From Tikkun:
A note from Rabbi Michael Lerner Join or Donate Now!
Dear Christopher W.,
Each year around the Jewish New Year and High Holidays and the holiday of Sukkot (now all ending). I reach out to connect with the people in our Tikkun Community and Network of Spiritual Progressives, outside the pages of the magazine, to give a short update of my personal life, our situation at Tikkun, and a few thoughts about our political situation. And, unfortunately, I need to ask you again to make an extra contribution to TIKKUN or our education arm, the interfaith (including no-faith) international organization The Network of Spiritual Progressives. These are tough times financially and politically, so we really need your help (even as I recognize that the economic meltdown is probably making it harder for you to financially support causes in which you believe). I personally look at every donation that comes in, and really appreciate it, even though I respond in a form letter (what can I do-I'm always juggling too many things-even though what I'm saying is really addressed from my heart to you Christopher W. and even though you and I know that some cyberspace magician is filling in your first name here!!!! What a set of contradictions that we have to live with!!! But forgive me for that, and please read the rest of the letter).
Tikkun is going to celebrate our 25th anniversary in a few months (beginning of 2011) with a party in the Bay Area, a 25th anniversary issue of the magazine, and simultaneously we will be becoming an online magazine, in addition to the TikkunDaily blog that has been functioning for the past year. (For those who don't know the difference: a blog is written by many different volunteer authors who share our larger worldview, but whose articles are not screened or edited by us, whereas the online magazine will only have articles screened, edited, and refined by us in dialogue with the author, plus our reviews of culture and film, poetry, and some of the most respected and creative thinkers and writers in the world). In both, however, we print articles some of which I strongly disagree with-as part of our commitment to create a serious intellectual forum. Want to know our position? You'll only find that in our editorials! We are even looking for translators who can donate their services to help us create Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Hindi, Arabic and Hebrew versions of the magazine on line-know anyone who'd volunteer to do that in one of those languages?
Why online? Most young people under forty simply do not read print magazines anymore. And online is more environmentally friendly. But to produce Tikkun online we will very much need your financial support-because most readers online are not willing to pay for a subscription or for reading editions of a magazine (though I hope you will, not because you have to, but because you realize that if you are not helping us financially, we simply won't be able to carry on). And if you happen to know someone in a leadership role in a foundation, progressive-friendly corporation, or just a relative or friend or connection with money, please connect to them and convince them to help us out! And if you have a "will," you can add Tikkun as a beneficiary so it can keep going after we've all passed-info on how to do that from pete@tikkun.org. Your generous donation will make a significant difference to us-it's a way of showing your solidarity with us! And we will continue to do the print magazine for as long as there is enough money to do so.
Tikkun will continue as the voice of spiritual progressives, and the Network of Spiritual Progressives will continue as well. This year, the NSP had a conference in San Francisco and a second one in Washington D.C.--together about 1,200 people gathered to explore our spiritual and political realities. We sang, we danced, we prayed, we honored our secular members as well, we had terrific speakers, and we decided along with our Global Marshall Plan campaign to add a second campaign to overturn Citizens United-the decision to allow corporations unlimited spending in elections-by launching the ESRA-Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. With your contributions, NSP will build these campaigns in the coming year (read about ESRA in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of Tikkun-and help us make that campaign work. Suggestions on how you can help are in the magazine and online at www.spiritualprogressives.org/ESRA).
While we are excited about making Tikkun an online venture, we are less excited about the current political situation. When hopes for change get lifted and then disappointed, many of the best people withdraw from politics altogether; others become cynical or even embrace a politics of despair.
We will continue to be an important voice articulating the hope for a different kind of world-not just for tinkering around the edges, but for a new bottom line of love, kindness, compassion, generosity, ethical-ecological sensitivity, non-violence and an end to all wars, an end to torture and human rights abuses and to every form of racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. We continue to actively champion peace, justice and openhearted reconciliation for Israel/Palestine. We are currently protesting Israel's decision to restart (actually, continue, since the previous freeze was largely symbolic and didn't actually stop the settlers) building and enlarging West Bank settlement-thereby undermining the possibility that any significant outcome would emerge from negotiations (you'll hear shortly from me about what actions we can take together). We were outspoken in affirming the right of Muslims to build a mosque/community center a few blocks from "ground zero." And we will continue to publish the voices of secular, religious and spiritual progressives in Tikkun, thereby embodying the interfaith vision of all people being able to maintain their cultural uniqueness and their own traditions and yet still being able to live in harmony with each other and the earth.
