As we reflect on our own lives during these 10 days of teshuvah (return and recentering), we are thrilled to share with you a seminal interview of Rabbi Arthur Waskow, conducted by renowned scholar and rabbi, Shaul Magid, and published in Ayin Press.

R’ Arthur writes: “We need to deal with what ‘we’ have done by acting and planning together, deliberately or unconsciously. That is not really addressed in our Rosh Hashanah liturgies or practices, not about past social misdeeds nor even about those collective systemic misdeeds we are misdoing right now.“

A Bat Mitzvah Dvar Torah as a kind of Tale of the Spirit Rising — an affirmation that a spiritual wakening suffused in the “teaching” of a child can in fact help her/ him/ them into what Jewish tradition says they can and should become through the B’Mitzvah process: a self-caring, other-caring grown-up.

We will live out the last words of Malachi, the last of the ancient Hebrew prophets, “that we prevent Earth’s utter destruction by turning the hearts of elders to the youth and the hearts of youth to elders.”

The Shalom Center, founded by Rabbi Arthur Waskow in 1983, turns 40 this year. To celebrate, we are hosting “FortyFest” on October 5, 2023. This first-of-its-kind virtual Hoshanah Rabbah seder will be brimming with joyous learning and soaring spirits to honor The Shalom Center’s first 40 years and vision the next 40.

How empire, capitalism, and elite power led to disaster — and how historical mutual aid responds.

A statement concerning the troubling developments in Israel, which calls upon leaders of North American Jewry to take action and make their voices heard, not only on the current erosion of democracy in Israel, but also regarding what they believe is the often-ignored root cause of this process, namely the ongoing occupation and oppression of millions of Palestinians.

A Montana judge applies the “secular Torah” of a state Constitution to require policy change to heal Earth-Human relations.

Israel and the United States have been living through crises of democracy that have uncanny similarities. Yet the efforts to defend democracy in the two countries have been markedly different.

Haviva Ner-David, a rabbi and writer who lives in the Galilee region of Israel, writes: “Over 10,000 people, Palestinian and Jewish Israelis from across the country, dressed mostly in white, marched quietly with 141 caskets — one for each fatal victim of the epidemic of violence and organized crime in the Arab sector since January 1st — to the square of the Tel Aviv Museum, where we heard speakers from the victims' families and sombre songs by Israeli artists. It was called "The March of the Dead" and it was one of the most powerful demonstrations I have experienced — if not the most powerful.”

Excerpts from an article on the connection between stark racism and the global burning of major oil companies.

R’ Arthur writes: “That August 6 was also Tisha B’Av, traditionally intended to be a day of grief for the destruction of ancient Jewish Temples. . . . But on that Tisha B’Av I did not write about ancient Temples. I wrote about Hiroshima.”

To reaffirm the tradition that transformation may begin as Tisha B’Av dwindles, we are sending you Cherie Brown’s essay on the afternoon of the day of Grief. We view her essay as a vital contribution to a growing chorus of deep critiques of the anti-democratic policies of the present government of Israel, and strong support for the pro-democracy movement in Israel.

A new outcry of grief for Tisha B’Av, by Rabbi Cat Zavis.

A Guide for Turning Eco-Despair into Active Hope.

Resources for you as you shape your observance.

Why bother mourning two buildings destroyed thousands of years ago by rampaging empires doing what they always do — burning, destroying, beloved places and beloved people?

We bring not real felt grief but only wisps of remembered ancient grief. Why bother?

We are sending us all a message from one of the true prophets of our time — Bill McKibben. Please read his gentle, loving, passionate outcry for our Earth and human life.

To start with what is new yet ancient: The Shalom Center welcomes you to the sad obligation to mourn for the continuing destruction of our universal Temple Earth a few days before Tisha B’Av, and to bring active hope to protect and heal the universal Temple of all life on Earth.

The upside-down world of today’s Supreme Court.