MY VISITS TO ANGOLA PRISON
Rabbi Michael Whitman

In 1984, shortly into my first rabbinic position in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, with very little pastoral experience, I received a call from a stranger. There was a prisoner in Angola State Prison, on death row, who requested a visit from a rabbi, would I come? When, years later, I saw the film “Dead Man Walking,” I recognized the walk through the housing project at the beginning, filmed on scene. I took that walk to meet the woman who would become my …

HELEN PREJEAN — POPE FRANCIS ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY

Father John Walsh
In 1976, after an impassioned, last-minute speech by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the House of Commons narrowly passed Bill C-84, abolishing the death penalty in Canada. It was abolished after a decade of fierce debate. Sister Helen Prejean writes Dead Man Walking and narrates the movie of the same name for which Susan Sarandon received an academy award playing the role of Sister Helen. Years later I attended a talk by Sister Helen at UQAM in Montreal. She was forceful and …

SEPARATING CHILDREN FROM PARENTS IS INHUMAN
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

The American policy of separating children from their parents and locking them up without committing a crime is criminal. The color of their skin and the geographic location of their birth is no reason whatsoever to treat them like criminals. It is inhuman and incomprehensible. Pope Francis, the role-model of the Catholic Church, described the policy as immoral. The implementation of the policy of zero tolerance is an act, the lowest of the low, indicating what humans are capable of doing to …

LETTER TO ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS AND SECRETARY NIELSEN
ZERO TOLERANCE FOR SEPARATING FAMILIES
Rabbi Michael Whitman

Dear Attorney General Sessions and Secretary Nielsen,
On behalf of the 26 undersigned national Jewish organizations and institutions, we write to express our strong opposition to the recently expanded “zero-tolerance” policy that includes separating children from their migrant parents when they cross the border. This policy undermines the values of our nation and jeopardizes the safety and well-being of thousands of people.
As Jews, we understand the plight of being an immigrant fleeing violence and oppression. We believe that …

OUR CHILDREN WERE SEPARATED FROM OUR MOTHERS
FATHER JOHN WALSH

As Canadians we know our aboriginal sisters and brothers were restrained on reserves and many of our sisters went missing and were confirmed dead. It began with the separation of our sisters and brothers from our mothers and when they were put in residential schools they were mistreated and abused. A cultural genocide ensued when native girls and boys were culturally morphed into little white girls and boys. So it is easy to mouth the words “we are all sisters and brothers” …

WEAVING THE FABRIC OF LIFE IN ISRAEL
Father John Walsh

In our North American culture there is a divide between the secular and the religious, to the point of privatizing religion to the family and places of worship. CJA sponsored a group of thirty-seven people under the leadership of Jeff Segal and Steve Gross to be on a Mission to Israel. Our greatest discovery was that the tension between the secular threads and the religious threads weave the fabric of life in Israel. At the Knesset Tzipi Livni, opposition leader of the …

JERUSALEM — A SPECIAL MOMENT
Rabbi Michael Whitman

The city of Jerusalem is holy to all three major religions, and to countless others. At the same time, Jerusalem is saturated with political controversy. Without minimizing the importance of those discussions, Jerusalem is also saturated with holiness and beauty – from the dramatic and sublime, to the mundane everyday life that takes place there. I think the politics would take on a very different direction if we, all of us, would first focus on what makes it special and holy to us as …

LIVING “FAITH” IN ACTION
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

Canadian Muslims are bracing to prepare for Ramadan 2018. It raises many questions: Do we really understand the purpose of the rituals in our places of worship? Are we living life “on auto-pilot”? What hinders our faith to be active? A remedy?
We can go through life “on auto-pilot” without ever thinking about the consequences that ensue and how they affect our relationship to faith and belief. Yet, we set personal goals in life, we have jobs, we study different academic and professional fields, we …

YOUNG WOMEN AND YOUNG MEN SPEAK TO AUTHORITY — AS SELDOM BEFORE, IN THE CHURCH
Father John Walsh

In the aftermath of the killing of seventeen students in Parkland, Florida, young women and young men have spoken to authority. One student said, I don’t want to go to school and the first thing on my mind is to look for the closest exit. The words of the leaders of the March for Life throughout the United States were without rancor, but were courageous. The want an end to the folly of the …

THE ESSENTIAL PASSOVER TOPIC
Rabbi Michael Whitman

This Friday night Jews all over the world gather in homes to celebrate Passover, the beginning of our journey from slavery to freedom and our birth as a People. The central feature of this celebration is to tell our story. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out Moses instructs the Jewish People to formulate the story they will tell their children about this event, and Moses gives this instruction before the Exodus occurs. In other words, the preparation for the event itself, is to formulate how we …