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We talk about an exciting partnership between the United Way of Kenosha County and the Community-Based Learning Program at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside that resulted in the creation of an interactive online map house on the United Way's website that allows people to find resources and services in the community. Our guests: Carolynn Friesch, Chief Executive Officer of the United Way of Kenosha County... Amy Garrigan, UW-Parkside Community Engagement Specialist .... Jevon Claussen, Senior Director of Community Impact Operations for the United Way of Kenosha Country .... Dr. Caitlin Whitaker, Associate Professor of Geography and Anthropology ..... Kalista Butkiewicz, a junior environmental studies major at Parkside and a student in Professor Whitaker's GID & Communities course .... and Tamarra Coleman, former Executive Director of the Shalom Center and current CEO of the Racine YMCA. (The Shalom Center is one of the agencies that is part of this new online map.)
In today's episode, you will hear how Tamarra's corporate life of twenty-four years helped prepare her for the job she feels called to at the Shalom Center. To build a community partnership you must have UNITY & SERVANT LEADERSHIP. Tamarra believes "action is the foundational key to all success" and that has helped her build brand awareness for her organization's mission. People must understand what your organization does, how you serve others, and where they can get involved. You have to promote your organization's mission so that others can join in the cause. Nothing in life is a waste Tamarra believes there is a purpose and plan behind everything. Get ready to be inspired by how Tamarra and her team are leading their community forward with action & loving hearts!
In this episode, we're excited to introduce The Black Students/Families Network, a new initiative aimed at addressing the unique challenges African American students face in their educational journeys. Data from Kenosha County reveals that African American students experience poorer outcomes compared to other racial and ethnic groups in our community. These trends mirror national patterns affecting Black students across the country. Our network seeks to understand these challenges in-depth and work towards overcoming the barriers faced by Black students and families, with the goal of fostering success and achieving better educational outcomes. Guest Speakers: Jaran Bouie, Director of Business Intelligence & Analytics at AgileOne and board member at Kenosha Christian Academy. Tamarra Coleman, Executive Director of the Shalom Center of Interfaith Network of Kenosha County, Inc. Yolanda Jackson-Lewis, Coordinator of Diversity/Student & Family Engagement at Kenosha Unified School District
Tamarra Coleman may have grown up on Christmas Lane, but she still holds on to that glorious spirit most reserve for December all year long! Through her life, she has remained active in the community with several years as a Kenosha Unified School Board member and president, and currently she is the Executive Director of the Shalom Center! The Shalom Center offers up many great resources for local citizens who are down on their luck, from their daily Soup Kitchen (5pm-6pm), to the Food Pantry (Wednesdays & Fridays, 8:30-11:30), to their new Hope Hub Community Center (weekdays, 8:30-4:30), the Shalom Center is here for you to give you that little hand when you desperately need it. For more information about the Shalom Center, visit their website here! This episode was recorded on May 20th, 2024 at the A+ Mobility Recording Studio – home of Ktown Connects! Aason Hunzinger of AHDidIt Union Park Tavern, 4520 Eighth Ave. Public Craft Brewing Company 628 58th St Casey Family Options Funerals & Cremations, 3016 75th St About Time Moving Systems Law Offices of Frank J. Parise, 7001 30th Ave Shannyn Franklin – ReMax Newport Elite Franks Diner, 508 58th St Wink Beauty Boutique, 10909 Sheridan Rd The Port of Kenosha Beverage House RockIt Optical Eyewear, 815 57th St, 2nd floor Vintage Underground, 5817 Sixth Ave Get your Ktown Connects merchandise at The Lettering Machine, 725 50th St. Drop us an email at ktownconnects@yahoo.com Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter – and at ktownconnects.com Theme song performed by Dropping Daisies, written by James “Red” McLeod. Your hosts are Donny Stancato and Jason Hedman Get additional episodes early and ad-free, along with bonus material with this week's guest and more great exclusive material by becoming a patreon supporter! Click here for more!
