"Who here has ever accompanied anyone in any way?" Accompaniment training facilitator Sara Gozalo posed this question last week to a capacity crowd of volunteers, eliciting examples of accompaniment to schools, doctors' offices, hospitals, courts, and beyond. These experiences were connected to ground rules for how to accompany those facing possible deportation — simply, respectfully, nonprofessionally. We were called to bear witness, with a paramount commitment to "Do no harm."

 

Our trainer also shared a cautionary tale within the framework of "Do no harm": certain polarizing actions and words may inadvertently increase the suffering of those we seek to protect. Immigrant accompaniment involves advocacy without confrontation — mainly through the emotional support of our presence. "Just being there lets ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], security, immigration clerks and judges know that your friend is part of a community, and that community is watching. There is nothing more you need to do."

 

The Hebrew word levayah is usually associated with accompanying the dead — but levayah actually includes the full range of ways we are called to show up and accompany each other throughout life's transitions. Jewish laws of levayah emphasize the importance of escorting the living on their journeys: "Whoever does not accompany [wayfarers], it is as if one sheds blood." This same power of witness and protective presence undergirds vigil-keeping and our related practices of ultimate kindness at the end of life.

 

We have just entered a collective mourning period in the traditional rhythms of the Jewish calendar: three weeks that commemorate the breaching of protective walls and the destruction of our biblical House of Sanctuary. Echoing through this annual commemoration are the current devastations of extremism, political divisiveness, and painful impasse.

 

"Let them make for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in their midst" (Exodus 25:8). A sanctuary does not actually "contain" God; it expands the sacredness of the spaces we share. Today's immigrant accompanists agree: "Sanctuary is not a physical entity but the spaces wherein all of us can breath freely and in dignity." The ultimate challenge is how to expand our sanctuaries for the widest possible inclusion of those among us.

While crises of violence and polarization may be endemic to this season, it is always possible to respond with ways of peace. No matter how heartbreaking the situation, there are always real, practical options for bringing people together across differences to affirm our shared humanity.

 

Now as in times past, accompanying each other and bearing witness may be among the most healing and effective recourses available to us. WAYS OF PEACE will continue to highlight and model such recourses in the challenging weeks to come.

 

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WAYS OF PEACE donates at least 10 percent of net staff compensation forward to other organizations that uphold our core mandates of promoting justice and kindness across lines of diversity. PLEASE SUPPORT OUR WORK TODAY!

 

As inscribed on the iconic bell in Philadelphia, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land” is a biblical declaration (Leviticus 25:10) that heralds the time of jubilee: freed slaves, cancelled debts, redistributed land ownership. Far less proclaimed are the connections between this jubilee and the financial activities of daily life. 

 

 

Most of us have just filed our last tax returns under previous IRS rules. What are we really declaring when we declare our income? Our silent status quo is like the crack in the Liberty Bell that prevents it from letting freedom truly ring. If we stretch beyond our usual ideological assumptions and divisions, we can share in the power of DIY (Do It Yourself) tax justice. LEARN MORE

 

What Really Counts, Revisited

 

 

My father "numbered our days” to keep our family solvent and thriving. He and I discovered a common financial language toward the end of his life, and now I seek out the money dialogue within and between generations — just as so many of us share stories of freedom around the Seder table.

 

This post-Passover season of daily counting is a perfect time to experience the liberation and revelation of just-giving. Powered by personal stories, our day-to-day generosity really does add up! LEARN MORE

 

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WAYS OF PEACE donates at least 10 percent of net staff compensation to other organizations that uphold our core mandates of promoting justice and kindness across lines of diversity. PLEASE SUPPORT OUR WORK TODAY!

 

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: Do not seek to placate those in the hour of their anger; do not seek to console those whose dead lie before them. (Avot 4:18)

 

Ancient wisdom speaks to the vital importance of timing when responding to either anger or grief. But anger and grief are often mixed together — as we’ve seen in the aftermath of the most recent mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

 

What can we do when two core imperatives of timing seem to conflict with each other? And how can we honor our own feelings while remaining attentive to the needs of mourners who may or may not experience a situation the way we do?
 

