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Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front By Wendell Berry Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer. When they want you to buy something they will call you. When they want...

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Freedom. It isn’t once, to walk outunder the Milky Way, feeling the riversof light, the fields of dark—freedom is daily, prose-bound, routineremembering. Putting together, inch by inchthe starry worlds. From all the lost collections."For Memory,"  A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far

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“To approach the Other in conversation is to welcome his expression, in which at each instant he overflows the idea a thought would carry away from it. It is therefore to receive from the Other beyond the capacity of the I, which means exactly: to have the idea of infinity. But this also means: to be taught. The relation with the Other, or Conversation, is a non-allergic relation, an ethical relation; but inasmuch as it is welcomed this conversation is a...

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Four Questions: Why should we be conscious of the people who we consider strangers? Why are human beings treated as if they are disposable based on their living circumstances? Why is it important to reach out to individuals who don’t have the same rights as us? Despite what we hear about the working conditions, why do we still support the industries?

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I'm in hour three of cleaning my kitchen and there's still no end in sight.Crouching on my kitchen floor, refrigerator door open, food stuffs spoiling around me, I wonderIs this what the Israelites did? Did they throw out their moldy jars of pasta sauce and shriveled vegetables, so rotten I'm not sure what some of the things once were?I have taken my kitchen apart in a rather manic fashion.  Pots to scour sit on the countertops, cabinet doors are open, their...

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At Passover, we are confronted with the stories of our ancestors’ pursuit of liberation from oppression. Facing this mirror of history, how do we answer their challenge? How do we answer our children when they ask us how to pursue justice in our time? What does the Activist Child ask? “The Torah tells me, ‘Justice, justice shall you pursue,’ but how can I pursue justice?” Empower him always to seek pathways to advocate for the vulnerable. As Proverbs teaches, “Speak up...

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By Avigayil Halpern Blood: Young girls tuck tampons quickly into backpacks, secret them in purses, hide them in Ugg boots. It’s not blue dye that the river is running with, and periods are more trouble than the pamphlet in that goody bag from middle-school health class would leave one to believe. “It’s beautiful to be female,” we’re told, but nobody accounts for cramps and cramps and cramps and bloodied sheets and cramps. We are under no obligation to love our bodies,...

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In a moment, our Seder will be complete. However, we remember that working against oppression in the world is our never-ending responsibility. We recommit ourselves to the vision of a world filled with peace and justice for all. We work for a world where "nation shall not lift-up sword against nation nor study war anymore." We work for a world where people are not treated differently because of their race, their religion, their gender, their age, their marital status, their skin...

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URCHATZ  The Leader of the Seder only, now washes his/her hands from an ewer into a bowl held by another celebrant, wiping them dry on a hand towel. We have accepted the need for leadership, we wash the leaders's hands. This small, formal act of service is a symbol of our recognition of their leadership. This is an ancient Jewish ritual in and of itself.  At this point in the Seder, washing the hands has a specific purpose other than to...

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What happened to the tortoise? The tortoise, the tortoise A breadfruit fell on the tortoise The tortoise, the tortoise What happened to the breadfruit? The tortoise, the tortoise A stake pierced the breadfruit The tortoise, the tortoise What happened to the staff? The tortoise, the tortoise Termite ate up the staff The tortoise, the tortoise What happened to the termite? The tortoise, the tortoise A fowl ate the termite The tortoise, the tortoise What happened to the fowl? The tortoise, the...

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Four Cups Of Wine Many people wonder why we drink four cups of wine on Passover. Well there are many reasons. First of all wine is a royal drink that symbolises freedom. So it seems appropriate to drink it on Passover because they became free. Also g-d convinced the Jews that they should leave Egypt using four statements, 1 I shall take you out, 2 I shall rescue you, 3 I shall redeem you, and 4 I shall bring you. That...

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1.      God, have You forgotten me? I have forgotten how to breathe. The air here is tight around me Each day presses in and tomorrow feels impossibly far away I long to feel Your wide, wide love To feel hard earth beneath my cracked feet, shade on my bent back, cool mist on my sun-scorched skin I long to hear sweet words For respite from the sting that forces me into this pit and keeps me here Day after day God,...

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This is a compilation of ideas to help the seder be fun and engaging for the entire family.    Fun ideas for preparing the Passover table: 1. Include a Tzedakka box on the table. Have everyone put money in the tzedakah box before eating. 2. Yemenite Jews line the edge of the table all around with leaves of Romaine lettuce. The lettuce is then used for Maror.  3. Use maps of Egypt, Israel, and the Sinai desert as place mats.  4. Put...

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The Hebrew word “Kiddush” means sanctification. But it is not the wine we sanctify. Instead, the wine is a symbol of the sanctity, the preciousness, and the sweetness of this moment. Held together by sacred bonds of family, friendship, peoplehood, we share this table tonight with one another and with all the generations who have come before us. Let us rise, and sanctify this singular moment. HOW? We will drink four cups of wine at the Seder in celebration of our...

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The second statement of redemption is “I will deliver you.” Equality in law means little if it is not matched in fact. We all have the right to equal pay but the wage gap between men and women is still more than 20%. We all have the right to vote but only 20% of Knesset members are women. The second cup of wine is dedicated to those women who battle in the courts, in the family and in society for equality...

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“I will redeem you”. Modern Feminists focus not just on rights but on experience. We create female experiences to fill the gap from the past. We redeem our heritage. Jewish feminists no longer reject the bible out of hand as patriarchal. Instead we write our own commentaries and midrashim to insert the voices of women. We create our own rituals, such as Simchat Bat and sederim such as these. Not to replicate men’s rituals but to create our own. The third...

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Maimonides urged us to care for our bodies so that we would be free to concentrate our energies on God. In the modern world, one of the greatest threats to our physical health is mental stress. Stress causes insomnia, digestive problems, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, depression, memory impairment and countless other complications. As women, we are particularly vulnerable to the stress caused by multiple and exhausting commitments to our families, friends, jobs and communities. This year, let us learn how to...