Turn Purim on its Head! A Reflection on #Violence and #Vulnerability

None Shall Make Them Afraid: A Rabbis Against Gun Violence Anthology

None Shall Make Them Afraid: A Rabbis Against Gun Violence Anthology

amazon.com/None-Shall-Make-Them-Afraid/dp/1797559079

Rabbis Against Gun Violence, a coalition of over 1600 American Jewish leaders, feels a fierce moral imperative to move beyond moments of silence and prayer and into action. We use our rabbinic voice to educate and advocate for positive, achievable solutions, such as legislative and legal measures, intervention strategies and culture change. "None Shall Make Them Afraid" is an anthology of the three books RAGV has published to date: "Peace in Our Cities" (2013) was written in response to the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. "Not By Might" (2016) was in response to the mass shooting at the Pulse dance club in Orlando. "Holding Fast" (2018) was written in response to the mass shooting at the Tree Of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Jewish tradition believes in a world without violence, a world the prophet Micah described where "every person will sit under their own vine and fig tree, and none shall make them afraid." We will join together with allies of all kinds, committed to the work it will take to see that day in our children's lifetimes.

Turn Purim on its Head! (A Video Reflection)

The Sacrificial Call: VaYikra

Rabbi Menachem Creditor | Times of Israel | March 11, 2019

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-sacrificial-call-vayikra/

Parashat VaYikra contains echoes of the past few weeks. We just finished the book of Shemot/Exodus, and this week we begin the book of VaYikra/Leviticus. The end of Shemot is all about the building of the mishkan, and so, true to Jewish tradition, the journey forward remembers the past. The final verses of Shemot read:

“…When Moses had finished the work, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of God filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of the God filled the Tabernacle… over the Tabernacle the cloud of God rested by day, and fire would appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their journeys. (excerpted from Ex. 40:33-38)“

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Hands-On: The Gift of Giving (VaYikra)

What to do as a Progressive AIPAC Supporter? [a Times of Israel piece]

What to do as a Progressive AIPAC Supporter?

Rabbi Menachem Creditor | Times of Israel | FEB 28, 2019

blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-to-do-as-a-progressive-aipac-supporter/

The moral quandary many Zionists face today regards the political partnership Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has forged with the terrorist group Otzma Yehudit , an alliance of Jewish supremacists that was banned from Israeli politics by Israeli law, a loathsome group whose hateful founder prompted Netanyahu’s own Likud party to walk out of the hall when he spoke to Knesset decades ago. 

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To the Left and to the Right: Two Truths for Jews

To the Left and to the Right: Two Truths for Jews
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
blogs.timesofisrael.com/to-the-left-and-to-the-right-two-truths-for-jews/

Contamination of the Left by extremists (ab)using the term 'intersectionality' to estrange and attack Jews under cover of political Anti-Zionism. Contamination of the Right by extremists using the term "globalists" to isolate and attack Jews under cover of economic conservativism.

To the Right and to the Left, we say 'feh!'

To those in the Jewish community who see wrongness in one camp and run for the other, I offer these two truths, one more inspiring and practical than the other.

A hurtful truth: What political slice of any nation hasn't historically included antisemitism? The alt-right (white supremacists) and the anti-Israel left (Anti-Semites) are tinged/pervaded by lasting and latent Jew hatred that knows no political ideology, that transcends time and model of societal leadership.

A helpful truth: To reject a political posture because of the germs of hatred in humanity is short sighted. Fighting pernicious Jew-hatred within your political tribe is a better approach, and challenges all the various tribes to be their best selves.

My two cents.