Social Justice: Leadership and Philosophy

Transformation Will Only Come Through Honesty About Our Past
Nowhere do we see God and the people in a real process of engagement with their history and what is broken in their relationship. With so much left unsaid and unresolved, we should not be surprised to see the same issues in their relationship emerging again and again.
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Stopping to Listen to Complaints
Even if we vehemently disagree with the complaints of others, though, perhaps we have to listen and discern the genuine concerns underlying such dissatisfaction — much as we strive to listen more closely to the Israelites’ culinary complaints.
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The Art of Burden-Bearing
I wonder if there might not be some wisdom in “let’s not talk about it”; if the covering might, sometimes, be part of the carrying.
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Using the Right Tools
This is as relevant for us today as it was in the Ramban’s time: That which we consume has the power to consume us. There’s nothing today we consume more than media.
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Awakening the World With Love
‘I was asleep, but my heart was wakeful.’ The first part of this verse is a call. ...Within myself there is something to be awakened.
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Finding Our Agency When Water is at Our Necks
Passover’s story reminds us to see ourselves as newly freed slaves. The Nachshon story invites us to see ourselves as agents of miracles.
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Unlearning the Tzara’at from Our Walls
The Kli Yakar (16th century, Prague)... says that it is this stinginess that brings “tzara’at of houses,” that our refusal to share is what will ultimately destroy our homes and society.
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Lift Your Head
The haftarah in the guise of Naaman says that one need not be defined by tzara’at – or, we add, any aspect of ourselves by which others define us, as though we are unidimensional.
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How Ritual Grounds Us For Activism
Without the structure of community and the grounding of ritual, my action, based on the heat of my emotions, would be like a wildfire rather than a well-tended altar.
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