This morning I received an email from a guy over at the Awakened Heart Project (AHP) telling me about their new website. I decided to check it out and WOW, I am impressed with what I saw. It’s basically an online resource with the stated aim of enhancing peoples understanding and experience of Jewish meditation and prayer.

Here is a blurb from their about page.

The mission of Awakened Heart Project is to promote the use of Jewish contemplative techniques that foster the development of a heart of wisdom and compassion. Cultivating an awakened heart leads to acting in the world with loving-kindness towards all beings recognizing them as manifestations of the Holy One of Being.

The AHP provides opportunities for a focused effort at refining contemplative Jewish practices, such as meditation and prayer, as well as creating opportunities for intensive practice.

Also here is some of what the site offers, as listed on their welcome page.

• • Regularly updated podcasts
  • Essays and articles on Jewish meditation
  • Jewish meditation events calendar
  • Meditation and contemplative Jewish resources

I haven’t spent a whole bunch of time going through these resources yet but they do look good. So I’m sure to be, a frequent visitor to this site. If your interested in the contemplative side of Judaism this site is a must see. If you don’t know anything about contemplative Judaism but are curious, this site will get you up to speed in no time, so check it out.

Technorati tags: Contemplative Judaism, Online Judaism, Jewish Meditation, The Awakened Heart Project, Jewish Audio

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Last weekend ABC’s (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) program “The Spirit of Things” aired an interesting show looking at some of the schisms, opportunities and misunderstandings that exist within the Jewish/Christian dialogue.  I am listing to it now and thus far, it’s quite good.

Below is the show synopsis and a couple links for those of you who would like to listen to it for your selves!

SUMMARY: Since the parting of the ways 2000 years ago, are Christians and Jews any closer to bridging the gap of understanding and friendship? After a history of being persecuted by Christians, Jews feel they are still the object of antisemitism. Meanwhile Christians preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to an unredeemed world. How can these two traditions overcome the sibling rivalry and work for a better world? New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine, and others from the International Council of Christians and Jews conference in Sydney point the way.

       1) Link  2) Enclosure

One thing that has really grabbed me was the interview with Amy-Jill Levine, a biblical scholar from Vanderbilt . I have a an excellent series of lectures by here on some of the great figures of the “Old Testament”. I had always assumed that she was a Christian theologian because that lecture series I have, used the term “Old Testament” instead of Torah in the title. I just thought that no Jew would do that. But nope she is in fact an accomplished (Modern Orthodox) Jewish academic.

One of her main points seems to be that we Jew’s need to develop a better understanding of who Jesus was and why he is so important to our Christians neighbors. More or less suggesting that we Jews a have been lazy especially since the Holocaust in terms of Judeo/Christian understanding. She goes on to to suggest many Jews seem to believe that Christians need to apologize and learn about us and our Judaism but we need do nothing but accept the apologies. To her this is not only a mistake but inappropriate. If you want to know why, well then you will have to listen for yourselves! 

NOTE: I just heard that Jesus wore “Tzitzit“. Nice!

Levine also briefly touches on how and why she wound up as a member of an Orthodox community, which is also interesting.

Oh, I wanted mention that she has written what promises to be a very interesting new book, titled “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus”. This is one, I’m sure to be reading in the not too distant future.

Anyhow, I haven’t even touched on the interfaith dialogue stuff but trust me it’s worth checking out!

Zed and Steg, if you guys end up listening to the show let me know what you think.

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Oy vey, oy vey, oy vey…

I stumbled across this a few minutes ago and I’m watching it as I type.

Ya just gotta love the punk rock, vegan matzah balls (big huge ones) and gay rights. Oh and Plagues, cuz it just ain’t punk without plagues.

Anyhow from the blurb!

The PPK Passover Episode - This time up Terry & Isa show us how to make a great vegan Matzoh Ball Soup and Coconut Cream Pie. Musical Guest: Stupid

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Hey, just a quick post to share something I received from an e-mail list I belong to earlier this evening.

I’m not exactly certain who produced these but I believe they came from some sort of safety organization at of Israel.

The safety booklet has a really interesting section filled with tips on how to include children safely into the Passover cleaning activities. As for the coloring book to be honest I’m not sure that if I was a kid I would have really been into it but what do I know. Both books seem to be put together very well in terms of layout and design.

Anyhow enjoy.

Safety Booklet - http://rubenu.org/beitshemesh/pesachsafety.pdf

Coloring Book - http://rubenu.org/beitshemesh/coloringbook.pdf

Technorati tags: Passover Safety Tips, Passover Coloring Book, Pesach, Pesach Preperation

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Earlier this week somebody on my bloglines had a post with a dead link to video from what I’m assuming was a documentary clip about some problems that were taking place at Concordia University in 2002. I think it may have been one of the Barbarians posts which originally caught my attention and reminded me of this Montréal fiasco, but I can’t recall and I’m too lazy to try and figure it out.

