WELCOME RABBI MICHAEL LERNER TO PORTLAND!

Thursday, January 19,
7:00 p.m. 
At the First Unitarian Church Sanctuary (corner of SW 12th and Main). Directions.

      Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder and editor of Tikkun Magazine, best-selling author of The Left Hand of God,  and co-founder and director of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, has recently published a new book Embracing Israel/ Palestine.  

     Rabbi Lerner’s book has been enthusiastically praised by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Chair of the Israeli Knesset Avrum Burg, West Bank Palestinian activist Sami Awad, and former President Jimmy Carter, and many others because it provides profound and compassionate analysis of the cause-and-effect dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as deep psychological and spiritual insights into the measures necessary for healing.

     Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said, “[Rabbi Lerner’s book] is provocative, radical, persuasive, and, if given the attention it deserves, could make a major contribution to reconciliation. Please read this book!” 

     Avrum Burg,  former chair of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization, speaker of the Knesset, and interim President of Israel, points out the contribution Embracing Israel/Palestine could make to tikkun. He has said, [This] is a terrific book by a pioneer of global transformation. Out of love for both Israelis and Palestinians as equal creations of God, Rabbi Lerner offers us the deepest way out of the bloody conflict. .... Embracing Israel/Palestine draws from a deep psychological and political understanding of the dynamics of the Middle East….[Rabbi Lerner] offers a strategy of trust that could heal and repair.”  

     Cornell West, author of Race Matters and professor of African American studies and religion at Princeton University, has said that “Rabbi Michael Lerner is one of the great prophetic figures of our time….This book should be the indispensable work on the delicate and difficult effort to keep track of the precious humanity of Jews and Palestinians in the epic struggles for security and justice.”

     Sayyid M. Syeed, National Director at the Islamic Society of North America’s Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances, has endorsed Embracing Israel/Palestine by saying,  “I hope that Muslims, Jews, and Christians will use Embracing Israel/Palestine as a jumping off point for discussion of how our three faiths can work together to bring peace and justice to the Middle East.” 

     Rabbi Lerner needs as much support as we can afford in order to continue his work. We would SO much appreciate a donation of at least $10 at the door, although whatever you can afford, whether $5  or $50, will be most gratefully accepted. No one will be turned away for inability to pay. We ask that those who are so blessed as to be able to give more, please do so.