Overcoming adversity is a common theme for women throughout their careers. In this episode of “Your Money. Your Mission.”, Kelly has a candid discussion with two remarkable women, Tamarra Coleman, Executive Director of the Shalom Center, and Karla Krehbiel, Regional President of Johnson Financial Group in the Southeast region. With a combined experience of 70 years advocating for women in business and life, they discuss challenges faced, support received, and strategies employed to navigate male-dominated industries. From owning their numbers to embracing authenticity, Tamarra and Karla emphasize the importance of mindset, continuous learning, and mentorship in achieving success. Their shared commitment to servant leadership, balanced with courage and adaptability, shines through as they empower the next generation of women leaders. They also stress the significance of financial literacy and empowerment, drawing from personal experiences to ensure a secure future for themselves and their families. Tamarra and Karla inspire listeners to embrace their potential, challenge norms, and chart their own paths to success.Submit a question on Your Money. Your Mission.Click here to enter giveaway Click here to enter giveaway
Nate DeGroot is a Jewish experiential educator and activist, and currently serves as the Associate Director for The Shalom Center. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Judaism as a prompt for making the world a better place.It's not too late to register for our full-semester spring courses in the UnYeshiva! We've got Biblical animals, Jewish apocrypha, mythic approaches to climate change, and beyond! Visit JudaismUnbound.com/classes to learn more and register.Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
This month, we're speaking with Chief Christopher Bigley (Kenosha Fire Department), Mitch Ferraro (Owner, Family Legacy Real Estate), Crystal Miller (CEO, Frontida Assisted Living), and Tamarra Coleman (Executive Director, Shalom Center) to discuss how their involvement in the Racial Equity Institute Phase 1 workshop has impacted their lives, careers, and organizations. Since January 2020, BOF has partnered with the Racial Equity Institute (REI) as part of our responsibility to better understand diversity, equity, and inclusion. To date, BOF has trained more than 200 local leaders in Kenosha County representing almost every sector! Thanks to the investment from Snap-on Incorporated, BOF will continue to offer workshop opportunities in 2023! Learn more about the Racial Equity Institute here: https://racialequityinstitute.org/
Arlene GoldbardIn this episode we talk to author, visual artist, educator, and activist Arlene Goldbard about her new book. In the Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does it Mean to be Educated. In it she explores her life's journey along with a camp of 11 angels that include James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Paolo Freire, Doris Lessing, and Jane Jacobs. BioArlene Goldbard (www.arlenegoldbard.com) is a New Mexico-based writer, speaker, consultant, cultural activist, and visual artist whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics and spirituality. Her books include The Wave, The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & The Future; New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development, Community, Culture and Globalization, Crossroads: Reflections on the Politics of Culture, and Clarity. Her new book, In The Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does It Mean to Be Educated? was published by New Village Press in January 2023. Her essays have been widely published. She has addressed academic and community audiences in the U.S. and Europe and provided advice to community-based organizations, independent media groups, institutions of higher education, and public and private funders and policymakers. Along with François Matarasso, she co-hosts “A Culture of Possibility,” a podcast produced by miaaw.net. From 2012 to 2019, she served as Chief Policy Wonk of the USDAC (usdac.us). From 2008-2019, she served as President of the Board of Directors of The Shalom Center. Notable MentionsChange the Story / Change the World: A Chronicle of art and community transformation across the globe.Change the Story Collection: Many of our listeners have told us they would like to dig deeper into art and change stories that focus on specific issues, constituencies, or disciplines. Others have shared that they are using the podcast as a learning resource and would appreciate categories and cross-references for our stories. In response we have curated episode collections in 11 arenas: Justice Arts, Children and Youth, Racial Reckoning, Creative Climate Action, Cultural Organizing, Creative Community Leadership Development, Arts and Healing, Art of the Rural, Theater for Change, Music and Transformation, Change Media. In the Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does it Mean to be Educated: An autodidact explores issues of education itself through essays and personal portraits of the key minds who influenced her. What does it mean to be...
