by Lawrence Bush on August 19, 2010
Jewish Currents has entered into a new creative relationship with The Shalom Center in which we are creating a monthly YouTube video about some element of the Jewish environmental and peace work in which both of our organizations share.
The first video, “Eleh Ezkereh,” can now be viewed at http://www.theshalomcenter.org/node/1753/. It updates the Yom Kippur martyrology, which recalls the deaths of ten Talmudic rabbis at Roman hands, by recounting the stories of ten contemporary Jewish martyrs for social justice. The a capella musical accompaniment is by Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton.
Please give a look and tell your networks of friends.
by Lawrence Bush on August 3, 2010
Update: As BP executive Tony Hayward prepares to step down and “get his life back” (along with an $11 million pension), this week brought the news that the catastrophe in the Gulf is the largest ‘accidental’ oil spill in history. While BP gets down to the hard work of white-washing their reputation, Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts is raising alarms about the company’s use of chemical dispersants to dissolve the oil. Despite an EPA directive ordering BP to restrict their use, the Coast Guard appears to have regularly granted the company exemptions, signing off as BP “carpet bombed” the Gulf (to steal Markey’s words, not quoted by the Times).
In late July, a group of scientists organized by the Marine Environmental Research Institute issued a statement declaring that combined with the estimated 5 million gallons of crude already befouling the Gulf, BP’s use of ‘Corexit’ (you can’t make this stuff up) posed “grave health risks to marine life and human health and threaten to deplete critical niches in the Gulf food web that may never recover.” Meanwhile, back in the Beltway, there seems to be some doubt as to whether the Democratic Senate will get around to passing legislation regulating offshore drilling.
So we thought this would be a good moment to re-publish our editorial on the Gulf (from the Summer 2010 issue). As in the original posting, this is followed by a fascinating bit of news about American perceptions of “socialism.” We wonder how those poll numbers look now.
[click to continue…]
by Lawrence Bush on July 31, 2010
If you’re interested in Yiddish, it’s well worth your time to visit YIDBITS online and read Hershl Hartman’s “Vortsman“ column.
Hershl is education director at the Sholem Community in Los Angeles and a periodic contributor to Jewish Currents and a really enjoyable writer, and YIDBITS itself is stuffed with information and life.
by Lawrence Bush on July 28, 2010
