Tomorrow night at sundown begins Hanukkah, a festival of kindled lights, sacred resistance, and unexpected miracles. A holiday that beckons us back to source. A holiday that we at The Shalom Center invite you to join us for, right here, over the next eight days.

Excerpts from an amazing, revealing NY Times p.1 story on a truth hidden from public view for eight weeks since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

We at The Shalom Center have sent three different letters in the last three days. They/we all came from different basic groundings, and we all came to the same conclusion: There must be a ceasefire in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

And now, we are living in a ceasefire. It was brought about by pressure from many, many peoples, publics, and governments in the world. But how do we keep it “ceased”?

“Yisrael” Means “Godwrestler.”

What Does “Godwrestler” Mean?

Bernie Sanders: How do we balance our desire to stop the fighting with the need to address the roots of the conflict?

In this pause, however brief, it seems worth reconsidering together just what this war has achieved and what it has cost.

Dear companions in the work to turn tears of grief into wellsprings of transformation, we suggest setting aside a time at your Thanksgiving table for prayer — perhaps this last paragraph of Mourners Kaddish, especially appropriate in these days in memory of the dead of both Abrahamic peoples, Perhaps follow the prayer with a heart-talk about what you can do, however small, to bring one step closer the time when the guns stop speaking and the people start.

An effort to look forward to a transformed future between Israel and Gaza.

The letter below asks for contributions to “Academia for Equality.” Among small non-profits like The Shalom Center, it is extremely unusual to encourage donors to other non-profits. But we think protecting the right to speak Truth is so important — the Talmud teaches that Truth, Justice, and Shalom are the three pillars that uphold the world — that we do encourage you to do just that.

Keep Our Light Shining Bright: A Pre-Hanukkah Workshop on Staying Resilient and Hopeful in Painful, Challenging Times

Facilitated by Cherie Brown, this pre-Hanukkah experiential workshop will offer an opportunity to learn and practice skills to stay hopeful and resilient in the face of excruciatingly hard times.

The last several days and for many, this whole week, has been treated by many Jews and others as shloshim — thirty days to mourn both the Israeli and Palestinian war dead.

We think it time to begin turning our tears of grief for the Israel-Gaza War into a wellspring of creativity for peace. We must explore what the War poses for the future, including the dangers — physical and spiritual — it poses to American Arab and Muslim and American-Jewish communities.

A statement and video by rabbis and rabbinical students calling for ceasefire.

Two midrashic responses to two different parts of the Torah portion of Vayera, the Torah portion for next Shabbat.

Statement of Tikkun magazine and Beyt Tikkun: A Synagogue without Walls

Statement on Behalf of Israel-Based Progressives and Peace Activists Regarding Debates Over Recent Events in Our Region

R’ Arthur: “My first response last Monday to the horrendous attack by Hamas on Israel held serious errors as well as profound truths.”

In a world beset by catastrophes, including a swift walk to the edge of a planetary precipice, why pay attention to a 3,000-year-old text of a world-wide Flood that we know is fiction, even if its authors thought it was factual history?

Now it was, when Yehoshua was at Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and saw: now here, a man standing opposite him, with his sword drawn in his hand! Yehoshua went toward him and said to him: Are you for us or for our enemies? He said: No! Rather, I am the commander of YHWH's infinities-of-energy.

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.“