Look around, at the news, the Government, the Globalists, Satan's Kingdom. It's all been prophesied, by the Messiah/Jesus. Learn the Warning signs today
The Exodus Alliance is a group of multifaith organizations, faith leaders, and everyday people taking action for climate justice. On Passover, they plan to organize Passover street seders in front of Chase banks all across the country -- the world's largest investor in fossil fuels -- to challenge the financial underpinnings of this "Carbon Pharaoh." Nate DeGroot, national organizer for The Shalom Center, and Madeline Canfield, organizing coordinator for the Jewish Youth Climate Movement, represent two of the projects that are collaborating on the Exodus Alliance, along with Dayenu. They join Dan and Lex for a conversation about "carbon pharaohs," non-violent direct action, and activism across generations.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
This week, we're speaking with Dr. Jen Freiheit, Health Officer/Director for Kenosha County Public Health, Tamarra Coleman, Executive Director for Shalom Center and Kirsten Gundersen, Kenosha County Public Health Strategist for Kenosha County Public Health to hear about the evolution of the Kenosha County Health Equity Taskforce. They'll share their wins, challenges, and learnings through their boots on the ground approach over the last 12 months. Kirsten Gundersen, Kenosha County Public Health Strategist for Health Equity shares, “... as a Kenosha County Public Health entity, we learned a lot about how important it is to keep going back (to the underserved neighborhoods and small businesses) because that's a part of building trust …. that's a way to achieve systemic change.”
September, October, and November are traditional harvest celebration months in the Northern Hemisphere from variations on Octoberfests to those around the idea of Thanksgiving. The ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot is celebrated from the full moon on September 20th to September 27th this year, with the Autumnal Equinox occurring on the 22nd. This week on Cultivating Place we enjoy the second of two conversations on the sacred every day and the sacred in the seasonal. We are joined from Philadelphia by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, co-founder of The Shalom Center, which equips activists and spiritual leaders with awareness and skills needed to lead in shaping a transformed and transformative Judaism that can help create a world of peace, justice, healing for the earth, and respect for the interconnectedness of all life. A long-time activist for social and environmental justice, Rabbi Waskow is also the author of Seasons of our Joy, which brings reverent renewal to the ancient agricultural and seasons-based celebrations of the Abrahamic religions. Listen in! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you so much for listening over the years and we hope you'll support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow even more of these types of conversations. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Podcast, and Stitcher. To read more and for many more photos please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.
Growing up in the Columbus Park neighborhood gave John Collins a rich appreciation for his hometown. Today we talk to John about his life and the many avenues his life has taken including paperboy, Wilson Elementary School teacher, and the tribulations he took on as the Kenosha County Executive in the mid-80s when over 5,000 Kenosha workers at the AMC plant had concerns about the future of their careers. But John hasn’t stopped… since “retirement” he remains active as a member of several local boards, including The History Center, The Shalom Center, and HarborMarket, and a long-time member of the Kiwanis Club and he even writes a little bit for kenosha.com. Enjoy this great conversation we had with John and what connects him to Kenosha.This episode was recorded on April 26th, 2021 at Luigi’s Pizza Kitchen, 7531 39th Avenue. -Big thanks to our sponsors:Kaiser’s Pizza and Pub of Kenosha, 510 57th St.Captain Mike’s, 5118 Sixth Ave.Lucci’s Grandview 6929 39th Ave.Union Park Tavern, 4520 Eighth Ave. Pine Blossom, 5925 Sixth Ave-A Coming Up Roses Cleaning & OrganizingWashed Out Hair ProductsGet your Ktown Connects merchandise thanks to The Lettering Machine, 725 50th St.Drop us an email at ktownconnects@yahoo.comFind us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and at ktownconnects.comTheme music performed by Dropping Daisies, written by James “Red” McLeod.Your hosts are Donny Stancato and Jason Hedman
In this episode of The Construction Big Breakfast, host Brendan Morahan sits down with Father Patrick Devine to talk about the life-changing work they're doing on the ground in Afric through the Shalom Center for Conflict Resolution.If you'd like to learn more about the Shalom Center for Conflict Resolution, or would like to donate to the charity, please visit: www.shalomconflictcenter.org Hosted by Invennt.www.invennt.com
In this episode of the Seekers of Meaning Podcast, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center in Philadelphia, discusses how the Jewish harvest festival Sukkot can be a model for teaching about Climate Change and healing the earth. The post SOM Pod: Rabbi Arthur Waskow of The Shalom Center, on #SukkotForClimateHealing appeared first on Jewish Sacred Aging.