Anyhow my interest was tweaked enough to go and track down the documentary about the demonstrations and resulting problems between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli student groups at Concordia. The documentary I found is entitled “Confrontation at Concordia” and is available for your viewing pleasure at the bottom of this post.

I remember watching the documentary when it first came out (probably on CBC news world or TV Ontario) as well is another one which was a little bit more balanced and objective in my opinion. It’s certainly worth watching if you’ve got an hour to spend because it points out some serious problems which took place five years ago at Concordia and the negative consequences it had on the campus Hillel. However having said that five years ago is a lifetime away in university years and I personally believe that things have changed a lot since the time the events covered in this documentary actually took place.

From watching this video it’s clear that there was a breakdown in student governance at Concordia. Basically the real problem as I see it is that left of center activist types got control of student government and shifted focus from student and education centered issues, instead opting for a more global and political agenda. Specifically it would seem that student government was strongly pro-Palestinian and pro-Iraq, therefore strongly opposed to both Israeli and American policy in the Middle East.

I think this is inappropriate to student politics and that although student government should encourage various student groups to actively pursue their agendas they themselves should not be directly supporting any one position. At least not outside of issues that are directly related to student academic life. Having said that a lot of right wing pro-Israeli types have hijacked the situation in order to promote their own views and to suggest that what took place at Concordia in 2002 was equivalent anti-Semitism, which is in my opinion inaccurate.

However, I’m going to digress and let those of you who watch the video for yourselves come to your own conclusions about what actually did or did not take place.

As always if you do watch the video I’d love to hear your thoughts. I would however ask that you please watch the videos before you comment, this way you know that you are making an informed comment.

Confrontation At Concordia - 1/5

Confrontation At Concordia - 2/5

Confrontation At Concordia -3/5

Confrontation At Concordia -  4/5

Confrontation At Concordia - PART 5 of 5

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I picked up G-D Is a Verb by Rabbi David A. Cooper last night. I don’t mean picked up as in purchased but rather as in, picked up off of my bookshelf for the first time in quite a while.

It’s a really great book although I seem to only be able to read it piecemeal but I know it’s a great book because my copy is littered with highlighting and margin notes throughout every section I’ve read thus far.

Anyhow this morning I picked up the book again and flew to a random page where I stumbled upon this quote.

Justice, it should be noted, in kabbalistic terminology, is compared to what other traditions call karma. That is to say, cosmic justice is the spiritual law that every action, Word, or thought reverberates throughout the universe.

This quote although it’s not the first time I’ve read it still resonates with me in a deep way. I’ve never been able to except the notion of some sort of creator father figure overseeing and judging every one of my actions as either good or bad. I’ve always viewed creation and spirituality as both being intrinsically organic processes and Rabbi Cooper’s quote captures that sentiment very well.

Only a man-made form of justice can be superimposed on a situation in a way that places a good or bad value judgment upon it and therefore can never be a true form of Spiritual Justice. Spiritual justice on the other hand is part of an organic and natural process which begins with the energy that radiates out from our thoughts and deeds in the same way that ripples do when a pebble is thrown into calm water. It is devoid of any superficial value judgments and instead simultaneously influences and is influenced by the creation of a vast and intricate web of interdependent cause-and-effects, stretching out through all of creation.

Anyhow it was an interesting quote and not an angle that I often see presented from a Jewish spiritual point of view, so I thought it was worth sharing with others.

Happy Sunday

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This week both the Jerusalem Post and Ynet had stories on the World Union  for Progressive Judaism’s 33rd International Convention being held in Jerusalem. Of particular interest were the announcements that the WUPJ is planning to expand their activities and programs in Israel and have demanded that the Prime Minister begin recognizing both Progressive/Reform Rabbis and those who convert under them.

According to Ynet

$100,000,000 would be invested in expanding the existing Reform framework in Israel. The aim is to break through to the Israeli public by giving religious, educational and cultural services and rabbinical training.

If this is the case it is in my opinion very good news indeed. I think it’s ridiculous that the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox have a monopoly over what is or is not and who is or is not Jewish. I’m certainly not against Orthodox Jews being allowed to determine definitions and practices for themselves. However in a modern and democratic society like Israel they should not be allowed to single-handedly determine religious issues for those outside of their own religious communities.

I personally as a Jew by choice (after much struggle & thought) refuse to be bound by their definition of what entails being a Jew and I have many Jewish friends who feel the same way and not just about conversion. I think it’s time for modern Jews both in and outside of Israel to stand up and begin pushing for what they believe is fair and right.

I don’t believe it’s going to be the Orthodox Rabbinate that is going to workout any lasting peace between the Palestinians and Israel. I don’t believe it’s the Orthodox Jews who are going to do what needs to be done in order to address women’s rights in Israel. And I certainly don’t believe it’s the Orthodox Jews who are going to create the legislation needed to protect the rights of gays and lesbians in Israel.

