Healing Israel/Palestine

With Michael Lerner in New York

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I made a point of seeing Rabbi Lerner twice in his recent sojourn to New York. Last Sunday evening, he was part of a panel discussion of religious leaders and academics at Riverside Church, called “Occupy the Mind: Progressive Moral Agenda for the 21st Century.” It was organized by James Vrettos, a professor of sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, who began the discussion with an impassioned recitation of progressive concerns. Dr. Cornel West contributed his usual brilliant oratory: witty, entertaining and challenging. In a mutual exchange, he pointed out that fellow panelist Dr. Serene Jones, president of the nearby Union Theological Seminary, will be his “boss” when he moves from Princeton to Union Theological in July, where he began his academic career in the late 1970s.

Empathy

Hansel and Gretel and Israel/Palestine

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Children have been told horror stories for as long as storytelling has existed. Should a child become traumatized hearing a story like Hansel and Gretel, where the witch plans to throw the children into the oven to make a nice meal, parents can tell the child not to worry, “That’s just a fairy tale. Things like that don’t really happen.” But they do. As a child, I grew up with images of Nazi ovens incinerating Jews.

General News

"Judenrat Jon" Stewart

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When Jon Stewart is called a “smug, self-loathing Jew” by a right-wing Jewish personality (who is often called upon by conservative pundits to wax political), it’s tempting to dismiss the comment as a disgusting tribal dig. When Jon Stewart is called a Judenrat who “would have been first on line to turn over his fellow Jews in Poland and Germany” by this same hawkish voice, it’s tempting – even though this voice has a visible platform – to just ignore the comment as the product of the Republican, FOX-inspired echo chamber. However, ignoring these comments wouldn’t just be dangerous, it would be to allow a growing brand of hatred coursing through America’s veins – produced on the fringes – to continue infecting our public discourse (and public opinion) on matters both foreign and domestic. It’s a hate-filled islamophobia that masquerades as patriotic, as anti-terrorism, as proudly American and Zionist (as though the two are synonymous). It’s a brand of hatred that the current GOP seeks, a hatred it feels it needs, a hatred it foments for perceived political gain at great cost to civil society.

General News

All The News That's Not So Fit To Ignore: A Hamas Leader Rejects Tactical Violence, Israeli Foreign Ministry Rejects Tactical Peace, Ultra-Orthodox Sect Rejects Israeli Ideals, And Mossad Chiefs Reject Idea Of An Iranian Nuclear Threat

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What could explain the cone of silence when Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal announced that Hamas had decided to switch tactics and accept peaceful means to end its struggle with Israel? Meshaal even accepted the idea of using the 1967 borders as the basis for a Palestinian state. Yet he was ignored and the offer was called unserious.

Healing Israel/Palestine

The Christians United For Israel-Tom Friedman-Obama Controversies And The Real Reason The Oil For The Menorah Only Lasted For Eight Days

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An Israeli threat. She acts and critics attack. Supporters defend. It is a “Rinse, Wash, Repeat” haiku that works in whatever sequence you want to place your emphasis, especially if you don’t care whether you violate the rules of haiku or the rules of stasis.But Israel and its difficulties can’t be condensed to simple English imitations of Japanese haikus. So let’s try imitation proverbs that nicely align with the imitation Israel-Palestine peace process.

Healing Israel/Palestine

Running Across Palestine to Support Olive Farmers

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Fellow journalist Aaron Dennis and I will travel to the West Bank in February to document the “Run Across Palestine” – a 129-mile run over five days between Hebron and Jenin that seeks to raise awareness about the everyday struggles facing olive farmers in Palestine. Inspired by Tikkun’s mission to “build bridges between religious and secular progressives by delivering a forceful critique of all forms of exploitation, oppression and domination,” I’ll write a feature story about the project for Tikkun. The Run Across Palestine, a project of On The Ground, aims to reestablish sustainable olive growing practices in a place where the economy, culture and identity are rooted in the ancient tree. Forty-five percent of the agricultural land in the West Bank is used for growing olives, employing 100,000 Palestinians.The money raised by the run will go to fund the replanting of olive trees uprooted in recent years, and to fund scholarships for the children of the farmers. “The olive tree plays a very important role as a symbol of our perseverance,” said Run Across Palestine coordinator Vivien Sansour.

Culture

An Alarmist View of Post-Holocaust Thought

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… there sometimes is an unseemly self-centeredness among Jews in their vigilance against “moral equivalence” arguments in invoking the primacy of the Holocaust as compared with other mass crimes or nasty conflicts. … Yet complications abound; for example, even if one criticizes Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, they are in no way “genocidal,” ….