In response to anti-Semitic threats in the town of Whitefish, Montana, Police Chief William Dial placed a Mezuzah on the door of the police station. He had been giving Orthodox rabbis a tour when Rabbi Adam Scheier gave him a mezuzah, a Jewish traditional small case holding parchment with verses from the Torah, to post… Read more »
Transforming Initiatives
Statue in Korea Sparks Diplomatic Row
The power of a symbol can be seen in the simple dignified statue of a young Korean women. Such a statue was set up in 2011 in Seoul to commemorate the suffering of perhaps as many as 200,000 Korean women who were turned into sex slaves for the Japanese Army during World War II. The… Read more »
Transforming an Insult
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu walked by a construction site on a temporary sidewalk the width of one person. A white man appeared at the other end, recognized Tutu, and said, “I don’t make way for gorillas.” At which Tutu stepped aside, made a deep sweeping gesture, and said, “Ah, yes, but I do.” —… Read more »
Veterans, Standing Rock, and Forgiveness
Some 2,000 U.S. military veterans traveled to Standing Rock to be part of the resistance to the pipeline. As part of their solidarity action the veterans “took a knee” in a ceremony asking the tribes for forgiveness for what has been done to indigenous people through the U.S. military. That forgiveness was offered in the… Read more »
Women March for Peace in Israel & Palestine
Thousands of women marched for peace in October 2016 as part of an event mobilized by Women Wage Peace. Women Wage Peace was organized after the 2014 incursion into Gaza by Israel. Israeli and Palestinian women, Arab and Jewish, marched together throughout the length of Israel and Palestine in a series of local marches over… Read more »