We can learn volumes from the student survivors of the Parkland shooting who are catalyzing a national movement toward March 24th and beyond. They are angry, grieving, and articulate — but they are not falling into typical partisan either/or traps. They can listen as well as talk. And they are challenging adults to be as emotionally literate and strategic as they are.

 

“We’ve been hearing a lot that this is not the time to talk about gun control,” observed Parkland High School junior Cameron Kasky soon after the shooting. “And we can respect that. We’ve lost people; it’s important to mourn. Here’s a time to talk about gun control: March 24th….We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around."

 

"Every single person up here today, all these people should be home grieving," declared senior Emma González at a Fort Lauderdale rally. "But instead, we are up here standing together because if all our government and president can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it's time for victims to be the change that we need to see." Yet Gonzalez understands that change must include direct talks with the senders of thoughts and prayers: “We want to give [politicians at the federal and state levels] the opportunity to be on the right side of this.”

 

“I don’t care if you’re a Democrat. I don’t care if you’re a Republican. If you have a good idea, let’s work together as Americans and come to a compromise,” asserted senior David Hogg. His 14-year-old sister, freshman Lauren Hogg, agreed: “Democrats and Republicans both have children….They need to jump over whatever divide they have and work together.”

 

“Deep calls to deep in the voice of Your channels” (Psalm 42:8). In times of great collective devastation, our time-tested principles of discernment and verbal restraint can help us attend to those most immediately affected, listen deeply — and hear the wisdom of call and response as it is channeled through the words of survivors. Instead of remaining trapped in either/or, we can mourn AND organize — with each imperative strengthening the effectiveness of the other.

 

May the memories of those we mourn bless us with courageous, compassionate, committed action toward justice and peace. Ken y'hi ratzon: May this be God's will — and ours.

 

In recent decades, Tu biSh'vat (the New Year of Trees) has become a focal point for Jewish ecological awareness. The holiday began as a date to calculate the age of trees and the tithes to be offered of their fruit.

 

In fact, the calculation of tithes is the primary reason for the multiple New Years in the traditional Jewish agricultural calendar. Two other New Years marked the tithing of vegetables and of livestock, respectively. A fourth New Year began the cycle of pilgrimage festivals, to which certain tithes were dedicated.

 

It can all seem very complicated — just like taxes in these changing times. But if we are tempted to avoid these issues, we need to remember that there are those who will be endangered by our avoidance. 

 

Many financial pundits are predicting a significant drop in charitable giving in the wake of the new federal tax law. Since the standard deduction for taxpayers has nearly doubled, so their argument goes, it will no longer be worthwhile for millions of people to itemize their deductions — and donations will decline accordingly.  

 

Yet the most recent report on "How America Gives" by The Chronicle of Philanthropy acknowledges that itemized charitable deductions were already in decline before the passage of the new law. And the amounts conventionally itemized fall very short of traditional Jewish standards for tzedakah.

 

As it happens, this year of changing U.S. tax laws is also the third year of the sh'mita (sabbatical / release) cycle — a year known biblically as the "Year of the Tithe." It offers a compelling alternative approach to income inequality — one that can restore sustainability and social justice to the forefront of our financial priorities.

 

And it's powered by vital personal decisions that no politics can legislate out of our control. 

 

Our Generous Justice program features interactive guidance for meeting all of these challenges. In the months to come, we'll be highlighting the practical implications of the "Year of the Tithe" for these times. We encourage you to join us!

 

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WAYS OF PEACE donates at least 10 percent of net staff compensation to other organizations that uphold our core mandates of promoting justice and kindness across lines of diversity.

 

 

We sometimes think that the way we do things is the only way they have ever been done. We usually start with one Hanukkah candle and increase to eight, kindling 44 candles per menorah (lamp) over the eight-day festival.

 

But this tradition began as one variant of an ancient consumer upgrade. Another variant was kindling eight candles on the first night, and decreasing to one candle by the eighth night.

 

Yet kindling ONE Hanukkah candle — per household per night — was originally considered acceptable and sufficient. (...) LEARN MORE

 

Hanukkah means Dedication or Rededication. As you re/dedicate your end-of-year giving, please include WAYS OF PEACE. Just as every candle counts, we depend upon every donation from our network of individual supporters to help us kindle transformation for individuals, families, and communities.

