Divestment: A Reply to Jewish Friends
Drew Ludwig

The General Assembly deliberated for quite some time, and was careful as to what we were doing, and to what we were saying–and not saying. I was there, and can speak to the prayer and thought that went into this action.

We are

not divesting from Israel, nor are we labeling Israel an apartheid state. We also acted to clearly state that this action is not an endorsement of, or participation in the BDS movement.

Instead, we have chosen to divest from three particular companies that are not in line with our pre-determined strategy of non-investment in military technology. Our MRTI team (Mission Responsibility Through Investment) team has not only investigated these technologies, but has also engaged each of the companies in an attempt to bring our investments back in line with our values–repeatedly–to no avail. read more

Dhaka Low-Income Women, Confinement and Postpartum Depression
Anaise Williams
U.S. Fulbright Project

Nothing has changed since before the birth, I just have to take more care and feed another person, she says simply while passing me a cup of cha with ginger. Shopna had her first baby 6 months ago in her family’s Bangladeshi village in Borishal, assisted by her mother and aunt, and returned to Dhaka 3 months after the birth to be with her husband, a furniture maker in the slum. Today I, unintentionally of course, woke her up at 11am while knocking on the locked door to her single room to do a follow-up interview for my project on postpartum depression. read more

My Bar Mitzvah, the Six-Day War, and Meir Kahane
Peter Eisenstadt

I have been thinking about my Bar Mitzvah recently. It’s the right time of year. My Torah portion, “B’Midbar” the first portion in the Book of Numbers (or, if you prefer, Bamidbar) was last week’s parasha. Its one of the duller portions, mostly about a census Moses and Aaron conducted in the wilderness, in which the number of men in arms, over the age of 20 (minus the Levites) amounted to 603, 550 (which was the exact same number reached in a census the previous year, which seems a bit unlikely.) read more

Pope Francis in Palestine and Israel

“I have a huge crush on the Pope,” I announced to my coworkers in our Hebron apartment* over supper last fall. “I suppose that’s weird, being Mennonite and all, but…”

“No,” my teammate said, “I’m Muslim and I have a crush on the Pope.”

Even my Jewish husband—who was at first skeptical of Pope Francis because of his silence as Archbishop in Argentina during the 1970s-80s when the U.S.-backed junta was torturing and murdering thousands of Argentineans—has admitted he has been a drastic improvement over recent occupants of the Papal See. read more

Pope Francis in Palestine and Israel

“I have a huge crush on the Pope,” I announced to my coworkers in our Hebron apartment* over supper last fall. “I suppose that’s weird, being Mennonite and all, but…”

“No,” my teammate said, “I’m Muslim and I have a crush on the Pope.”

Even my Jewish husband—who was at first skeptical of Pope Francis because of his silence as Archbishop in Argentina during the 1970s-80s when the U.S.-backed junta was torturing and murdering thousands of Argentineans—has admitted he has been a drastic improvement over recent occupants of the Papal See. read more