An observant Jew, Bleich provides a Jewish rationale for his commitment. While Judaism teaches that each individual is unique and special, it also emphasizes community, he says.
Israel is now stuck between Iraq and a hard place; those in the administration who most uncritically support Israel don\’t know what they\’re doing, and those who have better ideas are more critical of Israel.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni — all have spoken in Los Angeles recently on the need to confront the Iranian threat immediately and forcefully.\n\nBut I\’m wary.
Did the Jews do it?
I mean, after killing Jesus, did the Elders of Zion manipulate the government of the United States into invading Babylon as part of a scheme to abet the expansion of greater Israel?
Propelled by curiosity, I asked, \”By the way are you Jewish?\”
\”Not at all,\” he answered. \”I was born Presbyterian, and now I am a Baptist. Maybe one day I will become Jewish. What do you think of that?\”
Deciding it would be best not to answer, I acted Jewish and responded with a totally different question: \”How do you know so much about Judaism and Chanukah?\”
With total seriousness he said, \”You can\’t claim to be a religious Christian without knowing Judaism. All religious wisdom starts with Judaism.\”
COEJL\’s Web site describes its three-pronged approach of \”engaging the Jewish community in awareness, advocacy and concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote energy conservation and sustainable legislation,\” in order to \”change how American Jewry responds to … daunting environmental problems.\”
Bush launched a weeklong review of the Iraq Study Group\’s recommendations on Monday, starting with meetings with top State Department officials. Later in the week he was to have met with outside experts, top U.S. diplomats in the region and top military brass.
I reached back to cover the asparagus fern I had placed just behind the front seat. (At that time I was told no out-of-state plants were allowed.) The car swerved, ran over the embankment and careened down a ditch at top speed.
Depression is a word that has been cheapened. We forget that it is a diagnosis for a bona fide disease. It becomes a catch phrase for the weighty feelings we experience as we come to terms with life\’s challenges and honor the process of change.
Many rabbinic texts detail our long tradition of ecotheology, explicitly supporting the idea that caring for the Earth is a distinctly religious imperative.
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