We continue to publicize the dangers to Earth caused by environmental irresponsibility, but we are also doing something about it-our ESRA campaign. We call on liberals and progressives to move beyond their narrowly construed politics, to address the hearts of Americans, to affirm the desire of all people around the globe for a life filled with love, kindness, generosity, forgiveness, and joyous celebration of the grandeur and mystery of the universe. And we continue building a global movement committed to "The Caring Society-Caring for Each Other and Caring for the Earth."
Here is our unique function: while others agree with this or that specific policy idea or campaign, we are one of the very few progressive think tanks/activism-generators that has developed a coherent worldview capable of uniting much of the liberal and progressive forces and reaching out to many who would never normally agree with "the Left." And it is the absence of that coherent worldview that severely limits not only the Obama Administration, but also each of the very wonderful progressive projects focused more narrowly on this or that problem. Moreover, while much of the Left is good at saying what is wrong-we insist on providing a vision of a solution and a vision of a positive alternative to the present reality. You won't find this synthesis--of progressive ideals, intellectual and psychological depth, love, and openhearted spirituality, and economic/social policy sophistication--many places in the world. Which is all the more reason to keep Tikkun alive and to support the NSP. We have a vision, we have specific campaigns to promote a new bottom line, and we've got tens of thousands of people hoping that we succeed. But that will only happen if you give generously at this time.
We know, Christopher W., that this is a tough time economically for most of our community-which is why it is so necessary for you to go the extra mile in supporting us, because many of our readers and supporters simply can't give very much at this point. You can donate online at www.tikkun.org or www.spiritualprogressives.org, or you can mail us a check or complete credit card info (check to Tikkun, 2342 Shattuck Ave, #1200, Berkeley, Ca 94704), or call us at 510-644-1200. Whichever way, please do it now (yes, really now, before you put this away to get back to later and then can't find it or forgot why you wanted to help us). Your donations are tax-deductible and will renew your print subscription to Tikkun or give you access online to the magazine. And if you've already donated to our appeal or renewed your membership in the NSP recently, please accept our heartfelt thanks!
Meanwhile, please accept my blessings for a love-filled, healthy, joyous, economically secure, environmentally rational, peace- and justice-flourishing New Year for you and all whom you love.
And my love and blessings to you!
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Editor, Tikkun Magazine, www.tikkun.org and Chair, the Network of Spiritual Progressives
rabbilerner@tikkun.org
P.S. A new nodule was discovered on my right lung (it was the left lung that had cancer a year and a half ago-and half that lung was surgically removed). It may not be cancerous-it may be benign. More tests later in October. But the larger meaning is that I'm going to have to keep subjecting myself to the testing and dangerous levels of radiation for many years to come. Still, this particular nodule is very very small, it may not grow, and may be benign. I'll let you know when I know anything definitive (but please open and read the emails I send you, and if you haven't been getting at least one email a week from me, send Natalie@tikkun.org your email address please). Meanwhile, I'm feeling just fine, and had a spiritually rich High Holidays leading services (with many speakers, notably one describing her experience volunteering in Kenya, another talking as a participant in the demonstrations after a jury had refused to convict a policeman of murder after he shot an unarmed Black man on the BART subway system in Oakland, a third who actually was one of the participants in the first Gaza Aid Flotilla and described the violence to which he had been subjected yet did so in a way that affirmed the humanity of the very Israelis who had assaulted his ship). It's not too late to plan to come to the Bay Area for our Beyt Tikkun services next year (in the past, people have come from as far away as Australia and Israel). And if you are in the Bay Area, to come to my Saturday morning Torah study (in English, and with no previous background in Bible presumed, and often interesting to non-Jews, atheists and agnostics because we deal with social theory, psychology, politics, as well as theology). There is no charge for these sessions. Info at www.BeytTikkun.org
P.P.S. We are still looking for interns and volunteers to work at our office in Berkeley, or to work from home through the internet. Whether it is promoting our Global Marshall Plan or our Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, doing outreach to religious communities, creating a local NSP in your area, helping recruit the most creative and deep thinkers to write for us (we don't pay, unfortunately we just don't have the money), helping us develop online capacities and services, convincing others to JOIN the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) or working with Ama Zenya to help build the organization, helping with proofreading or editing articles, or helping with research on my forthcoming book on Israel/Palestine or on my spiritually-oriented Torah Commentary, or in developing our 25th Anniversary celebration, we and I need volunteer help from people who know what they are doing and are self-starters. Details at www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php/Internships.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
web: www.tikkun.org
email: info@spiritualprogressives.org
Click here to stop receiving future emails
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2010 Tikkun® / Network of Spiritual Progressives®.
2342 Shattuck Avenue, #1200
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-644-1200 Fax 510-644-1255
No comments:
Post a Comment