I personally find it sad that some Orthodox Jews are more concerned with returning to the ritual slaughter of animals, than they are in addressing their own violence towards women. It seems that some of these people are thinking that it’s okay to beat women on buses, because as long as lambs are being sacrificed, the Messiah will be a coming.

This IMO is utter nonsense and is not something which should be tolerated at all.

It’s hard to tell just how things are going to workout but I certainly think this recent announcement by the WUPJ is a huge step in the right direction, not to mention personally inspiring.

I for one don’t believe that the Orthodox should be marginalized to the point of irrelevance because their view and insights are an important part of the bigger picture but having said that I also refuse to allow them to marginalize me. I don’t want someone who thinks the world is 6000 years old deciding my religious identity or every aspect of my spiritual life.

Anyhow, I have a good feeling about things and it looks to me like the WUPJ is positioning itself in a way that’s going to help break through into the mainstream in Israel.

Be well

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I had planned on posting on a completely different topic today however I guess maybe not. So instead I would like to follow up on yesterday’s post which among other things somewhat attempted to address my thoughts regarding atheisms misunderstanding and exclusion of my God.

It would seem that God has been on my mind a lot lately. Actually come to think of it, pretty much daily since 2001 when I returned from a stint teaching in Asia. I spent most of my life being a categorical god denier, with my earliest memories of doubt beginning sometime around the age of five or six. My first official act of disobedience being at the age of 12 when I refused to undergo the Catholic sacrament of confirmation. This is all stuff which I’ve of course covered in numerous other posts, so I’m not going to waste anybody’s time by rehashing what is already been posted elsewhere on my blog. I guess I just want to point out that God is important to me and our relationship is something that I struggle with daily.

Despite the fact that I’ve been a God denier I’ve never identified as or considered myself to be an atheist. I can’t really say why that is for sure however I’ve always felt, that most of the atheists I knew wasted a lot of time and energy (not to mention emotional well-being) on their dislike and often anger/hatred towards God, Religion and those who profess to be believers. Although I may have seen this is a waste of time it never bothered me because it wasn’t my problem, that is until recently. Now that I count myself as one of the “believers” it has become something of a concern and irritant. This is because I often wind up getting lumped in with the “enemy”.

My first question is what God are people like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris talking about and does it bear any resemblance to the God of my understanding? I’m not suggesting that there might be more than one God, but there certainly is more than one understanding of what that one God might be.

I find it somewhat unfortunate that for whatever reason atheists are unable to separate pre and postmodern understandings of God and creation without, ejecting the very notion of God itself. All (I guess) because to them such beliefs are nothing more than pathology. I think this is an intellectually lazy way out of the problem and is nothing more than a secular/materialistic attempt at forced religious prohibition and abstinence and is something which truly lacks big picture thinking.

I hear that the vast majority of atheists support the theory of evolution and I’m sure that many are more likely to see it as a fact rather than theory. Therefore at least from my perspective the same attitude towards evolution or rather in this case human and social development needs to be taken into consideration. Specifically in terms of psychosocial development with regard to our species ability to understand and relate to God, throughout history and leading up to this very moment.

I believe that in doing so it can only become clear that God has never been, is not now and will never be a one size fits all proposition. It is therefore a huge mistake on the part of atheists to reduce God to what is unfortunately nothing more than, lowest common denominator behavior on the part of humans.

Yes atheists are right to react against the atrocities which come out of the misappropriation of God, especially when horrors are committed in his name. I also deny and denounce the belief in a supernatural God who punishes and judges but I don’t blame God for human misrepresentation of his name, meaning and metaphor.

So for me the question still remains, whose God and religion are atheists fighting against?

Are the atheists arguing against God as proposed by Mordecai Kaplan?

“God is the sum of all the animating organizing forces and relationships which are forever making a cosmos out of chaos,”

“God cannot abridge the laws of nature for God is synonymous with natural law”.

Are atheists arguing against religiosity as understood by Abraham Joshua Heschel?

“A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers no harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.”

I ask this question because both Kaplan and Heschel speak of God as I understand him to be and he bears no resemblance to the abomination that atheists seem to be fighting.

Just curious…

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Last week I watched for the second time I might add, Who Wrote the Bible, a BBC documentary discussing the origins of the Torah (which is Bible in BBC talk). It seems to have left a real impression because I keep having flashbacks about it.

As with most BBC documentaries I found it was very well done. Mixing in the right amounts of flashiness and scholarship, making it both entertaining and educational. It runs over a hundred minutes and can be broken down into two parts. Part one looking at the Torah and part two which focuses on the Christian Bible.

For obvious reasons I’m only going to focus on the first half in this post but in my opinion the entire thing is certainly worth watching. Read the rest of this entry »

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