Reb Arthur on “No Kings!” gatherings, large and not-so-large.

We are incredibly excited to introduce you to Cohort א, our inaugural cohort of 22 creative thinkers, unconventional activists, and ritual artists from around the country and world exploring a Jewish post-activism and experimenting with expressions of it.

Deuteronomy 23:16-17

You are not to hand over serfs to their master
who have sought-rescue by you from their master.

Beside you let them dwell, among you,
in the place that they choose, within one of your gates [that] seems good for them.
You are not to maltreat them!

Reb Arthur writes: Given the violence and violation of Trump’s use of the National Guard and U.S. Marines to break up a non-violent peaceful demonstration condemning his anti-immigrant policy, I think it is important for a powerful presence to oppose his illegitimate, unconstitutional violation of the right of free assembly.

From Reb Arthur:

“For the first time in my life since late-1968 when I wrote what became the Freedom Seder, I am feeling drawn to write something that stretches the future and rewrites me. 

What is the Holy Spirit calling me to write?

We need a new Torah NOW. “

We are mobilizing grasstops and grassroots Jewish leaders into emergent and dynamic cohorts to explore Jewish post-activism and experiment with new and creative expressions of it. Instead of mounting three actifests per year, we will now engage dozens of cohort members, each proliferating their own experiments in expressions of Jewish post-activism, be they ritual pop-up actifests, art installations, digital and print pieces, film, music, and more.

Rabbi Nate writes: “If you had asked me a year ago, I would have told you we were an actifest organization.

Now, we are seeding a Jewish post-activism.”

Read on to learn more about what that means.

Reb Arthur writes: “One of the most important constituencies to resist Trump’s effort to smother insurgent communities is to strengthen women who are ready to struggle against prohibiting abortion and birth control. “

On Wednesday, May 28 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT, join us for the third and final session of The Shalom Center and ALEPH's Renewing Judaism series. This session will focus on Judaism’s future and what it might mean to renew Judaism for the times ahead. It will feature Rabbi Jericho Vincent, Yehudah Webster, Rabbi Zvika Krieger, Ana Levy-Lyons, and Rabbi Nate DeGroot.

In 2024, we set out to prototype our new strategic vision. We were going to reimagine Jewish holidays as portals for public prophetic action and build a national movement of sacred justice rooted in the Jewish calendar.

How were we going to do this? Through “actifests” - activist festivals - a word Arthur made up and a model he helped birth, dating back to the Freedom Seder in ‘69. 

Reb Arthur reacts to “two actions. . . not opposite but close to identical.”

Rabbi Arthur writes: I have been asking myself how to advance the future of Torah that might give good guidance to the Jews of the 22nd Century. I have been writing a version of that Torah that takes into account my own vision of how it should change as we learn and grow during the century we now live in.

Rabbi Nate writes about his path with Arthur Waskow, and celebrating his and The Shalom Center past and future through the Legacy Fund: It’s about what becomes possible when new generations live out the teachings that Arthur and his peers have taught and embodied throughout their lives. It’s about what becomes possible when new generations evolve and adapt and compost what has been into what can be.

An Open Letter from Philadelphia Jewish Clergy Calling for the Release of Mahmoud Khalil

As part of our Reb Arthur Waskow Legacy Fund, you can make a simple video recording of yourself saying hello to Arthur, offering him well wishes and sharing how he has impacted you and your life.

A prayer for this weekend: “Breath-of-life, we thank You for Your presence in us and beyond us in choosing a new Pope who seems ready to move forward on the agenda that Pope Francis left us.”

As part of The Shalom Center’s Legacy Fund, you are invited to express your personal blessings, gratitude, love, and affirmations for Arthur while he can fully receive it. We know Arthur has made a meaningful impact on so many of you. This is your chance to reflect back to him your gratitude for all he’s done for you personally and all he’s contributed to the world.

This Sunday at 2pm ET is the second of three sessions in our Renewing Judaism series, a collaborative series with ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. In it, we will be asking the question: What does a renewed Judaism offer us in this moment?

R’ Arthur writes: The past weeks of the death of Pope Francis and the gathering of the Conclave has brought to my mind his own life and that of his true forerunner, Pope John XXIII. Each of them did the unheard-of.

“What in your own life made you feel like Judaism needed to be renewed?”

This is the question we’ll pose to Rabbis Arthur Waskow, Phyllis Berman, Jeff Roth, Marcia Prager, and Michael Strassfeld at the beginning of Renewing Judaism this Sunday.