In this episode of the Seekers of Meaning Podcast, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center in Philadelphia, discusses how the Jewish harvest festival Sukkot can be a model for teaching about Climate Change and healing the earth. The post SOM Pod: Rabbi Arthur Waskow of The Shalom Center, on #SukkotForClimateHealing appeared first on Jewish Sacred Aging.
Enter the pathway, turn; you think you're headed right to center but - ho! you're on the outskirts of everything. Keep walking. In a Labyrinth, you can only (eventually) reach Center, then go steadily back to where you began. This kind of walking meditation is centuries old. Central Reform Congregation, active in the heart of St. Louis MO, is building a new pathway along these same lines, as artist and longtime CRC member Robert Fishbone leads a meditative labyrinth installation, part of the "Fitness Course for the Soul" on the grounds of CRC. Joining Fishbone in this Earthworms conversation is Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow, from The Shalom Center in Philadelphia, who will visit CRC September 20-22 to speak about Faith and the Climate Crisis, and join STL youth for the Climate Strike on Sept 20 at City Hall. For the CRC labyrinth, Fishbone and CRC friends chose a "Jericho" design, representing the 7 walls around the ancient biblical city. CRC members and guests will construct this new feature of their urban sacred grounds on Sunday September 8, 1-4 pm; the public is welcome to join in the "honorable silence" of this meditative project, at the corner of Waterman and Kingshighway in St. Louis' Central West End. Once installed on the grounds of CRC, the labyrinth will be accessible to serve as anyone's contemplative path. Music: Balkan Twirl, performed live at KDHX by Sandy Weltman and the Carolbeth Trio THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms green-savvy audio engineer Related Earthworms Conversations: Chalk Riot Artist Liza Fishbone (May 2018) Humans Listen Up in Ralph Nader's "Animal Envy" Fable (Nov 2016)
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Ph.D., the founder, and director of The Shalom Center (https://theshalomcenter.org/) on the topic of "Half a Century of Activism!" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash https://www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz
Helen has an enlightening and informative conversation with Executive Director of Shalom Community Center Reverend Forrest Gilmore. Shalom is a Bloomington IN based, low barrier shelter for the homeless and the services they provide are expansive and much needed. Listen in to hear the insights of a gentle and yet powerful individual whose dedication to people in need is unrelenting.
By making us face our innermost thoughts, beliefs, and fears, artists are a conduit for cultural change. Arlene Goldbard is a writer, social activist and consultant whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics, and spirituality. She is the Chief Policy wonk of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture and President of the Shalom Center. […]
In this episode, we speak to people with experience with both homelessness and incarceration. Often, there is a cyclical relationship between these two situations. We speak with Forest Gilmore, the director of the Shalom Center here in Bloomington. Forest talks about various barriers that both people who experience homelessness and those who have been incarcerated …
On the March 8, 2016 Boomer Generation Radio show, Rabbi Address welcomes Rabbi Mordechai E. Liebling, director of the newly created Social Justice Organizing Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC). In the second half of the program, the guest is Michael Lyons, professional actor and motivational speaker. About the Guests Rabbi Mordechai E. Liebling Rabbi Mordechai E. Liebling Rabbi Mordechai Liebling has worked throughout his career toward tikkun olam, repair of the world. He is the first to direct RRC's unique Social Justice Organizing Program; he leads the College's initiative to invest rabbinical students with the clarity of purpose, vision and voice to become uniquely effective, spiritually strong leaders in the drive toward social justice and environmental sustainability. Through his own experience, Liebling came to realize that spiritual leaders hold unique power to demonstrate and inspire ethical choices, and to lead a pursuit of justice fueled by caring rather than rage. Most recently he served as the executive vice president of Jewish Funds for Justice; prior to that organization's merger with The Shefa Fund, he held the title Torah of Money Director at TSF, providing guidance to help people apply Jewish laws and values to how they spend, invest and donate. For 12 years he