 

During this Festival of Lights and Rededication, we hope you will be generous — and we promise to extend your generosity even further.*

Support WAYS OF PEACE Today!

If you have recently made a donation, THANK YOU. Please share this message with others who may be interested in our work.

*WAYS OF PEACE donates at least 10 percent of all net staff compensation to other organizations that uphold our core mandates of promoting justice and kindness across lines of diversity.

The recent Jewish season of "who shall live and who shall die" is a traditional time for cemetery visits —  each one an improvised "Day of the Dead." This past September, in addition to visiting the graves of my own family and community members, friends and congregants, I was privileged to visit Hart Island, the largest mass burial ground in the United States. More than one million dead, most of them lost to family and forgotten by history, have been buried on Hart Island in layered trenches by prison inmates since 1869.


Thanks to the long-term efforts of community activists like Melinda Hunt of the Hart Island Project, relatives of those buried on Hart Island are now permitted to visit once a month. I accompanied Elaine Joseph, one of the first family members to gain visitor access, as her guest. Ken Binder, a trustee of Temple Beth-El on adjacent City Island, joined us as well. City Island support is pivotal for opening Hart Island to families and the public, since the two islands are connected by a ferry that spans the approximate half-mile of water between them.

Gathering at the City Island dock before the ferry ride, small groups of visitors stood uncertainly apart from each other. Eventually (particularly with Elaine's encouragement), some hesitant sharing began. Family secrets, mental illness, bureaucratic mishaps, immigration disruptions, military history and lapses of veteran support, the simple lack of sufficient burial funds — a range of quietly wrenching circumstances connected family members of diverse ethnic backgrounds and generations.

Like Hart Island itself, security measures prior to ferry boarding are administered by the NYC Department of Corrections (DOC) under the supervision of Captain Thompson, a soft-spoken gentleman who accompanied us throughout our visit. As the ferry approached a faded but intimidating "PRISON — KEEP OFF" sign near the Hart Island smokestack, one of the family members visiting for the first time doubled over in sobs. I supported her and pointed out the presence of two swans, swimming near an angel statue that offered a silent welcome to the Hart Island dock. As it turned out, the swans echoed the legacy of the ancestor whose grave she was about to visit.

From the Hart Island dock, a DOC bus took each family group to the approximate area of their relative's grave. Each anonymous white marker represents a mass grave of 150 adult bodies or 1000 infant bodies. Ken and I stood with Elaine in a grassy area not far from the shoreline, where her five-day-old daughter Tomika had been buried in 1978 due to a hospital error.  We could see other family members standing at a distance in other areas, with watchful DOC officers in between. Captain Thompson circulated politely with a Polaroid camera to compensate for the security prohibition of personal cell phones and cameras.


A cemetery for the indigent and unclaimed is known as a potter's field, referring back to the New Testament. Hart Island continues to challenge us with a tangled thicket of ethical dilemmas, from prison conditions through cadaver shortages to land use deliberations. A current NYC Council bill would transfer the jurisdiction of Hart Island from the DOC to the Parks Department. Several now-upscale NYC parks served as potter's fields long before Hart Island was opened for that purpose — and Potters Fields Park in London is quite cheerful about its parallel origins. 

Since ancient times, the imperatives of honoring the dead have served as vital "ways of peace" across lines of diversity. May the coming year bring an expansion of our ways of peace to support all those whose lives are bound up with the forgotten dead. And since "who shall live and who shall die" ultimately includes all of us, may we affirm our common humanity — as we muster the loving courage to plan for the return of our own bodies to the earth we share.

Crises of violence, hatred, and polarization seem endemic to this season. They echo with conflicts whose roots can be traced back thousands of years.

Yet, time and again, there are those who have responded to these conflicts with "ways of peace." And that is cause for renewed hope and celebration.

WAYS OF PEACE Community Resources was created in August 2012. Over the past half-decade, our social microenterprise has addressed core issues of personal and community transformation through compelling programs, unique publications, and life-changing consultations.

We have been called to faciliate challenging conversations in the aftermath of the 2016 elections. Our caring community impact has spread around the world. Our book sales have reached the triple digits, and hundreds more read our newsletter each month. We continue to guide individuals and families through both joyous and sorrowful changes in their lives.

