T I K K U N | Politics+Spirituality+Culture POLITICS + SPIRITUALITY + CULTURE JUSTICE AS CARING (t¯e •kün) To mend, repair, and transform the world. WINTER 2013 page 17 GET MONEY GET OUT OF Even in POLITICS the dark MONEY days, we OUT OF remember that hope can return! Tikkun remains a beacon for those seeking a world of peace, social justice, environmental sanity, caring for each other, and caring for the earth. Join our A necessary prerequisite POLITICSto progressive change in movement, the interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives, which welcomes the United States secular humanists, as well as people from every religious tradition. Winter 2013 | Join us at spiritualprogressives.org. Volume 28, Where Religion and Marxism Meet | Co-ops: A Good Alternative? Number Parenting as a Spiritual Practice | New Poems in an Ancient Language 1 Islamic Law and the Boundaries of Social Responsibility DUKE Trauma as a Potential Source of Solidarity | Community Reparations $5.95 U.S. credit line here TIKKUN_28.1_cvr_1PP.indd 1 10/12/12 10:34 AM Roadmap RECOMMENDS %&#"#*% Build the power of the individual. Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S. Policy Here are two books that provide #"% *'#%+ %'#" #"&'%(')%#%! Photography by Paul Dix, us with insightful interpretations Build independent institutions. Edited by Pamela Fitzpatrick of Torah—one focused on Moses, Just Sharing Press, 2011 If we want to replace the present #")# "'&&'" the other on “the transformational system, we must replace the Working with the Institute of the His- Now trained and journey of Exodus, from the slav- worldview it’s based on. tory of Nicaragua and Central America, ery of ego to the promised land of prepared, we o#er Paul Dix and Pamela Fitzpatrick have nonviolent spirit.” Maurice Harris is a Recon- put together a beautiful assemblage of structionist rabbi, and his close resistance at photographs, drawings, autobiographical stories, and interviews with Moses: A Stranger From Plagues to readings of the text and the latest key leverage ")%#"!"' the survivors of one of the many, many U.S. imperial interventions in Among Us Miracles secondary materials are integrated points. Central and South America—interventions that have caused huge suf- Maurice Harris Robert Rosenthal into a lively discussion of some of Urban planning fering to the people of that region. The stories in this collection bring Cascade Books, Hay House, the critical issues of spiritual in- 2012 2012 Sharing it (alternative media) us face-to-face with both the cruelty of the contra war in Nicaragua terpretation. Instead of explaining (research) new story new Passing it on Creating the the Creating (education) and the tremendous capacity of human beings to transcend the hatred away contradictions in the text or assigning them to different authors, that America’s contras manifested as they decimated important parts Local farming and Harris attributes them to the wisdom of Torah redactors who under- Peacekeeping (unarmed of the Nicaraguan population. For those who do not attend the yearly stood that consecutive and conflicting accounts in Torah are “com- consumption ( ')'""% civilians) demonstrations held by the School of Americas Watch (SOAW) in Fort menting on the contradictory and logic-defying nature of the intense &'%"' practice Peacebuilding Benning, Georgia, where the United States continues to train South and human-Divine encounter.” Spiritual experiences, he argues, do not need (ending world meditation or equivalent Central American police and military to engage in torture as part of to make logical sense: “The nature of some aspects of Reality may be hunger) disciplines their “counterinsurgency” lessons, this book is an amazing wake-up call nonlinear . with contradictory elements sitting alongside each other that shatters the myth of American innocence. Protecting and creating a paradoxical tension that may be part of the truth of our % Peacemaking own encounters with the Divine in our lives.” Accepting this as a way to wild areas +#(%& %#! (creative dispute Unfortunately, many apologists resolution) read the Moses story, Harris concludes that, despite the prophet’s flaws, #%$#%' are now misusing the cry of “anti- Moses is a “great mythic iconoclast and advocate for the downtrodden !and Semitism” to justify Israeli policies; Functioning . [who] represents the possibility of radical transformation and the to replace it: they don’t understand how Israel’s democratic triumph of justice in human affairs.” treatment of Palestinians and its Reforestation %"#(' institutions Robert Rosenthal, on the other hand, seems less familiar with lib- !' !