Dear Friends,

We've received a couple of letters recently asking what The Shalom Center does, besides sending out the email Shalom Report.  Good question. Here are the answers, just for May:

May 2-4: Rabbi Phyllis Berman and I led a Shabbaton for a cluster of Jewish and multireligious groups and individuals in Winnipeg, Canada. Among the issues we addressed: making new midrash and using new prayer forms as aspects of renewing Jewish life; the ethics of food; interfaith peacemaking; Israeli-Palestinian relations.

May 5: I spoke  and taught in Boston for a gathering initiated by the editors of Righteous Indignation, a book of collected essays on Jewish social-justice  activism. (I was one of the authors.)   The gathering  focused on how crucial issues could be raised in and by the Jewish community during the Presidential campaign. My workshop focused on how to draw on Jewish festivals, texts, and symbols to address the danger of global climate disaster.

May 7: Morning: I spent 90 minutes on the phone  teaching a rabbinical student  as one of a series of classes on the thought of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.  Afternoon: I took part in a gathering of progressive/ prophetic religious leaders in Pennsylvania, organizing a network for religious intervention in such public issues as poverty, education, housing, and ecological healing,

May 13: Long conference-call phone conversation with  members of The Shalom Center board and staff of the Workmens Circle/ Arbeterring, planning a public conference with noted speakers in New York City on Sunday, November 23, of "Jews Uniting to End the War and Heal America."  More on this later.

May 14:  I took part in a multireligious meeting in Washington of 19 activists from Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Unitarian, Jewish, and interfaith organizations - the core of the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership ( see http://www.olivebranchinterfaith.org). The meeting  planned next steps in multireligious efforts to end the Iraq War, prevent an Iran war, and build a decent peace in the region. We discussed two major outlooks beyond the bringing-home of US troops from Iraq:  a bill now before Congress directing the United States to pursue multinational regional diplomacy to establish a peaceful process within Iraq, and a resolution in the House of Representatives that would look toward a "global Marshall Plan" that would redirect  American money and creativity toward generosity rather than domination as the root of our foreign policy.

The Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership also decided, with enthusiasm, to affirm The Shalom Center's proposal for an  interfaith service in Washington DC on the evening of January 19 (Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday, and the eve of Inauguration Day). Olive Branch  took responsibility to organize this event, as part of birthing a grass-roots faith-based movement to bring to reality Dr. King's vision of healing America from racism, militarism, and materialism. (These were the dangers he named in his Riverside Church speech of April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his death.)

May 14, morning:  I had a long conversation with an Israeli eco-activist, co-founder of a new Israeli organization focused on the climate crisis, sharing ideas and information with each other on what we are doing.

May 14,  evening: I spoke in a gathering of about 120 Philadelphia eco-activists brought together by the Urban Sustainability Network to share information on what we are doing to advance green practice and policy in Philadelphia.

May 16-18, Friday evening to Sunday evening, I took part in the eighth intensive retreat of The Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah, the annual gathering of Jews, Christians, and Muslims that was initiated by The Shalom Center in 2002. (More on our decisions in a later email.)

May 23: I am speaking in Virginia, along with Bishop John Chane of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington DC and Congressman Keith Ellison, for a convention of the Universal Muslim Association of America.

From May 27 through June 13: I will be teaching an intensive course on Eco-Judaism for rabbinical students at the Hebrew Union College in New York City - three hours a day, three days a week, for four weeks (the intensive equivalent of a regular semester course).  It is the first full-fledged course in any rabbinical seminary that will cover the whole range and history of Jewish thought and action on the earth-human relationship, from ancient Torah till now. 

May 28: In Philadelphia: The Shalom Center is co-sponsoring a public dialogue in which I am joining with Rabbi Mike Comins, author of  A Wild Faith and leader of Torah Treks, on the theory and practice of an earth-responsive Judaism.

During many of these and the other days, I was working on Emailings for The Shalom Report, on funding proposals for The Shalom Center,  and in conversations with members of our Board. toward reflective redrafts of our mission statement, our budget and our program plans.

 June will be just as busy!

Shalom, salaam, peace --  Arthur

P.S. --  Now that I've recited all this, perhaps you see why we need your help to support this work. Please click on the Donate button below to make a tax-deductible contribution to The Shalom Center.

Many thanks----  Arthur

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