Through all of this, WAYS OF PEACE has grown without any primary institutional funding support. At this crucial juncture, help us take our work to the next level!

* Make a tax-deductible donation

* Bring a program to your community

* Schedule an individual or family consultation

* Order copies of Generous Justice or Counting Days

* Refer us to visionary foundations and other like-minded individuals who may be willing to support our efforts

* Contact us with words of encouragement!

"Just a brief note to express my deep gratitude for your bringing endless wellsprings of inspiration and caring to my attention. These are very dark days in the States and in Israel and your voice of hope, decency and dignity offers reminders of the better times we need struggle to create." —Levi D. Lauer, Founding Executive Director, ATZUM-Justice Works

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WAYS OF PEACE donates at least 10 percent of net staff compensation to other organizations that uphold our core mandates of promoting justice and kindness across lines of diversity. Please support our work today!

Consider and call for the lamenting-women, that they may come; and send for the wise-women, that they may come. (Jeremiah 9)

We are approaching Shabbat Hazon, the annual Jewish “Sabbath of Vision.”

At first glance, the “vision” of this Sabbath seems to be one of impending doom. The Scriptural readings prepare us for Tisha b'Av, our Jewish day of mourning for tragedies through the ages.

On Tisha b'Av itself, we'll read the book that is called Lamentations in English and Eikha in Hebrew. The readings for Shabbat Hazon also highlight the word Eikha—which literally means “How."

In painful, troubled times like these—when so many are lamenting what seems like the absence of vision—how we understand the word "How" may be our key to redemption. LEARN MORE

"We need to raise our consciousness about class. And yes, I am looking at you." — Richard V. Reeves

It's very difficult to talk about the class divisions within "the 99 percent." In "Stop Pretending You're Not Rich," economist Richard V. Reeves highlights the tension between desires for greater social equality and desires to give our own families a competitive edge. Reeves calls this competitive edge "dream hoarding" when applied to the top 20 percent of Americans: those with incomes above six figures.

In global context, invoking "the 20 percent" is only slightly less arbitrary than invoking "the one percent." And debates about how to address inequality tend to get stuck at the level of theory.

But there's an immediate, practical home remedy for "dream hoarding" that leverages small financial actions to bring about big changes. Just-giving — simple and fair, with modifications as appropriate — becomes possible when we set aside a regular percentage of income as our giving rate. Consider this:

• The average American giving rate has hovered steadily around 2 percent since 1971. (By comparison, a tithe is a 10 percent giving rate.)

 

• Giving rates usually shrink as incomes increase. Let's change that!

Want to bring your social justice values into alignment with your financial goals? Include Generous Justice in your vacation reading! As recommended in Tablet Magazine, "It’s a guide to social action and philanthropy, and a tool for spiritual growth—a breath mint and a candy mint."

In the comfort of your own home, or while relaxing on vacation, you can stretch mindfully toward the giving rate that's best for you and your family: your fair share with the rest of the world.

LEARN MORE about bringing a Generous Justice event to your community.

We don't usually refer to nannies, housekeepers, and homecare attendants as "servants" these days. But whatever they are called, most domestic employees are still excluded from basic federal labor law protections.

Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel are usually invoked as the four matriarchs of the Jewish people. But that excludes Bilhah and Zilpah, the domestic servant-mothers of four of Jacob's sons. Bilhah and Zilpah are routinely dismissed as surrogates and concubines, even though Biblical and rabbinic sources affirm them as mothers and wives. Join us on the Festival of Revelation, as we make these invisible women visible. See below for details!

When is a “concubine” not a concubine? Here is a Biblical case study of identity and power at the intersection of gender and social class. This session will highlight the ancient rabbinic tradition of "six corresponding to the six matriarchs,” as we consider the servant-class mothers of one-third of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. We will examine their relationships with the co-wives / possibly half-sisters who remain their primary mistresses. We will explore ways to move beyond our own social biases toward a more inclusive understanding of our ancestors for today’s complicated times. And yes, we will uncover authentic, intersectional options for evolving that Seder counting song forward. LEARN MORE!