was the executive director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, and he later served there as senior consultant. Before entering the rabbinical program at RRC, he worked as a community organizer. Liebling was a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations for 12 years. He has served on the boards of various national and international non-profit organizations; currently he serves on the boards of the Faith and Politics Institute and Rabbis for Human Rights-North America. Liebling also is the president emeritus of the Shalom Center. He has received awards from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and Mazon. Liebling also has spoken out for justice for people with disabilities, and his family was the subject of the award-winning documentary film Praying With Lior. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Cornell University and Master of Arts in the history of American civilization, specializing in American progressive movements, from Brandeis University. Liebling is a 1985 graduate of RRC. He has published articles in many publications, including Tikkun, Israel Horizons, Jewish Currents and The Reconstructionist. Michael Lyons Michael Lyons Actor, speaker, writer, entrepreneur, hospitality industry executive... Mike Lyons has led a very interesting and diverse life. Mike's eclectic background began as a child while living in Paris, France. He appeared in commercials and the film "Paris When It Sizzles" with Tony Curtis, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, and also did dubbing for French and English movies using his bi-lingual ability. Upon his return to the U.S. in the mid-Sixties, he performed in the theater in a variety of roles while also working on the stage crew of the Valley Forge Music Fair - a professional theater located outside Philadelphia, rubbing shoulders with entertainment legends such as Gordon MacRae, Carol Lawrence, and Chita Rivera. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he went to work in the business world, bypassing the opportunity to pursue a vocation in the entertainment industry. Fifteen years later while working in New York City, he resurrected his dormant acting career and landed a national TV commercial for "Honey Bunches of Oats" cereal. From there he joined SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and began to book commercials, TV roles and other jobs on a regular basis including "All My Children" and an Advil commercial that ran on national television for 4 years. All the while, he kept his "day job" as a well-respected expert in the travel/meetings industry. Over the years, he has worked in New York city, Norwalk, CT, Philadelphia, Columbus, OH, and Minneapolis; and his travels have taken him to 32 foreign countries, 43 U.S. states and 76 of the top 100 U.S. cities. As an actor, he has dozens of credits in films, TV shows, commercials and more than 350 live appearances on home shopping network QVC as a product host. His roles have included speaking parts in “The Sixth Sense”, “All My Children, “Veep”, “What Would You Do”, “Arrest & Trial”, and "Outsiders", among others. He can also be seen in the popular Netflix series “House of Cards” playing the Speaker of the House in Season 4, Episode 2. Mike also enjoys performing as a singer and has produced a CD of his own renditions of classic Frank Sinatra songs.As a professional motivational speaker, he has given talks to numerous groups over the past few years on how to achieve goals, pursue your passion, and enhance your personal brand. He has authored a number of articles in both travel industry trade journals as well as consumer magazines, and is frequently sought out by the media as one of the experts in the meetings & events industry.A resident of suburban Philadelphia, he has been married to his lovely wife Lorie for 42 years. They are the parents of Mike Jr. (Krista), Erin Oosthuizen (Simon) and Aimee, and proud grandparents of seven beautiful children: Ella, Caitlin, Jesse, Ansley, Joshua, Avery and Logan. Boomer Generation Radio is sponsored in part by Kendal Corporation, a Quaker-based provider of continuing care retirement communities in the Northeast and Midwest, airs on WWDB-AM 860 every Tuesday at 10 a.m., and features news and conversation aimed at Baby Boomers and the issues facing them as members of what Rabbi Address calls “the club sandwich generation.” You can hear the show live on AM 860, or streamed live from the WWDB website. Subscribe to the RSS feed for Boomer Generation Radio podcasts. Subscribe to the RSS feed for all Jewish Sacred Aging podcasts. Subscribe to these podcasts in the Apple iTunes Music Store.
Readers of Bloom Magazine are being invited to take a look at their city through the eyes of its homeless residents.
