Tag: Formation
The Beginning of a Settlement — Dispatch from Palestine
Mahmoud’s family lives one Palestinian hill over from a newly-forming illegal Jewish settlement. Six Jewish settlers arrived about a year ago with tents and made a primitive campsite. All year they ... Read More
“Come and see, then go and tell”–Dispatch from Palestine
The Tent of Nations is an organic farm on a long narrow strip of Palestinian land that has held its deed since 1917, through four occupations: Turkish, British, Jordanian, and Israeli. It is placed in... Read More
“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
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
When in Rome, Do as the Progressive Roman Jews Do
I was late to Rosh Hashanah services at Beth Hillel, Rome’s new progressive Jewish community. I meant to leave my apartment at 6pm but I scooted out the door by 6:45pm, realizing that the mistake wo... Read More
Hospitality or Friendship ?
These days there is a lot of talk of hospitality in the field of theologies of religions. Some time ago I presented a paper at the global congress The World’s Religions after September 11 on ... Read More
Why Religion Should Not Try So Hard to Be Cool
Every September college students confront a myriad of student activity organizations, each competing for student loyalties. While campus religious groups might be considered realms for quiet reflectio... Read More
Jesus and the Moneychangers in the Scrovegni Chapel
In the summertime I visited Padua and went to the Scrovegni Chapel, dated 1305. In the past 40 years the frescos have begun to crumble, and curators have researched atmospheric problems in order to co... Read More