#%+ efforts to drag the U.S. into war "#")# " eration theology’s interpretive tradition and the approach of Hasidism, with Iran provoke more hatred of Nonviolent and more familiar with the insights of Helen Schucman’s book A Course %#''#" $%&#" *')%+#" "# Israel and, by extension, the Jews leadership models in Miracles. Nevertheless, he comes up with insights that are not only Alternative Our Harsh Logic: Wrestling in the worldwide who support it. It is "+#(%$&&#" (&' consistent with Hasidism and liberation theology, but also deepen their Restorative justice Israeli Soldiers’ Daylight: A Rabbi’s never right to extend anger to all how does your gift meet the insights. In Rosenthal’s view, Moses and Pharaoh are dueling aspects of transportation and (replace the prison Testimonies from the Path to Palestinian members of an ethnic, racial, or re- manufacturing world’s needs? industrial complex) the human mind. Rosenthal is far from being reductive or New-Agey— Occupied Territories Solidarity ligious group for the obnoxious be- 350) he is a sophisticated psychiatrist, and this book provides a provocative Alternative communities 2000-2010 (transition towns) Brant Rosen havior of some of its members— “Gross National National Happiness” Happiness” and spiritually insightful reading that will enrich any Torah study you Compiled by Just World Books, doing so is the quintessence of rac- Breaking the Silence 2012 do in your own life. Safe, renewable ism. Yet the testimonies of Israeli energy ( Metropolitan Gandhian Books, 2012 soldiers presented by the Israeli or- Red Letter Revolution economics ganization “Breaking the Silence” Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo might give even the most morally blind supporter of the Likud govern- Thomas Nelson publishing, 2012 ment an understanding of why people around the world are increas- Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo are two of the ingly directing their anger toward Israel. Our Harsh Logic also profiles most significant prophetic voices in the Christian This !ow from the personal to many morally sensitive Jews who refused to accept the IDF’s disrespect- world. Red Letter Revolution, which raises the ques- the political is important but ful and oppressive treatment of Arabs as legitimate—it’s a book that tion “What if Jesus really meant what he said?” is not necessarily chronological. needs to be read by both Zionists and the haters of Zionism and will such an exciting and brilliant book that it should be Practice nonviolence in deed, word, make many Jews proud of our Israeli dissenters! Locate your project(s) on the %"'"& read by people of all faiths and by secular humanists as well. Claiborne Moral sensitivity is also a main theme in Wrestling in the Daylight, map; sense your solidarity and as far as possible even thought. and Campolo’s interpretation of Jesus’s message closely aligns with #"#!& a compilation of the emails that Rabbi Brant Rosen received from with everyone in this work Be constructive wherever possible, that of many Jews who are now reclaiming the Jewish prophet from congregants, American Jews, and Israelis as he slowly developed an Never neglect your own obstructive when necessary Nazareth as one of their inspiring teachers, though many of these same understanding of the injustice of the Occupation, along with Rosen’s development Focus on “keystone” issues that Jews seem to extend his teachings to the issue of abortion in ways that reflections on those exchanges. Like Our Harsh Logic, Rosen’s book re- Think of constructive alterna- will really leverage change have no foundation in Jesus’s actual teachings and conflict with the veals a capacity to transcend the unthinking nationalism that perme- tives "rst and then: standard Jewish interpretation of Exodus 21:22–23. Make sure you get Don’t rely too much on symbols: ates many contemporary synagogues. It also shows why anti-Semitism this book in the hands of any Christian who wants to repair America’s Address all con!icts through be concrete wherever possible must be fought with the same energy with which we fight Israel’s self- Helping people practice nonviolence safely and economic and political ruins—it will give them a spiritual foundation creative nonviolence. (the Salt March was about real salt!) destructive and immoral policies. e!ectively, and working toward a nonviolent culture. for the healing we desperately need. www.mettacenter.org. %FTJHO-ZOEB#BOLTtXXXMZOEBCBOLTDPN TIKKUN_28.1_cvr_1PP.indd 2 10/12/12 10:35 AM Remembering WINTER 2013 Denise Levertov 3 Letters page 52 EDITORIALS 7 Get Money Out of Politics | michael lerner Even if we overturn Citizens United, donations from the rich will continue to distort our democracy. That’s why we need an Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment (ESRA) to ban all private money in politics! 13 How Do We Get Money Out of Politics? david cobb, peter gabel, harriet fraad, amory starr, and michael lerner Responding to Rabbi Lerner’s editorial, “Get Money Out of Politics,” roundtable participants discuss whether it is more strategic to focus on a narrower amendment to overturn Citizens United or to aim higher. POLITICS & SOCIETY 15 Co-ops: A Good Alternative? | lita kurth Co-ops run the gamut from cartel-style corporations to exciting grassroots initiatives. What makes some better able to stay true to their ideals? SPECIAL SECTION: JUSTICE IN THE CITY PAGE 17 18 Justice in the City | aryeh cohen Rabbinic Judaism holds residents of a city responsible for the well-being of every stranger who passes through it.