search the databaseBrowse By Category |
Browse
left to right
The sense for ‘the miracles which are daily with us,’ the sense for the ‘continual marvels,’ Is the source of prayer. There is no worship, no music, no love, if we take for granted the blessings or defeats of living. No routine of the social, physical, or physiological order must dull our sense of surprise at the fact that there is a social, a physical, or a physiological order. We are trained in maintaining our sense of wonder by offering a prayer before the moment of food.
left to right
If the Exodus created an ethnic/tribal consciousness among Jews, it was Sinai that invested in them an understanding of their mission in the world. Jewish existence was to be based on bringing tzedek and mishpat, righteousness and justice, to all God’s children. The covenant forged at Sinai committed the Jewish people to a life of ethics and values. It was the spiritual/moral genesis of the Jewish people, and it was powerfully connected to the Jewish people’s understanding of what God wants of them.
left to right
[Eve Ensler created the Vagina Monologues]
left to right
We cannot, he says, both insist that tikkun olam and social justice are central and also embrace serious Jewish education and Jewish practice. But we can, and in fact, we must. To do one without the other is to retreat from the world and distort Judaism’s very essence.
left to right
The work of social justice, absent text study and ritual practice as a foundation, is inauthentic and will not sustain itself. Indeed, I have found that the work of "tikkun olam," for all its rewards, is lonely and discouraging work, and only by absorbing the light of the Shabbat candles and by studying and worshiping with a strong, dynamic Jewish community can I immunize myself against the cynicism and alienation that surround me.
left to right
The meaning of kvod ha-adam [human dignity] is to not degrade and debase the image of God in the human being. Not every sort of harm to human dignity is included in the framework of the Basic law of human dignity and freedom. For example, [the law does not preclude] wounding the honor of an esteemed person, for whom it is fitting, according to his status, to sit only with others of his status and not with common people…Such harm is not considered degrading and debasing of the divine image, and it is not included in the framework of the basic law of human dignity and freedom.
left to right
The roots of the commandment to charity are deep. They go to the essential call on all of us to help sustain life, to heal the world (Tikkun olam), and to remember that we were once ourselves strangers in a strange land. Tzedakah is justice itself. As the world changes, so too must our response to the profound commandment of charity.
left to right
We bring Torah into the world when we strive to fulfill the highest ethical mandates in our relationships with others and with all of God’s creation. Partners with God in tikkun olam, repairing the world, we are called to help bring nearer the messianic age. We seek dialogue and joint action with people of other faiths in the hope that together we can bring peace, freedom and justice to our world.
left to right
An AJWS alternative spring break participant spends about 25 hours engaged in active volunteer work—usually performing manual labor—during his or her week of service. In the impoverished regions of Central America where most of our groups travel, hourly wages run about $5 or $6. That’s something like $150 worth of labor. The direct cost of sending said college student—including airfare, room and board, insurance, group leaders, etc.
left to right
In the middle of a cold night, thirty-eight people refused the risk of being stabbed or getting involved by answering a cry for help of a person they could not see. Is that a greater mystery, a greater offense, than that by light of day thousands on a single street withhold help to suffering people, when it would cost them virtually nothing and put them in no peril, even though they see their faces and sores? |