The History of Papal Advocacy, a Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis, the “Hydra of Homophobia"This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, host Rev. Welton Gaddy will discuss Pope Francis’ much-anticipated encyclical on the environment with scholar Kevin Lowe. He’ll talk to Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Founder and Director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia about the Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis, which has been signed by more than 300 Jewish faith leaders. And finally, Welton will explore what one governor’s attack on his state’s courts might portend for the long-awaited Supreme Court decision on marriage equality – and what threatened defiance to that might look like will react with the Brennan Center’s Matthew Menendez. Right Wing Bucking the (Judicial) SystemAfter state courts in Kansas ruled against Governor Sam Brownback’s drastic cuts to education funding, he has threatened retaliation: defund the courts! Has this ever happened before? What does it mean for Kansans? And more broadly, are there implications for another judicial ruling – this time by the Supreme Court – that Brownback’s fellow conservatives expect being unhappy with? With a federal decision on same-sex marriage due by the end of the month, and a new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute showing supporters and opponents of marriage equality alike expecting the Court to recognize marriage as a constitutional right, what might the “defiance” threatened by opponents look like? Welton speaks with Matthew Menendez, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. Vatican Activism and “Leaving Science to the Scientists”According to Catholic presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, the Pope’s upcoming encyclical on the environment is beyond the Church’s area of expertise, and he should just “leave science to the scientists.” (Santorum conveniently forgot that the Pope studied Chemistry before entering Seminary.) However, Santorum is also forgetting the long history of formal papal involvement in global affairs and politics. Scholar Kevin M. Lowe, who’s written on the history of papal advocacy in Religion Dispatches, joins Welton to discuss the Pope’s encyclical, the Catholic voices of opposition, and ways the Vatican has historically impacted global affairs. The Making and Effect of the Rabbinic Letter on Climate CrisisReligious figures tackling important— if political— problems isn’t limited to the Pope. 300 rabbis have recently signed the Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis. Welton will be joined by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, longtime environmental activist and an instrumental force behind the letter. The two will discuss the origins of the letter, caring for the earth as a Jewish mandate, as well as its intentions, expectations, and the effect of uniting rabbis from all different denominations in hopes of a healthier planet. The Hydra of HomophobiaEven with relentless progress in the area of LGBT rights – and a widely-anticipated positive Supreme Court decision on marriage equality anticipated later this month – it’s not hard to find instances of religious and legislative efforts to demonize gay people and somehow portray fundamentalists as the victims. The problem of inequality is far from solved in this country and beyond. Welton shares a few thoughts about why this really matters.
Host Alycin Bektesh speaks with Police Chief Mike Diekoff, Forest Gilmore of the Shalom Center and Elaine Guinn of New Hope Family Shelter about options for warm shelter in Bloomington.
A conversation with Rabbi Arthur Waskow about Jewish Renewal, the Environment, Social Activism and much more. Since 1969, Waskow has taken a leadership role in the Jewish Renewal movement. In 1971, he helped found the Fabrangen Havurah in Washington, DC. The Torah discussions at Fabrangen inspired Waskow's book Godwrestling (NY: Schocken, 1978). He founded The Shalom Center in 1983 and serves as its director. In its inception the Shalom Center primarily confronted the threat of nuclear war from a Jewish perspective, emphasizing the story of Noah and the imperative to save the world from "a flood of fire". As the Cold War abated, the Shalom Center turned its focus toward ecology and human rights issues. From 2002 to 2008, it pursued shared action among Jews, Christians, and Muslims; opposition to attacks on American Muslim life and opposition to the US War in Iraq. From 2005 on, it has especially focused on the dangers of "global scorching" and the climate crisis. Waskow's best-known books include Godwrestling (1978), Seasons of Our Joy (1982), Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, and the Rest of Life (1995), Down-to-Earth Judaism, andGodwrestling — Round 2: Ancient Wisdom, Future Paths (1996). With Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, and Murshid Saadi Shakur Chisti, he co-authored The Tent of Abraham (2006). With Rabbi Phyllis Berman he has co-authored "Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World"; "A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral as a Spiritual Journey"; and "Freedom Journeys: Tales of Exodus and Wilderness Across Millenia." He was the managing co-editor of Trees, Earth, and Torah: A Tu B'Shvat Anthology, and he edited Torah of the Earth: 4,000 Years of Jewish Thought on Ecology(2 vols, Jewish Lights).
The Shalom Center advocates for the most vulnerable among us and promotes activities that empower persons to develop their assets to the fullest extent possible.
This week's links: Judaism and Same-Sex Marriage, from MyJewishLearning.com Jewish Group OK's Same-Sex Marriage, from the Boston Globe The Reform Movement on LGBT Issues, from Jewish Mosaic Wedding Liturgy for a Same Sex Marriage, from the Shalom Center