Category: Challenges
“Just Tell Our Story” — Dispatch from Palestine
We met Shirim at her family’s olive grove plot. It falls just outside the Betar Illit settlement. More accurately, it falls on the entire hill but the settlement imposed itself right on top of the f... Read More
Walt Disney’s Theology of Hope, pt. 1
He had an intensely religious youth. He’d been brought up in a strictly regimented church atmosphere. His father was a deacon at one time. [Knowing this] I can understand why he had such a free atti... Read More
Warming Up Thanksgiving Dinner
I recently gave a wa’ez (sermon) on social media, service, and faith. The organizing conceit was Sesame Street, and ideas revolved around the number 5 and the letter “P.” At the end, I had five ... Read More
The Struggle for Dalit Rights in South Asia
Have you ever had a theme assert itself over and over in a very short period of time, as if the universe was sending you cosmic hints to pay attention? In my case, the message right now involves socia... Read More
An Improvised Family: Yom Kippur with Rome’s Progressive Jews
Normally people do not go to Rome to refrain from eating. But it was Yom Kippur, and I was on my way to afternoon services at Beth Hillel, Rome’s new progressive Jewish community. My long walk to th... Read More
Creating Single (M)Otherhood: The Problem of Our “Morality” and How Single Mothers Embody the Ethics We Need
A recent article called “4 Ways I Knew Ray Rice Was Raised by a Single Mother” features a misogynistic enumeration of the football player’s flaws attributed to being raised by a single mom. Thes... Read More
“You are the Bridge”: Embodying Bridge-Building
I recently heard a story that stuck with me. A colleague was telling me about a conversation he had once had with a professor that changed his outlook on a difficult situation. He had grown up attendi... Read More
A Prayer in the Beginning
Last week I was in a Moroccan restaurant in Seattle and had a unique experience: The very nice Palestinian man who ran the restaurant started speaking to me in his Shammi (Eastern) Arabic, and I respo... Read More