huge territory for drilling. Or when Donald Trump labeled Mexicans rapists and murderers without fellow Republicans challenging him and then the entire slate of Republican presidential hopefuls competed with each other in who could be the most racist or xenophobic. Or when people in Europe and the U.S. couldn’t understand what must have driven people to be terrorists willing to kill others, apparently these more advanced people unaware that their own countries had been engaged in wars that have killed tens of millions of people in the last sixty years.
This Holiday Season Let’s Redefine Over-Consumption
By Rev. Brooks Berndt
A common lament around this time of the year is the rampant consumerism of a culture that bombards us with messages to buy more and more. As the complaint often goes, holidays like Christmas and Chanukah lose their original meaning as we get lost in a marketplace of inflated wants and needs. All of this is certainly true, and I would add my voice to the chorus of holiday disgruntlement. At the same time, might there be a bigger picture that often gets missed in how we define and delineate the problem of over-consumption? My own thinking on this matter was recently challenged by Jennifer Kehl who directs the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
America to Working Class Whites: Drop Dead! by Barbara Ehrenreich December 1, 2015. It’s the American mean season. No question about it. Racism.
Juan Cole on the Top Ten Differences Between White Terrorists and Others
1. White terrorists are called “gunmen.” What does that even mean? A person with a gun? Wouldn’t that be, like, everyone in the US? Other terrorists are called, like, “terrorists.”
2. White terrorists are “troubled loners.” Other terrorists are always suspected of being part of a global plot, even when they are obviously troubled loners. 3. Doing a study on the danger of white terrorists at the Department of Homeland Security will get you sidelined by angry white Congressmen. Doing studies on other kinds of terrorists is a guaranteed promotion. 4. The family of a white terrorist is interviewed, weeping as they wonder where he went wrong. The families of other terrorists are almost never interviewed. Advertisement
5. White terrorists are part of a “fringe.” Other terrorists are apparently mainstream.