RAFFLING THE SHALOM QUILT: IN WARMTH & BEAUTY I WILL SLEEP

Friends of peace & beauty –

One of the Psalms begins, "Of love & justice I will sing." Today, in the painful moments of working for peace despite a government determined on war, we need a psalm that goes –

"OF PEACE & BEAUTY I WILL SING!"

And we have one. It is a psalm in cloth – a Shalom Quilt made of dozens of T-shirts that have called out in colorful and quirky words and images for peace, justice, and the healing of our wounded earth.

The Shalom Center has published a curriculum and ceremony for Bar/ Bat Mitzvah and confirmation-age youth and families, on how the younger and older generations can work together to heal the earth from the dangers of global climate crisis. Below you will find testimonials about it from leaders of Jewish education and action. Below that you will find a coupon for ordering copies of the 60-page "Elijah's Covenant Between The Generations," and below that the Introduction by Rabbis Arthur Waskow and Jeff Sultar.

"Elijah's Covenant" [Brit Eliyahu] looks like an exciting and creative educational venture. Congratulations to the Shalom Center for this positive contribution toward raising environmental awareness among Jewish young people."

To save our planet, crops, water supply, & coastlines from the ravages of climate crisis & global scorching, The Shalom Center urges these seven directions of PERSONAL & POLICY change at all governmental levels, corporate and labor-union decisions, and household / congregational action. To work for these policy changes, write GreenMenorah@shalomctr.org or Shalom Center, 6711 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia PA 19119.

1. Making carbon pay the real costs of its effect on climate:

Personal change: households set 5% of our annual coal, oil, & gasoline costs as tzedakah ("charitable" contributions) to support sustainable-energy activism.

What is a "Green Menorah"?

The Green Menorah is the symbol of a covenant among Jewish communities and congregations to renew the miracle of Hanukkah in our own generation: Using one day's oil to meet eight days' needs. By 2020, cutting US oil consumption by seven-eighths.

HEALING THE EARTH: THE GREEN MENORAH COVENANT

The Green Menorah is the symbol of a covenant among Jewish communities and congregations to renew the miracle of Hanukkah in our own generation: Using one day's oil to meet eight days' needs: doing our part so that by 2020, US oil consumption is cut by seven-eighths.

"The Tent of Abraham" by Sister Joan Chittister, Murshid Saadi Shakur Chisti, & Rabbi Arthur Waskow is available to Shalom Center members and readers by special arrangement with Beacon Press. You will receive a 10% discount and free shipping on this (and any other Beacon title). The Shalom Center will receive 4% of the proceeds from Beacon.

To buy this book, visit Beacon’s web site at:

Dear Friends,

In 2004, as religious animosities worsened around the globe, I joined with Sister Joan Chittister, a world-renowned Benedictine nun, and Murshid Saadi Shakur Chisti (Neil Douglas-Klotz), a Muslim Sufi who has written a remarkable series of books on Aramaic, Gnostic, and Sufi spirituality --

-- to write a book called THE TENT OF ABRAHAM: STORIES OF HOPE AND PEACE FOR JEWS, CHRISTIANS, & MUSLIMS.

We sent the manuscript to Karen Armstrong. She was so excited by the book that she wrote a Preface for it.

It was (June 2006) published by Beacon Press and won an enthusiastic "Starred Review" from the Library Journal. That review and others are below.